Preview:

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT KNOXVILLE December 13, 2002 Session CYNTHIA LEE BRATTON v. MICHAEL WAYNE BRATTON
Direct Appeal from the Chancery Court for Hamblen County No. 2000-148 Hon. Thomas R. Frierson, II., Judge MARCH 14, 2003 No. E2002-00432-COA-R3-CV

In divorce action the Trial Court granted divorce, refused to enforce a postnuptial Agreement, divided marital property, awarded alimony and child support. On appeal, we affirm. Tenn. R. App. P.3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Chancery Court Affirmed.

HERSCHEL PICKENS FRANKS , J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which HOUSTON M. GODDARD , P.J., and CHARLES D. SUSANO, JR., J., joined.

Douglas R. Beier, Morristown, Tennessee, for Appellant. Sarah Y. Sheppeard and Jason H. Long, Knoxville, Tennessee, for Appellee.

OPINION

In this divorce action, the Trial Court decreed a divorce, divided the marital property and awarded alimony and child support to the wife. Both parties have appealed. At trial and on appeal, the wife seeks to enforce a "Property Settlement Agreement" signed by the wife and husband. The parties were married on June 26, 1982, and the Agreement was entered into on August 26, 1983.1 The agreement recites in pertinent part:
1

At the time the divorce action was filed, the parties had been married 18 years.

WHEREAS, the parties are husband and wife and desire to provide for the future division and distribution of property and support of the Wife in the event of a future divorce; and WHEREAS, the parties desire that their respective rights and interests in and to all future property to be accumulated be expressly set forth herein and established in accordance with the terms and provisions hereof. NOW, THEREFORE, IN CONSIDERATION OF THE PREMISES, the mutual benefits accruing to the respective parties and other good and valuable consideration, received or to be received by each of the parties hereto, it is agreed as follows: 1. In the event the Husband is guilty of statutory grounds for divorce under the statutes of the state the parties are domiciled and the Wife institutes divorce proceedings in the state courts of such state, all property jointly owned by the parties, real, personal, or mixed, shall be divided equally between the parties. 2. In the event the Husband is guilty of statutory grounds for divorce under the statutes of the state the parties are domiciled and the Wife institutes divorce proceedings in the state courts of such state, the Husband shall pay to the Wife, one-half (

Download brattonc.pdf

Tennessee Law