John C. O'Donnell, III v. Anne A. O'Donnell

Summary

The Rhode Island Supreme Court affirmed a Family Court order enforcing a divorce settlement provision requiring the plaintiff to maintain health insurance coverage for his former spouse. The Court held that the parties had formed an enforceable agreement when its terms were read into the record, affirmed by both parties under oath, and incorporated but not merged into the divorce decree. The plaintiff could not avoid the contractual obligation merely because he later remarried.

Holdings

1. The parties formed an enforceable agreement because the material terms were recited in open court, both parties assented to them in the court's presence, and the transcript was later admitted as a joint exhibit.
2. A transcript of an agreement reached and assented to in open court can constitute the parties' written settlement agreement and is not unenforceable merely because the parties did not separately draft and sign it.
3. The marital settlement agreement retained the characteristics of a separate contract because it was incorporated by reference but not merged into the divorce decree, and the Family Court properly enforced its health-insurance provision.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the parties formed an enforceable marital settlement agreement when the agreement's terms were recited and assented to in open court and the transcript was later admitted as a joint exhibit, despite the absence of a separately drafted and signed agreement.
2. Whether the Family Court properly enforced the agreement's health-insurance provision against John.
3. Whether a marital settlement agreement incorporated by reference but not merged into a divorce decree remains a separate and binding contract.

Disposition

affirmed