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Other Issues Minutes of Settlement My ex-husband and I finally agreed to settle our long outstanding legal battles. We met one afternoon with both of our respective lawyers and settled our differences. The terms of our agreement were reduced to a simple 'Minutes of Settlement' form and signed and witnessed. As part of the agreement, we both agreed to enter into a more comprehensive agreement. He is now, less than two months later, refusing to do so as he wants to change one of the terms relating to spousal support that was in the original agreement. I have put the settlement payment that is payable before the end of the month into trust pending his execution of the agreement. My question is: do I have good grounds to go to court to enforce the terms of the executed 'Minutes of Settlement' or does the whole legal battle begin again? Should I pay him the money before going to court or will it be sufficient for the court that the funds are being held in trust? (by A of Toronto, ON) Firstly, be warned: the law dealing with family assets is different here in BC than it is in Ontario. Things might very well be quite different than the answer I'm going to try to provide. Minutes of Settlement are themselves agreements. They are usually used to get a rough and ready settlement cobbled together which forms the basis of an order that everyone agrees the court should make, a consent order. Normally, the Minutes would be attached to the consent order as a schedule. Since you and your husband signed the Minutes, they constitute a binding agreement that you ought to be able to enforce. In my view, you should be able to go to court without further ado on an application for an order on the terms of the Minutes. The transfer of the funds to the trust account indicates, if anything, your intention to be bound by the agreement. I wouldn't suggest that you do anything with the money except leave it in trust until the question of the order is resolved. Back to the top of this chapter. Site Navigation Go back to the Q&A Index. Section Menu
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