Litigation

Where there is no variation between the final arbitration award and the final divorce decree, the divorce decree will not be modified. Engineer v. Engineer, No. 14-06-01099-CV, Court of Appeals of Texas, Fourteenth District, Houston, Jan. 15, 2008.

The parties were divorced in September 2002. After the final divorce decree was entered, the wife appealed twice on the grounds that the decree did not incorporate all of the provisions of the mediated settlement agreement and arbitration award. The first appeal involving alimony was resolved upon remand. In the second appeal, the wife sought to amend the divorce decree to address other portions of the arbitration award involving gold coins, savings bonds and the address where alimony payments should be sent. After reviewing the relevant documents, the court held that there were no further variations between the arbitration award and the final decree of divorce, and ordered the wife to transfer the gold coins and distribute the savings bonds. The court noted that the arbitration was silent as to where and how the alimony payment should be delivered, but that this was not a 'variation' and would not disturb the divorce decree.