Hamilton v. Hamilton

VALLÉE, J. Appellant, administratrix of the estate of her son, Walter A. Hamilton, deceased, appeals from a judgment decreeing that a creditor’s claim filed by respondent, the surviving widow, in the estate of her deceased husband, predicated on an award made in an interlocutory decree of divorce, is valid, and ordering appellant to pay respondent the sum of $3,750, being accrued monthly payments of $150 for the period from April 1st, 1946, to and including April 1st, 1948, and the further sum of $150 a month thereafter accruing under the terms of the interlocutory decree.

Respondent and decedent were married on June 20, 1927. They separated in September of 1944. On August 31, 1945, they entered into a property settlement agreement. The agreement provided; “. . . in settlement, adjustment and compromise of all property questions and rights it is agreed by and between said parties that the community property of said parties shall be divided as follows, to-wit:

[296]“1. The wife shall receive and retain as her sole and separate property all . . . [description of real and personal property].

“2. The husband shall receive and retain as his sole and separate property all . . . [description of real and personal property].

“3. The husband agrees to pay to his said wife, Harriet Hamilton, for her support and maintenance, the sum of One Hundred and Fifty Dollars . . . ($150.00) per month for the remainder of her life, beginning the first day of Sept, 1945, and on the first day of each month thereafter until the death of the said Harriet Hamilton; provided however, that if the said parties should be legally divorced and the said Harriet Hamilton should marry some other person the obligation to pay to her the said sum of $150.00 per month shall immediately terminate.

“4. ... [Provides for execution of documents necessary to transfer title].

‘15. This agreement is a full and complete settlement of all property rights between the parties hereto as husband and wife, both now and after the death of either party to this agreement. From the time of the execution of this agreement neither party shall have any interest of any kind or nature whatsoever in or to any property of the other party to this agreement, whether now owned by such party, or hereafter acquired, except to enforce the terms of this agreement. All salaries or wages earned, or any other property acquired by either party after the execution of this agreement shall be and remain the sole and separate property of the party earning said salary, or wages, or acquiring said property. Bach party waives the right to inherit from each other, or to receive from the estate of the other after death, any property or rights or privileges of any kind whatsoever, from the estate of the deceased spouse, unless granted by the Will of such deceased spouse, duly admitted to probate, but this covenant shall not be construed to deprive either party of the right to enforce the terms of this agreement against the estate of either party.