Consumer Law, Warranties Changed contract. Can it be enforced?

[timmer1001]

I am posting this in here even though it has to do with a divorce, but I think the applicable law is contract law.
My exwife and I mediated our divorce. The outcome was a non-revocable MSA signed by all parties and their lawyers. In the typed up agreement, there were 15 handwritten changes, 13 of which were initialed again by all parties. Two changes were not.

Does that fact that two changes were not initialed void the whole MSA or just the two portions that were modified and not initialed?

Is this a valid contract (minus the unsigned changes) and can it be enforced?

Thank you so much

 

[Michael Wechsler]

1. Not initialing changes doesn't void the contract. Why should it?

2. With regard to the agreement, I haven't seen it, but it would seem that the contract can be enforced but for the 2 parts unless those 2 parts might have an effect on the entire agreement.

3. Regardless of the ambiguity, it's clear that something was agreed. One might be able to bring evidence as to why the signature wasn't there, e.g. it was agreed based upon emails between parties but there was an oversight initialing the changes.

Difficult to answer without seeing the agreement (and other clauses that may make it easier or more difficult to enforce the portions in question) but for the most part, just because a part of an agreement might be ambiguous does not render the entire agreement void.

 

[jharris352]

I would agree with lawprofessor in all points. I would imagine that a mediation group would have put a severability clause in this agreement that states that if any clause of the agreement is found to be invalid that the rest of the agreement stands. The two initialed clauses are not really enforceable until they are initialed. I would attempt to get those two initialed before I attempted any enforcement action as the other party is more likely to fight if there is a controversy.

This doesn't mean that there is no way to enforce those two clauses. If you bring in the mediator to testify that the clauses were present when the others were initialed and the lack of initials were just an oversight, the Judge can ratify them in a "reformation of the contract" action.

That's about all we can say without more detail.