Marriage settlement agreement: Overview and drafting how-to

How AI and templates can streamline the creation of marriage settlement agreements

Uncontested divorces are a practice area that most small and medium-sized firms can effectively handle, particularly when you can rely on a template or AI to assist in drafting.

Marriage settlement agreements can be time-consuming to produce, even though they generally follow the same template. With emerging AI best practices, you can easily draft accurate and effective marital settlement agreements.

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What is a marriage settlement agreement?

Using templates and AI: Best practices

Examples of using AI to draft a non-contested divorce

Resources from Practical Law attorney editors

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What is a marriage settlement agreement?

A marriage settlement agreement, also called a separation agreement, details all the rights and obligations to which a couple agrees as part of their divorce. The parties submit the agreement to family or divorce court as a complete settlement of the spouses’ claims against each other in a divorce proceeding. Once signed by the parties, the agreement is submitted to the court and, if accepted, becomes incorporated into the judgment of divorce.

The marital settlement agreement generally includes the following sections:

Biographic information

This includes names, birth dates, and addresses of the parties and any minor children. Date and place of marriage are listed as well as date of physical separation.

Acknowledgement of agreement

This clause states that parties agree that the settlement represents their complete agreement, which they have read completely and signed freely, created to end their marital union. It also stipulates that they relinquish future claims against each other.

Grounds for divorce

If grounds are required, they are detailed.

Custody and visitation

This contains the parties’ complete agreement for legal and physical custody, including a parenting or visitation plan. The section may designate the home state of the children for jurisdictional purposes and include restrictions on changes of residence.

Child support

This section references the state child support guidelines, and details the amount and timing of child support payments as well as the parties’ agreement for: children’s health and dental insurance, school and extracurricular expenses, uncovered medical and dental insurance, child care costs, and other children’s expenses.

If the parties’ agreement deviates from state guidelines, it will briefly explain why. Jurisdiction may be granted to the child support enforcement office of that state to collect and enforce payments. The agreement states how the parties shall claim the children as dependent exemptions on personal income tax returns.

Spousal support

If the parties agree on spousal support, this section lists the amount and timing of payments, as well as the termination date. Other termination events are specified. If no spousal support is ordered, the parties waive their rights to it. The parties’ income and employment data may be included.

Property and debt division

The agreement acknowledges state law on property division and specifies how the parties agree to divide marital assets and debts. This section identifies, details, and values each item and lists each parties’ awards.

To complete this process, the net total for each party is calculated. Retirement benefits count in the division of assets, while separate property/debt is listed and confirmed as belonging to each spouse individually. If parties agree on the sale of a residence, the agreement will include the terms.

Using templates and AI: Best practices

Drafting a marriage settlement agreement using a template combined with CoCounsel’s professional grade AI legal assistant allows you to:

Create a complaint for divorce
Review a proposed settlement from opposing counsel
Write a counteroffer
Draft the marital settlement agreement quickly and more accurately

You can find your state template through your state court site, bar association, or with LegalTemplates where visitors can create a customized document using their dynamic document builder.

You can also obtain an intake form from your client with all the necessary information. With the template and AI in hand, you can quickly jumpstart your drafting workflow.

AI will never replace professional legal advice, however, so the best practice is to carefully review all materials and compare them to your notes, intake form, and other case materials.

For success using CoCounsel:

Write prompts in complete, concise sentences
Break your request into multiple tasks
Avoid abbreviations
Give context by stating who you represent
Use hyperlinked footnotes to verify all the information in the drafted document

Examples of using AI to draft a non-contested divorce

Here are some sample prompts for using CoCounsel to draft your documents.

Complaint for divorce

Use the draft skill to draft the complaint for divorce.

Prompt example:

I represent Sarah Johnson, plaintiff, in this divorce. I’ve uploaded the client intake form and a complaint for divorce template. Please draft a Petition for Divorce using the information from the uploaded intake form. Also, model your results after the uploaded template.

Analyze proposed settlement

Use the Review Documents skill to analyze proposed settlement drafted by opposing counsel.

Prompt example:

Please review the uploaded proposed settlement agreement to confirm the following terms:

How will retirement be split between the parties?
Any specifications regarding alimony?
Any mention of expenses outside of the obligated child support amount?
How will tangible property be divided?
Please provide your response using a table format

Counteroffer letter

Use the Draft skills to create a counteroffer letter to send to opposing counsel.

Prompt example:

After reviewing the above proposed settlement, I need to send a counteroffer to opposing counsel, Dana Defender, via email. Please let Ms. Defender know my client does not approve of certain terms contained in the document. Please include our preferred terms for settlement:

Both parties shall retain ownership of any and all checking, savings, money market, brokerage and retirement accounts titled in their names.

The family dog will stay at the marital home where the children will majorly reside.

My client wants temporary alimony of $2500 per month which will include the minor children receiving $500 per month for extracurricular activities.

Finally, offer mediation if they aren’t agreeable to our counter. Please request that they include preferred mediator names and dates of availability to mediate. Make the tone of the email cordial but firm.