When a divorce case settles with the parties entering into a written agreement as opposed to the case being fully litigated and the final resolution being in the form of a court’s decision/award, the parties and their lawyers have to be very careful in drafting the agreement settling the parties’ divorce case. When parties enter into a “marriage” settlement agreement, also referred to as a “marital” settlement agreement, the parties are entering into a traditional contract. As such, marital settlement agreements are governed by contract law.

In many marital settlement agreements, there is a provision pertaining to alimony, also known as contractual alimony. Alimony provisions can be tricky and cause problems. In the recent case of Long v. Long, 282 A.3d 694 (Pa. Super. 2022), the Pennsylvania Superior Court addressed the issue of contractual alimony and its intersection with the Divorce Code.