Marital Settlement Agreement (No Children) - Alabama

MARITAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT (NO CHILDREN) — ALABAMA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Parties and Recitals
2. Separation and Grounds
3. Division of Real Property
4. Division of Personal Property
5. Division of Financial Accounts
6. Retirement and Pension Benefits
7. Debt Allocation
8. Spousal Support / Alimony
9. Insurance Provisions
10. Tax Filing and Obligations
11. Mutual Release and Waiver
12. Integration and Severability
13. Execution and Notarization
14. Alabama Jurisdictional Notes
15. Exhibit A — Personal Property Schedule
16. Exhibit B — Estate Disclosure for Optional Waiver

1. PARTIES AND RECITALS

This Marital Settlement Agreement ("Agreement") is entered into on [__/__/____] by and between:

Spouse 1 (Plaintiff): [________________________________] (DOB: [__/__/____])
Address: [________________________________]

Spouse 2 (Defendant): [________________________________] (DOB: [__/__/____])
Address: [________________________________]

The Parties were lawfully married on [__/__/____] in [________________________________] (city/county, state). The Parties separated on or about [__/__/____]. There are no minor or dependent children born of or adopted during this marriage, and neither Party is currently pregnant. Both Parties have made full and fair financial disclosure, have had the opportunity to consult with independent legal counsel, and enter this Agreement voluntarily and without coercion.

Signing this Agreement alone does not dissolve the marriage, create a divorce judgment, transfer land, change an existing court order, or release either Party from a creditor's claim. The Parties will submit proposed terms to the court for review.

2. SEPARATION AND GROUNDS

The Parties ask the court to consider the following ground(s) under Ala. Code § 30-2-1(a): ☐ complete incompatibility of temperament under (a)(7) ☐ irretrievable breakdown under (a)(9). The court must determine whether the selected ground is proved.

3. DIVISION OF REAL PROPERTY

Marital Residence: [________________________________]

• Fair Market Value: $[________] | Mortgage Balance: $[________]

☐ Spouse 1 shall retain the marital residence and refinance the mortgage solely in his/her name within [____] days of the Final Decree.
☐ Spouse 2 shall retain the marital residence and refinance the mortgage solely in his/her name within [____] days of the Final Decree.
☐ The marital residence shall be listed for sale within [____] days; net proceeds divided as follows: [________________________________].
☐ No real property is owned by the Parties.

Other Real Property: [________________________________]
Disposition: [________________________________]

Each Party shall sign any separate deed, title transfer, or related document needed to carry out the approved disposition within [____] days of the Final Decree. A Party conveying a land interest shall execute the deed with the formalities required by Ala. Code § 35-4-20. This Agreement alone does not convey land or release a mortgage obligation; refinancing requires lender approval.

4. DIVISION OF PERSONAL PROPERTY

Vehicles:

The Party receiving a vehicle shall be responsible for all associated loan payments, insurance, and registration.

Household Furnishings and Personal Effects:

☐ The Parties have already divided personal property to their mutual satisfaction.
☐ Division per attached Exhibit A — Personal Property Schedule.

5. DIVISION OF FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS

6. RETIREMENT AND PENSION BENEFITS

☐ If a retirement benefit is divided, the Parties shall prepare any separate order or transfer instrument required by the applicable plan.
☐ Each Party retains his/her own retirement accounts without division.

Before selecting a division, identify vested and unvested retirement interests earned during marriage and any claimed separate portion: [________________________________]. Ala. Code § 30-2-51(b) includes both vested and unvested marital-period interests unless the Parties agree otherwise or law provides an exclusion. Without party agreement, a court generally cannot award the noncovered spouse more than 50% of retirement benefits it may consider; any plan-specific order must fit the plan and applicable law.

7. DEBT ALLOCATION

The responsible Party shall reimburse and hold the other Party harmless for amounts that the other Party pays on a debt allocated above. This allocation does not release either Party from liability to a creditor. Neither Party shall knowingly incur additional joint debt without the other's written consent from the date of this Agreement.

8. SPOUSAL SUPPORT / ALIMONY

☐ Neither Party shall pay spousal support under this Agreement. If no alimony is requested at divorce, also complete the separate no-award/no-reservation election below for court review.
☐ [PAYOR SPOUSE] shall pay [RECIPIENT SPOUSE] as follows:

• Type: ☐ Rehabilitative ☐ Periodic ☐ Lump-Sum
• Amount: $[________] per ☐ week ☐ month
• Duration: From [__/__/____] to [__/__/____]
• Payment Method: [________________________________]

For rehabilitative or periodic alimony awarded under Ala. Code § 30-2-57, the award ends on either spouse's death. If the divorce decree provides periodic alimony, Ala. Code § 30-2-55 requires a party's petition, proof, and court modification to terminate it for the recipient's remarriage or statutory cohabitation. Any other proposed termination condition, subject to court approval: [________________________________].

☐ Both Parties request that the divorce judgment award no rehabilitative or periodic alimony and reserve no jurisdiction to award it later. The Parties understand that the court's failure at divorce to award or reserve such alimony permanently ends its later authority to award it under Ala. Code § 30-2-57(c); signing this private agreement alone does not have that effect.

9. INSURANCE PROVISIONS

Health Insurance:
☐ Each Party shall maintain his/her own health insurance following the divorce.
☐ If the other Party obtains continuation coverage under an available plan, [SPOUSE] shall reimburse [AMOUNT OR PERCENTAGE] of its premium for [____] months, subject to the plan’s terms and applicable law.

Life Insurance:
☐ Not applicable.
☐ [SPOUSE] shall maintain a life insurance policy in the amount of $[________] naming the other Party as beneficiary for [____] years to secure alimony/property obligations.

10. TAX FILING AND OBLIGATIONS

☐ The Parties intend to file jointly for tax year [____], if eligible under tax law, with refunds/liabilities split as follows: [________________________________].
☐ Each Party intends to file a separate return for tax year [____], if eligible under applicable tax law.
☐ The Parties shall cooperate in the filing of any amended returns as necessary.

Each Party shall reimburse the other for tax liability, penalties, or interest arising from that Party's inaccurate information or breach of this Section. These private selections do not bind a taxing authority or determine either Party's filing status.

11. MUTUAL RELEASE AND WAIVER

Each Party releases the other only from the property claims expressly resolved in this Agreement, subject to court review and third-party rights. No release in this Section waives an existing court order, a claim expressly reserved elsewhere, or a support obligation except as a court may approve under Section 8.

☐ Optional surviving-spouse waiver. After fair disclosure of the other Party's estate, each Party signing this Agreement waives the elective share, homestead allowance, exempt property, family allowance, intestate share, and benefits under a will executed before this waiver to the extent provided in Ala. Code § 43-8-72. Each Party acknowledges receipt of the other's estate disclosure attached as Exhibit B. If this box is unmarked, no express estate waiver is elected here; § 43-8-72 may still give a complete property settlement entered into after or in anticipation of separation or divorce a default waiver effect unless it provides otherwise. Any preserved right or exception is stated here: [________________________________].

Each Party shall update beneficiary designations or estate instruments separately as needed; this Agreement does not itself change a designation held by a third party.

12. INTEGRATION AND SEVERABILITY

This Agreement constitutes the entire understanding between the Parties about the matters addressed here and supersedes prior negotiations on those matters. If a provision is found invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue to the extent lawful. The Parties shall present this Agreement to the court and request inclusion of its approved terms in the Final Decree of Divorce. Only terms the court orders are enforceable as court orders; any later change to a court order requires the applicable court process.

13. EXECUTION AND NOTARIZATION

SPOUSE 1:

Signature: ________________________________ Date: [__/__/____]
Printed Name: [________________________________]

SPOUSE 2:

Signature: ________________________________ Date: [__/__/____]
Printed Name: [________________________________]

NOTARY ACKNOWLEDGMENT

STATE OF ALABAMA
COUNTY OF [________________]

Before me, the undersigned Notary Public, on this [____] day of [________________], [____], personally appeared [________________________________] and [________________________________], known to me (or proved on the basis of satisfactory evidence) to be the persons whose names are subscribed herein, and acknowledged that they executed the same voluntarily for the purposes therein stated.

Notary Public: ________________________________
My Commission Expires: [__/__/____]
[SEAL]

14. ALABAMA JURISDICTIONAL NOTES

• Residency: If the defendant is a nonresident, the other spouse must have been a bona fide Alabama resident for the six months immediately before filing, and that residence must be alleged and proved (Ala. Code § 30-2-5).
• Waiting Period: A court may not enter the final divorce judgment until 30 days after the summons and complaint are filed (Ala. Code § 30-2-8.1).
• Grounds: Section 30-2-1(a)(7) allows a divorce for complete incompatibility when the court is satisfied from the testimony that the Parties can no longer live together. Subsection (a)(9) requires the court to find an irretrievable breakdown and that further reconciliation attempts are impractical or futile and not in the Parties' or family's best interests. Other statutory grounds have separate elements; this Agreement selects only the grounds marked in Section 2.
• Property Classification: Equitable distribution; marital property divided fairly, not necessarily equally (Ala. Code § 30-2-51).
• Separate Property: In an allowance under Ala. Code § 30-2-51(a), premarital property and property acquired by gift or inheritance may not be considered unless the property, or its income, was used regularly for the parties' common benefit during the marriage. Section 30-2-52 separately excludes that property from an allowance based on marital misconduct.
• Retirement: Ala. Code § 30-2-51(b) includes vested and unvested marital-period retirement interests unless party agreement or law provides otherwise. A separate plan order or transfer document may be needed.
• Deeds and estate rights: This Agreement alone is not a deed; § 35-4-20 governs conveyance execution. A surviving-spouse waiver under § 43-8-72 requires a signed writing after fair disclosure, and a complete separation or divorce property settlement may carry a statutory default waiver effect.
• Alimony: Rehabilitative alimony may not exceed five years absent extraordinary circumstances. Periodic-alimony eligibility generally may not exceed the marriage length unless the court finds an equitable deviation; a marriage of 20 years or longer has no statutory eligibility time limit. At divorce, omission of both an award and reservation permanently ends later authority to award rehabilitative or periodic alimony. Section 30-2-55 applies to periodic payments in a divorce decree: remarriage or statutory cohabitation requires a petition, proof, and court modification. Rehabilitative or periodic alimony awarded under § 30-2-57 also ends on either spouse's death.
• Filing: A divorce complaint may be filed in the circuit court of the county where the defendant resides or where the parties resided when separation occurred; if the defendant is a nonresident, it may be filed where the other spouse resides (Ala. Code § 30-2-4).

EXHIBIT A — PERSONAL PROPERTY SCHEDULE

Complete this schedule if selected in Section 4. Attach additional pages as needed.

EXHIBIT B — ESTATE DISCLOSURE FOR OPTIONAL WAIVER

Complete and exchange this disclosure before checking the surviving-spouse waiver in Section 11. Attach additional pages as needed.

Spouse 1 acknowledges receipt of Spouse 2's disclosure: ____________________ Date: [__/__/____]

Spouse 2 acknowledges receipt of Spouse 1's disclosure: ____________________ Date: [__/__/____]

This template is provided for informational purposes by ezel.ai and does not constitute legal advice. Consult a licensed Alabama attorney before executing this document.