Newborn v. Clay
| Decision Date | 02 December 1993 |
| Docket Number | No. S93A1515,S93A1515 |
| Citation | 263 Ga. 622,436 S.E.2d 654 |
| Parties | James L. NEWBORN, Sr. v. Carolyn J. CLAY, f/k/a Newborn, et al. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Jennifer McLeod, Edwards and McLeod, Douglasville, for Newborn.
Joel D. Dodson, Nicholas Winn, Douglasville, for Clay et al.
In 1977, while married to each other, James Newborn and Carolyn Clay purchased a four acre tract of land on which they built their marital home. The property was conveyed to them as tenants in common. They subsequently separated and were divorced in 1983 by a final decree which incorporated their written settlement agreement. Although the agreement made no specific disposition of the four acre tract, paragraph 15 of the agreement provided:
[T]he parties hereby acknowledge that all marital property was divided at the time of separation; therefore, each party hereby waives any and all rights or claims to any property in the possession of the opposite party.
In June 1990, Clay conveyed her interest in the property by warranty deed to Barry Price. Price thereafter claimed an interest in the property and demanded rent from Newborn. Newborn filed this action in which he alleges that he acquired Clay's interest in the property under paragraph 15 of the agreement and seeks to have the deed to Price set aside and an order requiring Clay to quitclaim the property to him. 1 After completion of discovery, the court granted Clay's and Price's motions for summary judgment and Newborn appeals. We find the court correctly determined that the divorce decree had no effect on the title to the property at issue and affirm its order granting summary judgment in favor of Clay and Price.
The issue on this appeal is whether the agreement incorporated into the divorce decree was sufficient to transfer title to the property. Newborn argues that the parties intended to dispose of the property in paragraph 15 of the agreement but the property is only imperfectly or ambiguously described therein. He contends that a disposition was made, albeit an ambiguous one, and the court should have considered the parties' intent when determining the effect of the divorce decree on the title to the property. We reject Newborn's contentions.
The agreement is not ambiguous; rather, it completely fails to describe and dispose of the property. See Lee v. White, 249 Ga. 99, 286 S.E.2d 723 (1982) (). It has long...
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Hollis v. Hollis, S04A0698.
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