Professionally employed spouse at middle income level with two primary school age children. This Separation Agreement is entered into this _________, 19__, by _________, the wife and _________, the husband. Recitals: The parties are now husband and wife. The parties are estranged from each other and not living together as husband and wife. There is now pending between the parties a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage in the Circuit Court of _________ County, _________ entitled "In Re The Marriage of _________ and _________, Case No. _________. The parties are desirous of settling property rights and other related matters in the event the court awards them a dissolution of marriage. Therefore, in consideration of the terms and conditions of this separation agreement, and other goods and valuable consideration, It Is Agreed: Children. 1. The wife shall have the permanent care, custody and control of the minor children of the parties, and the husband shall have liberal rights of visitation. 2. The parties shall make every reasonable effort to agree on the terms and conditions of visitation, including time, place, frequency, duration, and transportation arrangements. If agreement cannot be reached, however, the husband shall have visitation on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., and on Sundays from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. 3. Visitation shall include both children at the same time whenever possible, but may include only one child if the other is unavailable. 4. Each party shall keep the other fully informed of the children's location, including addresses and telephone numbers for out-of-town travel arrangements. 5. Each party shall keep the other informed of significant circumstances affecting the children's health or general welfare, including serious accident or illness. In the event of serious illness of either child, the husband shall have an absolute right of visitation at any place where the child may be confined, subject only to medical restrictions.
6. Each party shall be entitled to complete, detailed information from any physician, dentist, therapist, or other consultant attending either of the children for any reason and to be furnished with copies of any reports given by any such consultant to the other party. 7. Each party shall be entitled to complete, detailed information from any tutor or teacher giving instruction to either of the children, or from any school, camp, or other institution which either of the children may attend, and to be furnished with copies of all reports given by any such person or institution to the other party. 8. Neither party shall cause or permit the children's names to be changed, or cause them to be known or identified by any surname other than _________. 9. The husband's exercise of his visitation rights shall be entirely optional with him, and his failure to exercise such rights on any particular occasion shall not waive his right to full enforcement of his visitation rights on any other occasion. Both parties shall give notice of any necessary changes in the visitation schedule as far in advance as possible. 10. The parties shall consult with each other and shall make every reasonable effort to agree with each other before making major decisions affecting the health, education, or welfare of the children, such as course of treatment for illnesses, choice of schools, extracurricular activities, and summer camps, and other matters of similar importance. 11. Neither party shall take the children beyond the boundaries of the United States without the written consent of the other party. Neither party shall remove the permanent residence of the children from the jurisdiction of this court without mutual written agreement or order of court under Section _________ of the _________ Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act. 12. The husband shall be liable for any extraordinary medical, dental, or hospitalization expenses incurred on behalf of the minor children of the parties. The wife shall give advance notice prior to incurring any such extraordinary expenses except in case of dire emergency. The wife shall be liable for the ordinary medical and dental expenses of the children and shall be liable for her own medical, dental, and hospitalization expenses. 13. The husband shall maintain a policy of medical insurance for the benefit of the minor children and shall furnish the wife with a spin-off policy, if available, at her request and at her own expense. 14. The husband's obligation to pay extraordinary medical, dental, and hospitalization expenses and to maintain medical insurance shall continue for so long as the children are entitled to support under this agreement, including college.
15. The husband shall pay unallocated maintenance and child support to the wife at the rate of $_____ per month for a period of five years c ommencing _________, 19__, payable in equal semimonthly installments on the first and the fifteenth day of each month, subject to the following terms, limitations, and conditions: (a). The wife may elect to receive advance payment of a $_____ portion of the first twenty installments due, for a total advance of $_____, such election to be exercised if at all upon signing this agreement. (b). Unallocated payments during the first three years shall not terminate in the event of the wife's remarriage. After three years, unallocated payments shall terminate in the event of her remarriage, unless the parties otherwise agree in writing. (c). Unallocated or child support payments which have not accrued shall terminate upon the death of either party. (d). Unallocated payments shall be reduced by $_____ per month in the event of the death or change of custody of a child. (e). Upon termination of unallocated payments under this agreement, the husband shall pay child support only, unless otherwise agreed by the parties in writing. The amount of child support at that time shall be determined by agreement of the parties or order of the court. (f). The court shall be precluded from extending the husband's obligation to pay maintenance in any form beyond the periods agreed above unless the parties have otherwise agreed in writing. (g). The obligation to pay child support to the wife shall terminate upon a child's death, marriage, legal emancipation, attainment of eighteen years of age, or change of custody, whichever occurs first. (h). Unallocated payments are subject to modification by the court only to the extent warranted by material and substantial changes of circumstances in the needs of the children, without regard to the financial needs of the wife. Any court modification of unallocated payments shall continue to be in unallocated form. (i). "Remarriage" as used in this paragraph includes cohabitation with another person on a resident continuing conjugal basis. (j). "Change of custody" as used in this paragraph means that the child's permanent principal residence is no longer with the wife. Tax Clause.
16. The periodic payments of unallocated maintenance and child support which the husband shall pay to the wife under paragraph 15 have been agreed upon by the parties in the light of existing federal income tax laws, rules and regulations, which make such payments deductible by the husband and taxable to the wife. In the event of a change in the applicable tax law, rules and regulations, or controlling case law, such that the periodic payments will become wholly or partially nondeductible by the husband and thus not taxable to the wife, the parties agree to make such adjustment in the nature and amount of such payments as can be made to effectuate their original intention as expressed in this agreement. Life Insurance. 17. The husband shall maintain a policy or policies of insurance on his life for the benefit of the wife in the amount of $_____ for three years from the date of this agreement, and for an additional two years so long as the wife has not remarried. 18. The husband shall maintain a policy or policies of insurance on his life for the benefit of the minor children at the rate of $_____ per child for so long as the husband maintains life insurance for the wife, and at the rate of $_____ per child thereafter for so long as he is liable for the support of any such child under this agreement including college education, but in no event shall the obligation extend beyond the child's 25th year. 19. The husband shall have the option of making any insurance proceeds payable to the children through a trust, but any such trust shall minimally provide for the financial needs of the children as set forth in this agreement. 20. The husband shall furnish the wife with a description of the policies maintained in compliance with these paragraphs or of any subsequent changes in the policies maintained. Property Division. 21. The wife shall have the parties' 19__ _________ automobile, and shall be fully responsible for all remaining monthly payments on the purchase money note secured by a lien on the automobile. So long as the husband remains liable on that note, the wife shall maintain comprehensive and collision insurance on the automobile in the amount of its actual cash value. If the wife fails to pay the insurance premiums when due, or fails to make a monthly payment on the note within thirty days of its due date, the husband may make such payments directly on the wife's behalf, and may withhold the amount of such payments from the next support and maintenance payment required under paragraph 15.
22. The husband shall have the $_____ note of _________, dated _________, 19__, and the balance of the parties' escrow account at _________ Bank. 23. The wife shall make available to the husband, for the purpose of making copies, all photographs, including both positives and negatives, in her possession in which appear the children, the husband, his family or friends, and any of the parties' pets. The husband shall pay for all copies. 24. The parties have divided between them to their mutual satisfaction all items of tangible personal property and neither party shall make any claim to any such property now in the possession of the other. 25. Each party acknowledges to the other that this agreement provides for a fair and equitable division of marital property, and each party therefore accepts this agreement as a full and final settlement of all property claims that either may have arising from the marital relationship. Debts and Attorney Fees. 26. The husband shall pay the parties' 19__ federal, capital gains and state income taxes, and their debts to _________, _________, and _________. 27. The husband shall pay _________ for services rendered by him to either party prior to _________, 19__. 28. The wife shall pay the parties' debt to the holder of the purchase money note secured by a lien on the parties' 19__ _________ automobile. 29. Each party represents and warrants to the other that he or she has not contracted and will not contract any debt or liability for which the other could be held liable, except for those specifically assumed by either party or expressly provided for under this agreement. Each party shall indemnify and hold the other harmless from any such debt or liability, existing or future. Each party shall pay their own attorney fees and court costs in this action. Mutual Waiver of Rights. 30. That except as expressly provided for above, each of the parties has waived and is barred from any and all rights in connection with the income and property of the other including, but not limited to, the right of maintenance, past, present or future, dower, homestead, marital property rights, rights of inheritance, or any and all other property rights, whether real, personal or mixed, whether now owned or acquired in the future, and other than those rights and provisions contained in this agreement, each is barred and foreclosed from asserting any such rights. Execution of Documents.
31. Each of the parties shall promptly execute any and all documents and do all that is necessary to effectuate the terms and provisions of this Agreement. Miscellaneous Provisions. 32. This agreement shall not be invalidated or otherwise affected by a reconciliation between the parties, or a resumption of marital relations between them, unless expressly agreed by the parties in writing. 33. This agreement contains the entire understanding of the parties, and they acknowledge that there have not been and are no representations, warranties, covenants, or understandings other than those expressly set forth in this agreement, and that neither has any obligation to the other except as expressly set forth in this agreement. 34. This agreement shall not be modified or amended except by court order or further written agreement of the parties expressly setting forth specific language of amendment. 35. The failure of either party to insist upon a strict performance of any provision in this agreement shall not prevent that party from insisting upon strict performance of such provisions or any other provision in this agreement. 36. Each party shall notify the other of his or her change of address or telephone number as soon as such change is known. Exclusion of Incorporation. 37. The parties agree that while this agreement has been identified and approved by the court, its terms shall not be incorporated or merge into the judgment for dissolution in the present action in order that this agreement shall be independently enforceable as a contract. The parties further agree that they shall perform each and every term of the agreement as though it had been incorporated in the judgment for dissolution and enforcement shall be by all remedies available for the enforcement of any other judgment, including contempt.