Settlement Agreement/Decree Controls over underlying Contractual Agreement

The parties signed a settlement agreement, then divorced. The division of assets included two businesses subject to an operating agreement that required arbitration of disputes. However, the settlement agreement included the following language: ''Enforcement. The Court shall be requested to approve this Agreement as fair and equitable, and to incorporate this Agreement into any Decree of Dissolution of the parties, and to specify that it shall be enforceable through execution, contempt citation, and/or by the remedies provided by law for specific performance or breach of contract." The Montana Supreme Court held that the district court properly addressed the disputes between the parties as to the settlement agreement, and that the parties were not required to engage in arbitration. Marriage of Cini, 2011 MT 295