## Facts

- A divorced couple’s decree incorporated a written settlement agreement setting the husband’s child support at $2,290 per month, calculated from his $185,000 annual salary.
- The agreement required annual recalculation based solely on the husband’s salary, retroactive to January 1 of each year.
- The agreement stated that annual recalculation could not reduce child support below $2,290 per month (a “floor” provision).
- In 2010, the husband was involuntarily terminated from employment and alleged an income loss of at least 25%.
- The husband petitioned for downward modification of child support under OCGA § 19-6-15(j).
- The wife moved to dismiss only to the extent the petition sought a reduction below $2,290, arguing the floor provision operated as a waiver of any right to reduce support beneath that amount.
- The trial court allowed the modification action to proceed but ruled that support could not be reduced below $2,290 based on the agreement.
- The husband obtained interlocutory review to challenge the restriction against reducing support below the contractual floor.

## Issues

1. Whether the settlement agreement’s floor provision constituted a clear and express waiver—specifically referring to the right of modification—sufficient to bar a statutory downward modification below $2,290.
2. Whether a clause limiting only the agreement’s internal annual recalculation mechanism can be treated as a partial waiver of the statutory modification right under OCGA § 19-6-15(j).

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Georgia reversed the trial court’s interlocutory order.
- The Court held the floor provision did not satisfy the requirement that waiver of modification rights be clear, express, and specifically refer to the right of modification.
- The Court concluded the clause limited only the contractual annual recalculation process and did not restrict the husband’s separate statutory right to seek court-ordered modification under OCGA § 19-6-15(j).
- The case was remanded for further proceedings permitting the husband to pursue full downward modification, including potentially below $2,290.

## Legal Principles

- Parties may seek modification of alimony (including child support) unless the agreement clearly and expressly waives the right of modification by specific reference to that right.
- General financial terms (including payment floors, ceilings, or recalculation mechanics) do not waive statutory modification rights absent explicit waiver language addressing modification.
- Child support is treated as a form of alimony for purposes of the rule governing waiver of modification rights.
- OCGA § 19-6-15(j) authorizes downward modification when a parent suffers involuntary job loss resulting in at least a 25% income reduction; contractual terms will not be read to defeat that statutory relief without an explicit waiver.

## Conclusion

Because the settlement agreement did not explicitly refer to and waive the statutory right to seek modification, the husband was not barred from pursuing a downward modification under OCGA § 19-6-15(j) below the agreement’s $2,290 monthly floor, and the trial court’s contrary limitation was reversed.


Dean v. Dean, 289 Ga. 664, 715 S.E.2d 72 (Ga. 2011)