G. Solis v. K. Tea

The central issue in this domestic relations case is whether an obligation under a separation agreement to provide a private secondary education may be reformed upon a showing of change of financial circumstances adversely affecting the best interest of parent and child. In this post-divorce proceeding, husband appeals from an Order of Family Court substantially granting wife's petition for specific performance of husband's private school obligation made incident to the couple's divorce but not incorporated in the decree. Husband's primary contention is that Family Court committed reversible error in ruling as a matter of law that a voluntary separation agreement may not be reformed irrespective of a substantial change in husband's financial condition attributable largely to an unforeseeable escalation in private educational costs. Husband also claims error in the Trial Court's finding that the parties had entered into a valid and enforceable separation agreement in 1971.