In a divorce action filed almost ten years after a Consent Judgment of Separate Maintenance was entered including an order to sell the marital home and non-modifiable alimony payments, the Court of Appeals held that the parties’ agreements in the separate maintenance action were binding on the Trial Court in entering a subsequent Judgment of Divorce, except on issues where the parties both requested modification.

The trial court improperly relied on the consequences of a parent’s voluntary change of custody as being sufficient to constitute proper cause or a change of circumstances to order a change of custody.