Grumbles v. Grumbles

In Grumbles v. Grumbles, 238 Ark. 355, 381 S.W.2d 750 (1964), during a divorce hearing, the parties conferred, and reached an agreement on the division of property. They returned to court, and appellant informed the judge that an agreement had been reached, stated the terms thereof, and the court approved the agreement. When the prepared precedent was presented to the court, appellant objected to it being entered as a decree, not because it did not embrace the agreement as made, but because appellant had apparently changed her mind. In affirming the entry of a judgment according to the recorded agreement, the Arkansas Supreme Court stated that the agreement appeared to be fair to both sides, and that, under the circumstances, the trial court had the discretion to overrule appellant's objection to entering the decree to which appellant had previously consented, and that the court had not abused its discretion. Grumbles stands for the proposition that the trial judge has the discretion to enter a judgment based on a settlement agreement read into the record, even over the objection of a party, at least when it appears there is no disagreement as to the terms of the agreement.