In re Adams

The issue presented is whether a court of common pleas has jurisdiction to terminate permanent sustenance alimony set forth in a separation agreement incorporated into a dissolution of marriage decree, upon the payee spouse’s remarriage, absent an express reservation of jurisdiction in the agreement. We answer in the negative and reverse the decision of the court of appeals.

In 1974, the Ohio General Assembly adopted a form of consensual divorce by enacting legislation permitting dissolution of marriages. (135 Ohio Laws, Part II, 603, 615-616.) To obtain a dissolution, the parties enter into a…