Opinion
45955.
DECIDED NOVEMBER 2, 1988.
Construction of will, etc. Douglas Superior Court. Before Judge Noland.
Hartley, Rowe Fowler, G. Michael Hartley, for appellant.
Nelson Goss Turner, for appellee.
William Gideon appeals the trial court's dismissal on the pleadings of his declaratory action against his daughter, Barbara Farlow, individually and as executrix of the estate of Evelyn Gideon. We affirm.
In 1982, Mr. and Mrs. Gideon entered into agreement, incorporated into a final judgment, in settlement of Mrs. Gideon's separate maintenance action. Under the agreement, the parties divided their real property between themselves by quit-claim deeds. Mrs. Gideon died and her will was probated in solemn form in 1985. Mr. Gideon brought this action two years later, alleging the parties reconciled and cohabited prior to the wife's death. He argues the reconciliation renders the agreement on the separate maintenance action void so that the property which Mrs. Gideon attempted to dispose of by will was not hers.
Under the final judgment on the separate maintenance action, the property divided between the Gideons became the separate estate of each party to whom it was awarded and was not affected by their later reconciliation. Goodman v. Goodman, 254 Ga. 703, 705 ( 334 S.E.2d 179) (1985). Therefore, "there is a complete failure to state a cause of action and the trial court properly granted judgment on the pleadings." Pressley v. Maxwell, 242 Ga. 360 ( 249 S.E.2d 49) (1978); OCGA § 9-11-12 (c).
Judgment affirmed. All the Justices concur. Weltner, J., disqualified.