A separation agreement is an agreement between a married couple in anticipation of divorce. It usually contains terms that divide property, work out custody of children, and contemplate alimony. This case involves the break up of a same sex couple. Since at present only opposite sex marriages are recognized by New York state, a lawyer and a judge would consider such an agreement void.

Often, a court will take the divorcing couples' separation agreement and issue it unchanged as a divorce decree. Once a court has issued the separation agreement as a divorce decree, the document has the force of a court order. If a party is not in compliance with the agreement the court can enforce the agreement. For example, a court could force, through the local sheriff, a husband to vacate a property awarded to the wife by the decree.

Here, obviously, the gay couple has not had the court issue its separation agreement as a decree. And the court can't treat the agreement as if it carried the same weight as an order by a court. Thus, if the agreement is to be enforced by the court it must by a contract.

If the agreement is a contract, it is subject to all of the rules governing such agreements. That is what this case is all about. Does this agreement fulfill all the requirements of contract law? The court says that even though the agreement can not be enforced as a decree, it can be enforced as a contract because it meets these requirements.