What if the other side doesn't perform their end of the settlement?

Settlement Agreements are legally binding contracts between the parties. If one side does not perform a term of the agreement, the other party can go to court to enforce the agreement.

When a settlement agreement has been signed, the parties have a legally binding contract with each other which they must perform. If one party does not fulfil a term of the agreement, the other party can go to court to say that the settlement agreement has not been performed. The court will look at the settlement agreement and make an order for the settlement agreement to be performed.

In practice, it is exceptionally rare for a settlement agreement to not be performed following a mediation and for a party to need to go to court to enforce an agreement, affecting less than 0.3% of cases.

In some settlement agreements, the parties may also agree a specific dispute resolution clause with each other in case there is a future disagreement.  This normally allows for the parties to negotiate with each other or return to mediation, rather than going straight to court.  This is most common in cases where there is an ongoing relationship, for example between two commercial parties in a partnership.