Plaintiffs-appellants appeal as of right the court order dismissing their claim to ownership of life insurance proceeds.
Plaintiffs-appellants were the children of decedent, Eugene Merchant, and his first wife, Arlene, who were divorced on September 29, 1967. The decedent did not contest the divorсe nor did he appear in court. Instead, after apparently being shown copies of the complaint and amended complaint for divorce, he signed a stipulation agreeing that Arlene Merchant could proceed with the divorce without further notice to decedent. Although the subject of insurance had not been included in either version of the complaint, the divorce judgment included the following provision:_
*570 "Insurance
"It is further ordered and adjudged that whatever insurance defendant now has on his life shall be made payable to the minor children of the parties as beneficiaries and that defendant shall pay the premiums and maintain said children as beneficiaries until the youngest child attains the age of eighteen years or completes high school, whichever is later, or until the further order of the court.”
The policy then in effect was in the amount of $6,000 with Continental Assurance Company. At the time of decedent’s death, the value of the policy had been increased to $9,500 as the result of labor negotiations. Decedent never actually named his children as beneficiaries.
Decedent eventually remarried and was divorced from his second wife in May, 1979. Once child, Terri Lynn Merchant, was born of this marriage. By the terms of the second divorce judgment,' decedent was required to keep Terri named as beneficiary on a separate John Hancock life insurance policy owned by decedent. At the time of decedent’s death, the proceeds of this policy were still pаyable to Terri, and plaintiffs do not claim an interest in this policy.
On March 1, 1980, decedent changed the beneficiary on the first policy from Arlene Merchant to decedent’s brother, defendant Carl Merchant. He and decedent agreed that the proceeds would be held in trust for the benefit of Terri. The insurer was also changed on this date to Provident Life & Accident Insurance Company.
Decedent died on November 25, 1981. Two children of his first marriage were then over 18 and *571 out of high school. The youngest, Gary Merchant, was 17 and would turn 18 two weeks later. He was married. The insurance company, which had no notice of the divorce judgment, paid the proceeds of the $9,500 policy to defendant Carl Merchant as named beneficiary. The three children of decedent’s first marriage, plaintiffs here, then filed suit in Kent Circuit Court seeking to enforce the insurance provision of their parents’ divorce judgment. The trial court ruled that plaintiff children could not be deemed beneficiaries of their father’s insurance policy unless there was evidence of a valid agreement between their parents to effect such a result. The court found that there had been no agreement and dismissed plaintiffs’ claims.
On appeal, plaintiff children, as аppellants, claim that the trial court erred in finding that there had been no agreement between decedent and his first wife. Furthermore, appellants argue, defendant Carl Merchant and intervening defendant, Terri Lynn Merchant, could not collaterally attack the divorce judgment after decedеnt had accepted all benefits obtainable under the judgment.
In divorce proceedings, the authority of the trial court is purely statutory. There is no statute authorizing a court to compel a husband and father to maintain insurance on his life for his children’s benefit.
Gray v Independent Liberty Life Ins Co,
In the instant case, appellants argue that an agreement betweеn decedent and his first wife is evidenced by (1) a conversation between decedent and his wife’s attorney and decedent’s subsequent signing of a stipulation allowing his wife to proceed with the divorce without further notice to him and (2) decedent’s failure to contest any portion of the judgment. The trial court, however, found that there was no evidence in Arlene Merchant’s testimony at the divorce hearing that there had been any agreement between the par *573 ties; that, although decedent had allegedly met with Mrs. Merchant’s attorney, that meeting had occurred while only a separate maintenance action was pending; and further, that there was no evidence as to when the stipulation waiving notice was signed or whether it had been explained to decedent. Since there was insufficient evidence of an agreement between the parties, the court held that the provision could not be enforced.
Findings of fact by a trial court shall not be set aside unless clearly erroneous. GCR 1963, 517.1. We do not find clear error in the instant case. Although an oral agreement may provide the basis for a trial court’s confirmation of a property award to a third party, the agreement must be clеar and apparent from the record. See, e.g., Kasper, supra. We agree with the trial court that no such clarity exists in the instant case. No property agreement was ever reduced to writing or placed on the record by the parties and the judgment was never approved by defendant. Our analysis does not end here, however.
Although a trial court may not award property of the divorcing parties to third parties, the court is statutorily empowered to order a divorcing parent to provide for the support of his or her child, MCL 552.16; MSA 25.96 and MCL 722.27; MSA 25.312(7). The court also has the authority to place a lien on the rеal or personal property of the supporting parent to ensure payment of support which has been ordered. MCL 552.27; MSA 25.105. The latter statute provides that where child support is awarded to one party:
"[T]he amount thereof shall constitute a lien upon such of the real and personаl estate of the adverse party as the court by its judgment shall direct, and in default of payment of the amount so awarded, the court *574 * * * may award execution for the collection of the judgment, or the court may sequester the real and personal estate of either party and may appoint a receiver thereof, and cause such personal estate * * * to be applied to the payment thereof or the court in lieu of a money allowance may award such a division between the husband and wife of the real and personal estate of either party * * * as he shаll deem to be equitable and just.”
Where the award sought to be enforced and collected on is a modifiable one, such as child support, the accrued amounts in question should be ascertained by the trial court before seeking execution for the collection of the full amount owed. This рroceeding allows the court to determine whether the accrued amount should be modified and "fixes what had not been made final in the divorce decree”.
Corley v
Corley,
An insurance provision such as the one under consideration here may be viewed as a part of a divorcing parent’s support obligation.
Metropolitan Life Ins Co v Self,
An insurance provision requiring the children of
*575
a divorcing parent to be named as beneficiaries may in other cases be intended to act as security for the payment of court-ordered child support rather than as support itself.
In re Monreal Es
tate,
In the instant case, we are of the opinion that the insurance provision was intended to act as security for decedent’s support obligation. Although lacking the clear language found in
Mon-real
and
Self, supra,
which specifically stated that the children were to remаin beneficiaries until their father’s support obligation had ended, it is substantially clearer than that used in
Smith, supra,
where the provisions simply stated that the father should "keep and maintain as beneficiary” on his life insurance policy "the minor child of the parties”.
We have found no other Michigan cases dealing with the lien statute in this context. The Michigan Supremе Court declined to reach this question in
Kasper,
Two of decedent’s children, appellants Dora Merchant and Joni Dare, were over 18 and out of high school at the time of his death. They are therefore entitled to none of the insurance proceeds unless there was a support arrearage at the datе of their father’s death. Only one child, appellant Gary Merchant, was under 18. Normally, since he turned 18 two weeks after decedent’s death, this would require payment of two weeks child support from the insurance proceeds. In this case, however, the sole minor child was married. In Michigan, marriage of а minor results in emancipation by law. MCL 722.4(l)(a); MSA 25.244(4)(l)(a). A parent is no longer required to support an emancipated child. MCL 722.3(1); MSA 25.244(3)0). Since we find that the insurance provision was intended to *577 secure support, insurance proceeds are not payable to appellant Gary Merchant because he was no longer entitled to support. Since the provision did act as a lien, however, decedent’s first wife, Arlene Merchant, is entitled, on behalf of the appellants, to payment out of the insurance proceeds of any support arrearages due and owing at the time of decedent’s death, with the limitation that decedent was not required to support Gary beyond the date of his marriage. As it is not clear from the record before us whether arrearages do in fact exist, or, if so, in what amount, and since such a determination is clearly necessary before payment may be had (see Corley and Kavanagh, supra), we remand to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing in order that it may make that determination. If there are in fact arrearages, the court should order them paid out of the insurance proceeds with the balance going to Carl Merchant to be held in trust for Terri Lynn Merchant.
In any event, however, arrearages may only be deducted from the first $6,000 of the insurance proceeds, which was the amount of the policy at the time decedent and Arlene Merchant were divorced. The additional $3,500 of coverage was added after the divorce. The divorce judgment makes no provisiоn for after-acquired insurance. While the intent of the parties or the trial court as to treatment of after-acquired insurance would be controlling, see
White v Michigan Life Ins Co,
Affirmed in part; reversed in part; remanded for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
No costs, neither party having prevailed in full.