A refund settlement must identify the payer, payment mechanics, release scope and consequences of non-performance, not just a number. Ending all claims on signature while accepting later payment creates different risks from a carefully defined payment-linked release. Wording needs individual review. Private agreements, court-approved settlements and mediated settlements do not share one automatic enforcement route. This guide reviews the text and execution plan together without promising recovery or allowing financial terms to determine a child's separate status.
Legal support for this matter: Mediation & Settlement Agreement
1. Define the dispute being settled
List the contracts, payments and claims intended to be resolved. A repayment figure may settle one invoice or the whole relationship. Make the distinction visible at the start. If costs remain unknown, decide whether they remain open. “Let us finish this” does not define the legal scope. A later reader should understand the objective without relying on a private oral explanation.
Civil Code Article 360 concerns mistakes in the basis of a settlement. As preparation, identify the factual assumptions and avoid unsupported admissions. “I received every service in full” may be inappropriate if the actual compromise is only a refund figure. A financial concession does not require signing an invented history. Describe what is resolved, what remains open and the period covered. Keep the calculation used to reach the figure available, but distinguish that calculation from any separate factual admission in the operative text.
Official sources: Civil Code of Georgia
2. Identify the debtor and authorised signers
Use full legal names and suitable identifying details. A brand, social page or employee's name may not identify the debtor. If another company pays, explain whether it performs the existing obligation, assumes a new one or enters another structure. Do not read a third-party promise as automatically releasing previous debtors. Check who remains responsible if the proposed payer never transfers the money.
Authority matters on both sides. For procedural representation, Civil Procedure Code Article 98 requires specific authorisation for settlement and certain other acts. General translation or correspondence instructions are different. A customer in China should know who signs, who may receive money and what concessions are authorised. Check authority as at signature. Possession of an old copy and continuing validity are not necessarily the same thing. Ensure the document identifies the proper principal rather than unintentionally making an interpreter or adviser a personal repayment party.
Official sources: Civil Procedure Code of Georgia · Civil Code of Georgia
3. Specify the payment obligation completely
State amount, currency, date, recipient account and allocation of bank charges. “Soon” or “after finance processes it” may not create a sufficiently definite deadline. Define the calendar and starting event if using business days. Decide whether performance means an instruction or actual credit. Confusing those facts can produce another cross-border dispute even after agreement on the number.
Verify changed account details through an agreed channel. A new chat message alone is a weak basis for changing the payment destination. Include an authentication method where useful. Give banks genuine documents and an accurate purpose, without inventing a service to avoid scrutiny. Conversion and charges should not silently change the economic result. If final bank costs are unknown, describe and allocate that uncertainty. The displayed amount on a transfer instruction is not always the amount that the intended recipient will actually receive.
Official sources: Civil Code of Georgia
4. Decide when the release takes effect
Read commencement and release provisions together. A document may release the other party immediately while payment remains future. That differs from ending specified claims on receipt of funds. Do not use one universal sentence for every case. Check its operation within the whole text, the obligation that survives and what must be proved following non-performance.
Hypothetically, the customer is asked to abandon every claim now in exchange for payment in a month. Ask what enforceable claim exists during that month and what happens if no money arrives. Conditional or staged structures can be considered, but suitability depends on the documents. “Guaranteed refund” in a heading creates no protection by itself. The operative obligation, responsible debtor and available execution route provide it. Negotiation should address those components rather than simply select reassuring language. Check related definitions as well: an apparently careful clause can be weakened by a definition that treats merely initiating a transfer as complete payment.
Official sources: Civil Code of Georgia
5. Address default in an instalment plan
List each instalment and date. State whether default requires notice, permits a cure period or accelerates the balance. A timetable alone does not answer those questions. Specify allocation of smaller payments. Later acknowledgements should stay consistent so a receipt is not interpreted as discharging a different obligation.
Suppose 12,000 neutral units are repayable in four parts. The first 3,000 arrives but the second does not. Does the agreement permit claiming the whole remaining balance, only the overdue part, or a defined remedy relating to the original claim? These structures differ and should not accidentally create double recovery. Review credit for funds received, any penalty and the claim's scope. The example identifies drafting questions rather than recommends that schedule to every family. Also consider whether a realistic payment plan is supported by reliable information about capacity to pay, without assuming that a written promise creates solvency.
Official sources: Civil Code of Georgia
6. Examine claims and people covered by the release
Check broad phrases covering all known or unknown claims, all related persons and any future circumstance. They may greatly exceed the negotiated invoice. Identify the contract, period and claim category. Where clinic, agency and intermediary are distinct, assess effects on each. One person's payment does not automatically determine another's liability. Ask who the text protects and what is given in return.
The customer's own financial claim differs from a child's or another person's possible rights. A common family objective does not confer unrestricted authority to release everyone's rights. A private agreement cannot replace an authority's assessment of parentage, nationality, registration or travel documents. Do not declare all those issues conclusively resolved where the relevant decisions do not exist. Preserve the boundaries of the financial compromise and review effects on others independently. A broad concession should be conscious, not an unnoticed consequence of accepting the refund figure.
Official sources: Civil Code of Georgia
7. Add a precise record-handover schedule
List records you are lawfully entitled to receive that remain with the agency. Identify form, holder, delivery method, recipient and date. “Everything later” is difficult to verify. Receipt should concern the listed records, not incidentally admit flawless performance of every service. Distinguish originals and copies. An imprecise file description can lead to delivery of the wrong document, so the inventory belongs in the agreement.
Access to another person's medical or personal record does not arise merely from financial settlement. Appropriate authority and a lawful basis remain necessary. Use a suitable channel and retain a receipt inventory. For a third-party-held file, specify who requests it and what action is promised. Assistance in requesting a record differs from an unconditional promise of release where the signer neither holds it nor has authority to disclose it. That distinction helps evaluate whether a handover obligation was actually performed.
Official sources: Civil Procedure Code of Georgia · Civil Code of Georgia
8. Make confidentiality compatible with necessary disclosure
Align confidentiality with disclosures performance may require. A bank may need the agreement; an adviser or court may need records. Check those cases expressly. “Tell nobody anything” may be excessive and unclear. Set appropriate exceptions, purposes and limited disclosure. Ending a money dispute does not mean concealing the document's existence from every lawful recipient.
Article 10 of the Mediation Law governs confidentiality in mediation, but an ordinary telephone negotiation does not automatically receive that regime. A foreign phrase in an email heading does not make every attachment inadmissible in court. Check status and obligations before sharing negotiation material. A clause should not operate as an instruction to destroy evidence or mislead an authority. Protect sensitive child information and do not send the entire family archive when the agreement or a limited extract is sufficient. Consider who actually needs each attachment before circulation.
Official sources: Law of Georgia on Mediation · Civil Procedure Code of Georgia
9. Distinguish private agreement and court settlement
A private signed agreement is not invariably directly enforceable. Check Article 2 of the Enforcement Proceedings Law and the relevant prerequisites. Authentication of a signature does not make every clause immediately executable. Choose the form according to the dispute's stage, objectives and claim. If presenting it to another institution, determine the particular document and issue that institution needs rather than asking vaguely for an official-looking form.
In pending litigation, Civil Procedure Code Articles 208, 272 and 273 attach important effects to settlement and termination. Do not casually accept restrictions on bringing the same dispute again merely for a future promise. Check the terms approved and how the payment obligation will appear in the ruling. “I will withdraw now and refile later” does not correctly describe every procedural act. Determine the precise step and surviving rights with the representative before authorising it.
Official sources: Law of Georgia on Enforcement Proceedings · Civil Procedure Code of Georgia
10. Assess mediation without a cross-border shortcut assumption
A qualifying private mediation settlement differs from an ordinary bilateral letter. Article 9 of the Mediation Law addresses written form and signatures; Article 13 provides a court route based on the necessary agreement. Check the process, mediator's involvement and prerequisites. An intermediary forwarding a draft does not itself create statutory mediation. Starting ordinary negotiations also does not settle every limitation-period question.
The special international mediated-settlement route has a major exclusion. Article 13² excludes consumer transactions for personal, family or household purposes and disputes arising from family relationships. A client living abroad does not therefore establish an international enforcement shortcut. This does not answer every other possible route, which needs independent assessment. No treaty operation between countries or recognition in China is assumed here. The form of the compromise should fit a procedure genuinely available for that dispute, rather than rely on the word international as a promise of easy collection.
Official sources: Law of Georgia on Mediation
11. Compare language versions provision by provision
Compare Chinese, English and Georgian provisions on parties, sums, dates, release, commencement and default. General comprehension is insufficient if rights end on signature in one version and after payment in another. Prepare a terminology list. “Received”, “admitted” and “discharged” can describe different legal states. Ask the translator to flag inconsistencies rather than resolve them by assumption.
If a language prevails, the customer must understand that precise text. Precedence does not cure mistranslation. Assemble final annexes and complete missing details before signature. Identify later changes as new versions and check approval. Verify authentication needed for a foreign power of attorney for its intended use; an apostille does not assess fairness of the settlement or sufficiency of powers. Origin and substantive adequacy are different questions. Neither the presence of several translations nor an official-looking certificate removes the need to review the operative promise and release.
Official sources: Civil Code of Georgia · Law of Georgia on Private International Law
12. Verify completion before acknowledging it
Create a completion list: final signed copy, authority, instruction, credit, record receipt and remaining actions. Assign responsibility and the fact to be verified. For instalments, acknowledge the relevant part only. Do not delete unfinished obligations because settlement has been signed. Keep verified banking changes with the file so the final destination can be checked.
In the context of Civil Code Articles 429–430, receipt wording matters. Reconcile amount, currency and charges before final acknowledgement. A transfer-instruction image is not enough to state that every sum has been received. Describe known facts and unresolved matters accurately. Do not introduce an unplanned release through a receipt form. Retain evidence for an appropriate lawful period, since proof of performance may be needed even after amicable negotiations. Ensure the relevant participants have access to the same final version rather than inconsistent closing copies.
Official sources: Civil Code of Georgia
13. Use the correct route after non-payment
If payment does not arrive, verify bank status and the agreed deadline first. Follow the notice and procedural requirements. Identify unpaid sums, parts received and the basis of the surviving claim. A new letter should not contradict the settlement. A court instrument calls for separate enforcement assessment; a private agreement alone should not be assumed directly executable. Identify missing documents for the next step early.
An initial Advokato enquiry can state settlement form, date, unpaid sum and deadline. The text, authority and payment evidence can then be supplied through an agreed channel. Sensitive family or child details are unnecessary in the public first message. Review concerns remaining rights, procedure and practical collection. It cannot guarantee solvency or arrival of money on a particular day. Assess a compromise through a workable execution route as well as the number promised, and avoid describing a signed but unpaid agreement as a completed financial recovery.
Official sources: Law of Georgia on Enforcement Proceedings · Civil Procedure Code of Georgia
Important noteThis material is general information, not personalised legal advice. Recheck current law, official practice, fees and deadlines against your facts before acting.