Why can't a settlement be used as eveidence in Court

[ksswthrt74]

If the other party doesn't agree to it?  I have given a proposal or settlement to my X who is the CP. The proposal is for Shared custody 50/50 every other week and a parenting plan along with it.  We go to court in March for a Child Custody investigation that I filed.  My lawyers legal sec. said that we couldn't use the settlement in court if he refused it. I would like to know why.  I am in Kansas.

Thank you very much.

[socrateaser]

The rules of evidence generally prohibit the admission of evidence of negotiation between parties not made as part of the court record, in order to encourage settlement. However, if a settlement is actually reached, then the evidence of the agreement IS admissible, as, if it were not, a party could repeatedly  back out at the last second, thereby frustrating the settlement process.

There is nothing to prohibit you from presenting your settlement agreement in court for the judge to consider as an appropriate resolution to the case, but the evidence can only be considered as such, and NOT as evidence of the other party's bad faith failure to negotiate, or as a tacit admission by the party that any recitals or allegations contained in the proposed settlement are factual.