Very seldom are divorcing spouses going to get everything they want in their divorce settlement. Otherwise, most divorces necessitate compromise from each side in order to resolve their case. Consequently, a lot of divorced spouses surmise that they got a lousy deal. This doesn’t mean that one or both have reasoning to go back to court and put aside their divorce settlements.
Nevertheless, if you received a genuinely unjust or one-sided divorce settlement, you might be able to petition a court to re-open your case and take another look at how the deal was established and if its unjust or not. You need to know that you are going to have a very considerable burden in terms of getting your divorce settlement overturned. The precise legal demonstration you need to make is going to be subject on the particular laws of your state, but in general, the only way to have a court re-open your case is to demonstrate to a judge that exceptional and convincing circumstances are present. This typically means that you have to demonstrate that the settlement agreement itself is groundless for some reason and/or that the enforcement of the conditions of the agreement would be repressive, discriminatory, and/or unjust.
How to Re-Open Your Divorce Case
You are going to have to file a petition or motion with the court. A request to re-open your divorce case is required to claim one of the below:
- deception or fraud (for instance, your spouse hid information or provided you untrue information about a vital fact, like the existence or true value of an asset)
- coercion or undue influence (whereas one spouse used threats or pressure to force the other to approve and sign a settlement agreement)
- erroneous negotiations (you made an error about a material fact that affected the negotiation or agreement), or
- a primary inequity or unjustness in the divorce agreement itself.
Intimidation and Unwarranted Influence
A lot of spouses undergoing a divorce are under at least some type of intimidation, meaning pressure to get their case settled. Nevertheless, if one spouse used psychological intimidation or threats of violence to coerce the other to accept an unjust divorce settlement, that is deemed extreme duress and unwarranted influence. In this situation, it is possible to assert that consent was invalid since it was not free and voluntary and to have the case re-opened.
Acquiring Legal Assistance
Re-opening a divorce case can be very difficult and legally convoluted. It’s a good idea to consult with a knowledgeable family law attorney near you to establish if you have a good case and how to begin.
Source:
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Lina Guillen, A. (2013, March 22). How to challenge an unfair divorce settlement. www.divorcenet.com. Retrieved February 22, 2022, from https://www.divorcenet.com/resources/divorce/divorce-basics/unfair-divorce-settlement-what-can-you-do
