Modifying or Undoing a Property Division
A property division that has been agreed to by the parties or ordered by the court is very hard to get out of. Courts favor "done deals" and do not want to encourage the parties to run back to court to litigate their dispute all over again.
In most states, there is a period of time after a court enters its order in which one of the parties can ask the court to reconsider its decision. Such a request may be called a motion to reconsider or a motion to vacate the judgment. The time period for making such a request varies between states, but it is often thirty days after entry of the court's order that is at issue.
The party seeking reconsideration may argue that the court made a mistake in understanding the facts of the case or in applying the law. The party also may claim that some new facts have arisen that make the original order unfair. (Generally, the party claiming new facts must have a good reason for not having discovered the facts earlier.) In most cases, courts turn down a party's request for reconsideration, but if the court accepts the party's arguments, the court may modify the order or conduct additional hearings.
Fraud or duress are two other bases for seeking modification of a court order or settlement agreement. Fraud means that one party has deliberately deceived the other party on a significant matter. If, for example, one party to a settlement agreement lied about the amount of his or her assets and the other party later found out that a substantial amount of assets were hidden, that could be a basis for asking the court to vacate the property settlement and order a new distribution of property.
Duress occurs when one party is forced into an agreement by extreme, unfair pressure from the other party. In this circumstance, a court also might vacate an agreement and order a different distribution of property. Duress is difficult to prove. Most judges assume that parties to a divorce agreement are under some degree of stress. The amount of stress and pressure that a party must have been under before a court will allow the party to back out of a deal is very high.
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Guide to Family Law
Copyright © 1996, 2000 American Bar Association
