Division of Assets?

[00799]

At the time of accepting and signing the legal Separation Agreement, my ex and I were trying to reconcile. Because we had been living separately for about one year, I wanted to continue to do so until I was sure what the outcome would be. At that time, I was renting a condo and was informed that once the one year lease was up, I had to vacate because the owners were selling. Therefore, I needed to settle the Agreement in order to buy a condo, as I didn't want to continue to "throw away" money on rent. I truly believed that my spouse was fully dedicated to saving the marriage, just as I was. My lawyer advised me to settle out-of-court as the Agreement was very generous. I shared that opinion as well. Three months later, our problems were beginning to surface. Although I didn't want to give up on reconciling, my spouse made it clear that the reconciling was over and that I should get on with my life. I realize now that I was very naive and should have given the Agreement more interest. Even though my spouse was generous, I may have given up too much. I am wondering about the following assets. I was given one half of the amount of money we had paid on our mortgage on the house (not one half of what it was worth at that time). We had bought interest in properties, presently giving us monthly profits. I accepted my spouse's offer to buy my interest in these properties. When I left the marital home, my spouse told me to take whatever I wanted. I only took what I needed (and what would fit into a condo), therefore leaving behind most of the (expensive) furniture. Now that my emotional state is stable, I am thinking about the above and wondering if I made any errors. I own about a one half of my condo and have mutual funds (that were divided equally). I receive spousal support to cover my expenses (that will be slightly decreased over the rest of my life ). I do not work, due to illness. My spouse is financially doing very well.

Any comments would be appreciated.
curious 00799

[Jeff]

I think that it's normal after reaching a settlement that you feel that way. It's just part of the process.

From what you say, it's hard to tell whether you got a good deal or not. You do say that the agreement was generous. You also avoided court, which is worth a lot in terms of time, money and emotional health.

On the other hand, you seemed to have been more interested in reconciling than working out all of the financial details. That may mean you were overly generous.

Perhaps it's worth the peace of mind to sit down with your lawyer and go through the agreement once more in detail, just so that you have a very clear picture in your mind of what you gained from it and and what you gave up by signing it.