Amending Separation Agreement

[MovingOn2]

Hi!

I recently signed a separation agreement whereby former spouse kept the house and I received a buy out. I have reason to believe that my spouse did not provide full disclosure of financial assets. Also, I was feeling bit under the gun from her family to sign the agreement (relinquish house). I would like to explore options. I now believe that the buyout amount is insufficient and less than what I was entitled to. We did not get independent legal advice when signing the agreement just adult witness. Would it be costly to pursue court action to set aside the agreement? She would not be open to amending the agreement on mutual grounds I don't think.

Thanks!

[LMum]

Hi!

I recently signed a separation agreement whereby former spouse kept the house and I received a buy out. I have reason to believe that my spouse did not provide full disclosure of financial assets. Also, I was feeling bit under the gun from her family to sign the agreement (relinquish house). I would like to explore options. I now believe that the buyout amount is insufficient and less than what I was entitled to. We did not get independent legal advice when signing the agreement just adult witness. Would it be costly to pursue court action to set aside the agreement? She would not be open to amending the agreement on mutual grounds I don't think.

Thanks!

This exact (well almost exact) same thing happened to me. We signed with friends as witnesses, no legal advice. My ex sought to set aside the agreement. Initially it was for parenting time. The end results is he lost parenting time (now pays CS), got a nice pay out. Asked for SS and did not get it. Everyone's outcome would be different of course.

You should 100 percent speak to a lawyer. Although your agreement is legal you can challenge it. I spend A LOT to protect my child, lost pension and savings but it was worth it. I think you need to balance what you think the asset split would look like verse legal fees.

[rockscan]

Hi!

I recently signed a separation agreement whereby former spouse kept the house and I received a buy out. I have reason to believe that my spouse did not provide full disclosure of financial assets. Also, I was feeling bit under the gun from her family to sign the agreement (relinquish house). I would like to explore options. I now believe that the buyout amount is insufficient and less than what I was entitled to. We did not get independent legal advice when signing the agreement just adult witness. Would it be costly to pursue court action to set aside the agreement? She would not be open to amending the agreement on mutual grounds I don't think.

Thanks!

It would be costly. You are looking at several appearances a demands for financial disclosure. Then someone to go through the materials as part of an audit. Then a fight to get what you are entitled to of that money. It would probably be at 75,000 to start and that's if you don't need to fight against someone unwilling to provide disclosure.

Which means you need to ask yourself—what were the assets you believe they had? Are they assets you would be entitled to? Is the value of what you are entitled to more than $150,000? Are you willing to risk a significant portion (if not all) to fight for it?

[MovingOn2]

Thank you for the input.

rockscan is it equally as costly to seek to set aside or amend via mediation on the basis of being under duress (emotional and psychological pressure to relinquish asset by her family...threats of expensive lawyers etc). No I don't think the assets she hid would amount much and you are right I may not be entitled to some (e.g. inheritance)...my goal was to reopen the agreement to get a more just division of assets. Or is proving duress difficult on its own and equally as costly potentially? Thanks! I'd hate to leave things as they are...anything I can do that is less costly to try and get a fair settlement?

[rockscan]

She doesn't have to agree to mediation in which case you would need to file in court. And if she doesn't want to do anything then it is a battle to get an order she would have to comply with.

The other question is how long you were married. I'm a little fuzzy on asset division but I don't believe you are entitled to half of everything. I believe (and someone can correct me) that it would be a portion of the increase in value of assets which also would go against the amounts owing.

A lot of people think that because someone is worth a lot of money they are entitled to half of what they have and this is not necessarily true.

[MovingOn2]

We were together for 10 years. Acquired the assets during the relationship.

[StillPaying]

Fill out a NFP document and then you'll have a better idea.
List everyone's assets, and values on DoM and DoS.
Equalize each person's value.
Matrimonial home is treated differently, so is inheritances, etc.

Once you've filled out the document, you'll know and can hopefully fight for it. Cost, battle, timeline - really don't matter.

[MovingOn2]

StillPaying Thanks for the info! Do I need to get a court order to get her to fill out the NFP? I can't see her being open to doing it on her own.

[StillPaying]

It's filled out by you. That's how you would show the amount received wasn't a proper equalization amount and whether it's worth going to court.