Marital Settlement Agreement signed under duress

[jmganderson]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida
I signed my Marital Settlement Agreement to avoid going before a Judge because my spouse threatened to expose personal information about me in court which would have ruined my relationships with my daughters, my other family, and friends. He threatened to destroy my business as well and had several envelopes prepared to be mailed. He gathered this information from listening devices he planted, and by stealing my personal and business computers. The night before court he followed me with road rage in the car. He subpoened one of my business associates and parents of friends of my daughters. I did not agree with the proposed MSA but I signed it to avoid going to court. I regretted it afterward but my attorney said there was nothing I could do. Then she retired and my case was given to another lawyer in the firm. I consulted with him, but after several conversations he submitted a petition to the court to withdraw as counsel. At this point the MSA/divorce decree had not yet been signed by the Judge. Four months later I still had not received an official divorce decree. After consulting a domestic violence legal aid attorney I learned that the paperwork before the Judge was missing a cover page so the legal aid attorney provided that, the Judge then signed it, and I was officially divorced, but I still did not agree with the MSA because I was threatened and coerced into signing it. I feel that no one has been listening to me. Is there really nothing that can be done? How can the MSA be a legal contract/document when I was threatened into signing it?

 

[Bali Hai]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida
I signed my Marital Settlement Agreement to avoid going before a Judge because my spouse threatened to expose personal information about me in court which would have ruined my relationships with my daughters, my other family, and friends. He threatened to destroy my business as well and had several envelopes prepared to be mailed. He gathered this information from listening devices he planted, and by stealing my personal and business computers. The night before court he followed me with road rage in the car. He subpoened one of my business associates and parents of friends of my daughters. I did not agree with the proposed MSA but I signed it to avoid going to court. I regretted it afterward but my attorney said there was nothing I could do. Then she retired and my case was given to another lawyer in the firm. I consulted with him, but after several conversations he submitted a petition to the court to withdraw as counsel. At this point the MSA/divorce decree had not yet been signed by the Judge. Four months later I still had not received an official divorce decree. After consulting a domestic violence legal aid attorney I learned that the paperwork before the Judge was missing a cover page so the legal aid attorney provided that, the Judge then signed it, and I was officially divorced, but I still did not agree with the MSA because I was threatened and coerced into signing it. I feel that no one has been listening to me. Is there really nothing that can be done? How can the MSA be a legal contract/document when I was threatened into signing it?

I was coerced to comply with my final divorce judgement and didn't even get the opportunity to refuse to sign it.

You are divorced, move on.

 

[mistoffolees]

Sorry, but there's no coercion - at least not in a legal sense.

You did some things that you don't want to become public knowledge. Those things presumably had some bearing on the divorce hearing (anything that would damage with your relationship with your daughters would also probably be relevant in a custody hearing, for example). He has every right to bring relevant information into court.

You made a choice that your relationship with your daughters and your business were more important than fighting over some issues in the divorce court (probably a wise decision, btw). But it was still a decision you made.

Now, the threat of letters to business associates/customers/whatever might be actionable, but it's going to be hard to prove. Even if you could prove it, there's no law which prevents him from contacting your customers (he might run afoul of tortuous interference, but that's awfully hard to win).

In addition, if you can prove that he recorded you illegally (If he, in fact, did, that is), then you could possibly have him prosecuted under wiretapping laws, but again, you're going to have to suffer the consequences of your actions.

What do you really hope to achieve? How much different is the MSA than what you consider fair (not what you'd like to receive, but what is fair). I'm willing to bet that you made the right decision and you'd be foolish to try to change it now - especially since he could still subpoena your coworkers, etc and disclose the information about your daughters.

The advice you're getting is to move on with your life and stop chasing windmills. I agree.

 

[wolfthing2000]

More money

If you have enough money you could fight it**************everything can be drug back to court.