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Overturn a divorce in Texas?

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blufinger

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas
My husband has been divorced from his ex-wife for almost 5 years (in February). He and I married in July and he relocated from San Antonio to Corpus Christi. She is diagnosed as bipolar. She is now claiming that she is seeking an attorney to have the divorce decree overturned because she was "mentally incompetent" at the time secondary to a "mental breakdown" and didn't know what she was doing when she abandoned him and their 3 children. Does she have a leg to stand on with this??

Thanks!
 


kimberlywrites

Senior Member
BUT...
If she was under duress when she signed the papers, can she now dispute some of the things she agreed to, in terms of division of assets or even child support and visitation?
 

mistoffolees

Senior Member
BUT...
If she was under duress when she signed the papers, can she now dispute some of the things she agreed to, in terms of division of assets or even child support and visitation?
That's different than overturning a divorce.

Did she have an attorney the first time around? If so, there's no way she's going to win.

Even if she didn't have an attorney, it's going to be hard to make any significant change after 5 years. Certainly, the kids are well established in their current home and it is extremely unlikely that custody would change. She may get some visitation (although if she's admitting to being mentally unstable, your husband's attorney will probably insist that it be supervised).

I could see a judge reversing some of the financial things, but only under a couple of circumstances - that not too long had elapsed and if the agreement was horribly one sided. If the agreement was not too unreasonable, then it would be hard to overturn it.
 

ariastar

Member
No. The court can not invalidate your marriage to put their back together and make him stay married to her. At best she might be able to claim incompetence (which will bite her) when it comes to division of assets and child custody, but she will have an uphill battle to climb when it comes to the children because she'll have to admit she's incompetent to make decisions even for herself, much less the children. Not to mention they are already established in their home and routine now, and, even if she made a mistake, the children won't be the ones to pay for that. Just because she's mom doesn't mean she automatically is entitled to be the CP.
 

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