Reopen Divorce case

[dodie m]

Maine

I was divorced 9 years ago. My ex was a member of civil service, so my portion of his retirement is paid through OPM. We had an agreement as to the terms of the divorce and on the final day in court, his lawyer attempted to change these terms as he knew that I had a house in escrow (necessary to have my child part-time) and that the closing was dependant on closing the divorce that day. The changes that I agreed to for the above reason, were:
If I married, I would forfeit all benefits and 2) if he died, my benefits would be decreased by 50%. I am wondering if there is any possibility of reopening this divorce case to remove these last minute changes. My lawyer was under the impression that I could have successfully argued and won had I chosen to continue the litigation; however, time and money were of the essence - it had been a very long divorce and I needed a place to live with my child.
Thank you

 

[LdiJ]

Maine

I was divorced 9 years ago. My ex was a member of civil service, so my portion of his retirement is paid through OPM. We had an agreement as to the terms of the divorce and on the final day in court, his lawyer attempted to change these terms as he knew that I had a house in escrow (necessary to have my child part-time) and that the closing was dependant on closing the divorce that day. The changes that I agreed to for the above reason, were:
If I married, I would forfeit all benefits and 2) if he died, my benefits would be decreased by 50%. I am wondering if there is any possibility of reopening this divorce case to remove these last minute changes. My lawyer was under the impression that I could have successfully argued and won had I chosen to continue the litigation; however, time and money were of the essence - it had been a very long divorce and I needed a place to live with my child.
Thank you

Hon, you didn't NEED to buy a house to have a place to live with your child. You could have gotten a short term rental and postponed purchasing a house. That was a choice YOU made.

I don't think that you could have removed the clause stating that you only get 50% if he dies, because his total pension probably reduces by 50% if he passes away. That's pretty much the norm with government pensions.

However, the pension was a property settlement and therefore I think that you would have won on the issue of remarriage.

I very much doubt that you can reopen things after 9 years, but a local attorney would be the best person to answer that question.

 

[dodie m]

Thank you for your reply. The situation was a bit more complicated, as the divorce had been ongoing for 9 months, and until the final court date, I was not receiving any alimony and was living with a friend. An apartment would have cost as much as the house and having been married for 28 years, raising 5 children, traveling from duty stations to duty stations, at the age of 50 my opportunities for income were greatly reduced at the time.

 

[mistoffolees]

Thank you for your reply. The situation was a bit more complicated, as the divorce had been ongoing for 9 months, and until the final court date, I was not receiving any alimony and was living with a friend. An apartment would have cost as much as the house and having been married for 28 years, raising 5 children, traveling from duty stations to duty stations, at the age of 50 my opportunities for income were greatly reduced at the time.

None of that changes the advice that you got.

If you weren't receiving anything during the interim period, your attorney should have asked the court for temporary support. But, again, it's far too late to address that now.