What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Illinois
During my contentious divorce, we exchanged financials and conducted discovery. My exhusband took all of the financial information when he filed and I was foolish enough not to do anything to prepare for divorce. My lawyer and I had to subpoena just about everything to get any idea of what was going on financially. My ex only listed a pension with his current company and that was after we subpoenaed the company.
In the judgment I get 50% of the marital portion of his retirement and I filed QDROs for that; but I found out 18 months after the judgment that he has a pension with his first employer. I never considered this because this employer, which was a very large company, closed down and I didn't think he would have anything (he never spoke of it during the marriage). But a friend of a friend who worked for this company told me that they did have pensions and so I called the company which is handling the annuity and they told me that my ex has one there and to submit a QDRO. Now I have no idea how much it's worth (he worked there for about 15 years) so it may be not worth it to go after, I get it. Still, he made high 6 figures so it could be a lot of money. All I want is 50% of the marital portion. We were married for 23 years and I stayed at home to raise the kids and then got a job when they entered high school, although I have no retirement from it.
Two issues:
I filed to get a subpoena to find out how much the pension is worth. New lawyer who's working on the court-ordered QDROs tells me it's a long shot because I because I didn't do this during discovery, but we're trying.
If that fails: should not my first attorney have subpoenaed this first company to see if he had something? My lawyer knew of his employment and never even asked him, never even submitted interrogatories. Is that not malpractice? I know I should have known and I was stupid, but I did hire an attorney to guide me through this and to advise me of what I needed to do. Also, it was obvious that my ex and his lawyer were making us spend money to find anything financial so I think my attorney should not have accepted things as is - but still, are we to think everything is a lie?
I know that there's a 2 year window from the time I should have known about the damage (which would be 50% of the pension). How would a court determine that? It seems very subjective.
Any guidance/advice appreciated.
During my contentious divorce, we exchanged financials and conducted discovery. My exhusband took all of the financial information when he filed and I was foolish enough not to do anything to prepare for divorce. My lawyer and I had to subpoena just about everything to get any idea of what was going on financially. My ex only listed a pension with his current company and that was after we subpoenaed the company.
In the judgment I get 50% of the marital portion of his retirement and I filed QDROs for that; but I found out 18 months after the judgment that he has a pension with his first employer. I never considered this because this employer, which was a very large company, closed down and I didn't think he would have anything (he never spoke of it during the marriage). But a friend of a friend who worked for this company told me that they did have pensions and so I called the company which is handling the annuity and they told me that my ex has one there and to submit a QDRO. Now I have no idea how much it's worth (he worked there for about 15 years) so it may be not worth it to go after, I get it. Still, he made high 6 figures so it could be a lot of money. All I want is 50% of the marital portion. We were married for 23 years and I stayed at home to raise the kids and then got a job when they entered high school, although I have no retirement from it.
Two issues:
I filed to get a subpoena to find out how much the pension is worth. New lawyer who's working on the court-ordered QDROs tells me it's a long shot because I because I didn't do this during discovery, but we're trying.
If that fails: should not my first attorney have subpoenaed this first company to see if he had something? My lawyer knew of his employment and never even asked him, never even submitted interrogatories. Is that not malpractice? I know I should have known and I was stupid, but I did hire an attorney to guide me through this and to advise me of what I needed to do. Also, it was obvious that my ex and his lawyer were making us spend money to find anything financial so I think my attorney should not have accepted things as is - but still, are we to think everything is a lie?
I know that there's a 2 year window from the time I should have known about the damage (which would be 50% of the pension). How would a court determine that? It seems very subjective.
Any guidance/advice appreciated.
