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Amended financial after mediation?

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ANGELINA86

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? FL

I received a very unequal settlement at mediation due to my lawyers lack of ANY due diligence. I have a malpractice attorney but first must try and vacate the settlement. He sent me to get a copy of my husband's at the courthouse and I was shocked to be given one I had never seen which was filed the day we were in mediation at 3:00pm, when mediation had begun at 9:00am. Contacting my divorce attorney he said I was handed it at mediation. I believe my ex's lawyer did this in order for the judge not to question why there was such an unequal settlement. It declared 1M in properties as my husband's non marital property and doubled an amount of a trust I had.
I did not see it at mediation but even had I shouldn't I have had more time to analyze it then in such a stressful situation at the last minute? Does this constitute any type of ethical or malpractice issue with my ex's attorney? The only reason I can see him doing this is to justify to the judge why the settlement was so unequal. I was bullied into accepting it after 10 months of abuse my attorney did nothing to stop and did not even inform the mediator about after being instructed to do so. Is this any additional grounds which could be used to vacate?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
 


latigo

Senior Member
Bullied, shocked, cajoled, threatened or whatever if you signed the mediation agreement you are most likely stuck with it!

Because after ten months of negotiations, if not before, you had to be fully aware of the extent, nature and character of you and your husband’s respective property holdings, joint and separate.

Furthermore, remorsefulness on your part is not grounds for having the settlement agreement voided!
__________________________________

Also I have to question the professional competency of an attorney that would tell you that you have viable grounds for a malpractice lawsuit against your divorce attorney.

And if I were you, before filing such a specious lawsuit I would extract a written agreement from that attorney agreeing to indemnify you against any and all costs and attorney fees that may be awarded the divorce attorney.
 

ANGELINA86

Junior Member
Remorsefulness?

First it is not the settlement I posted about, rather I wanted to know about whether it was ethical or legal to file an amended financial affidavit after mediation was over.
I did not get into the full facts of the case to make it short but no, I didn't know the full extent of our assets or liabilities as we co-owned a large business as well as many properties which I went to mediation not knowing anything about the financial status of as my husband had removed all paperwork and took the income and records home daily refusing to give me any access. I didn't know haow much the business was making or what properties were rented or what bills were and weren't paid as he had them all. I didn't know how much was in the bank as he emptied all accounts leaving me nothing to even live on and despite my requests my attorney did nothing to get these records or temporary support. I knew nothing about 3 LLC's he had formed or what they held or their value as my attorney also did no discovery or depositions.
My attorney then lied to me telling me even though I didn't know what the liabilities were everything, including the house I lived in and was 3 months behind would have to be brought current. He later had me make a list of bills I found and building violations cited for, hidden and uncorrected totaling $170,000. After finding he had missed putting that part in the settlement he told me since the business showed a loss it couldn't pay them therefore my husband wasn't responsible. Neither was he responsible for the $55,000 in furniture gone from the property although he opened a used furniture store. I ended up with the $170,000 in bills and the $8.52 he left in the bank, a business I could do little with until I got furniture and a house starting foreclosure while he took 4M almost debt free after signing a short sale 2 days after mediation on 1.9M loan with no deficiency plus all the money he had taken from the accounts and the rent money he had collected and not reported. Remorseful? I think its a bit more than that.
 

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