can I re-visit my settlement agreement

[leonutkin]

I was divorsed in New Jersey 2 years ago.
My ex. hired an atterney , I did not. She asked me to and
I agreed becouse I felt guilty, or may be I am just stupid.
I pay child support, but my visitations with my daughter
are erratic , becouse settlement agreement did not stipulate any schedule. And now more and more Ex refuses give me weekends with my child. Requests more money for privilage of visitaion , and so on
I do not have any custody of
the child. I also gave up the house we bought together.
And so on ....
My question : do I have any chance to re-visit our separation settlement agreement on the grounds of not being
represented by councel ,being under emotional duress, or something like that ?

 

[Nee]

Once you enter a settlement agreement pursuant to a divorce, a change of heart rarely allows you to set it aside based upon not having your own attorney and emotional duress, etc.When you were negotiating the agreement you knew that you had the chance to obtain independent legal representation. Join the club of those many, many people who "choose" not to have their own attorney, thinking that they'll save the expense of another lawyer and, after all, they can read English, can't they?It's a simple agreement, isn't it?Sounds fair, doesn't it? Well, just like these others, you, too, found out the hard way that although it was in English, it was not all that simple now that you realize you got the short end of the stick, particularly with visitation, which I'll try to address now:

Visitation in any marital agreement must be spelled out in a set schedule, hour to hour, day to day, week to week, weekend to weekend, holiday to holiday, etc. Most importantly, there is no excuse for a non-custodial parent not having at least alternate weekend visits, with a minimum of one night sleep over. Such overnight visits are important to foster the parent-child relationship and keep it strong, once the parents split up.Even a 9-month old baby can sleep over at dad's place (in a crib, of course).

I do not think that your solution is to try to redo the agreement. Visitation also becomes a court order and is incorporated in the divorce judgment. File a petition in your local Family Court for a modification of visitation and do it right this time. Be specific. There is no price tag on the length of the visits, as was offered.The courthouse doors are always open when it comes to the welfare of children.The right to visit the non-custodial parent is the legal right of the child, and not the custodial parent, who prefers to dole it out as stringently as possible.