Can I Challenge My Final Divorce Settlement In Colorado?

Do you feel like your final divorce orders are unfair, or you’re second guessing what you agree to in a final settlement agreement? Hi, I’m Marie Drake of the Drake law firm. And I’m going to talk to you today a little bit about what factors courts consider when setting aside a final agreement or divorce order in Colorado, final divorce orders can come about two ways you can negotiate a settlement, and then the court will bless it. Or you can go to hearing and the court will have what’s called permanent orders. As a result of that hearing. Whether a judge decides your permanent orders at a permanent orders hearing, or you reach a settlement in a private way between the two of you with your attorneys, and perhaps a mediator, you can challenge those final agreements or the final orders from the court in the following ways in Colorado. Fraud means your husband or wife deceived you in a material way in a settlement or in court. What that means in plain language is that some of the investments were left out of the big picture, they didn’t disclose all of their mandatory disclosures, meaning their income was doctored somehow, and it’s always downward. Or they’re they’ve just left out bank accounts something or a safe deposit box full of cash. But they’ve deceived you. That’s what fraud is. The second factor is duress, or coercion. duress just means that you were forced into the settlement. Now, it’s very hard to prove duress, if you have a video of someone holding a gun to your head while you sign the settlement agreement that might be cut and dried for a court. But mostly, it’s a pretty gray area. And it’s definitely hard to prove a lot of people though, feel that pressure when they’re compromising. But that’s not duress that’s trying to get something done so that you don’t spend $50,000 on a trial. And that isn’t duress, let’s make sure that you know the difference. The third factor is mistakes during negotiation. So for example, I had a case where both people were not represented by lawyers, and they just didn’t understand at all that one person’s 401k was marital property. So she didn’t even disclose it. They didn’t even discuss it. My client had no idea she had it. And they went ahead and made a divorce agreement and submitted it to the court, I was able to get that set aside so that that could be properly divided. And so it would be fair to my client. But that was a mistake. And it was an honest mistake. They sincerely didn’t seek any legal advice to find out that 401 k’s are marital property if the income put in the 401k was income during the marriage. So that’s what a mistake is. If the terms of a settlement or the results of a final hearing in a divorce are completely unfair, for example, one person in a long term marriage gets 5% of the assets and the other person gets 95%. That’s what I would consider grossly unfair. I think it’s unlikely a court would order that but if the parties reached an agreement like that, and the result is just totally unfair, there’s a chance to court we’ll set that aside and create something that works more for both parties instead of just one. Hopefully this gives you a sense of what it takes to set aside a divorce settlement in Colorado or to go after and try to change permanent orders from a court. If you have any questions on this give us a call to Drake law firm. We’re happy to help and we’re standing by.