Legal Question in Family Law in New Jersey

Ammending a divorce agreement

My husband and I were granted a divorce last September. He had an attorney, I did not. When we got to the Early Settlement Panel, my husbands attorney urged me to take the settlement rather than have the case go to trial because he said I would wind up with nothing were the case to go to trial. For signing over my half of our house, I got a cash settlement and got to keep some investments and retirement funds that my husband had set up for me. We have extensive collections of items. According to the divorce agreement I was only to get certain items, like my sewing machine, an ornament collection. I had talked it over with my husband beforehand and he said that if there were other things that I wanted that we would negotiate. Now we are divorced and he is still consulting with his attorney who maintains that I get exactly what is in the divorce agreement and no more. I never saw the appraisal forms of our possessions. I thought that my husband would keep his word but apparantly he is believing what his attorney tells him.

Is it possible for me to legally obtain the things I want that were not in the settlement? Can I do this without an attorney?


Asked on 6/06/03, 1:32 pm

3 Answers from Attorneys

Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

Re: Ammending a divorce agreement

It appears that you are faced with proving a provision in the agreement which was not reduced to writing and which, apparently, neither your husband nor his attorney will agree to. Consequently, I would have to surmise that it would be exremely unlikely that you would be able to prevail on this issue without the aid of legal counsel.

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Answered on 6/06/03, 2:33 pm
Bernard J. Berkowitz Berkowitz & Raiken

Re: Ammending a divorce agreement

It is unlikely you could prevail without an attorney. Either way you would need to file a motion with the Court where the divorce was granted indicating your lack of representation and lack of full disclosure or inclusion in the final agreement of the items you want. An attorney will probably cost about $3,000 so you should think carefully as to the value of the items before proceeding. It will also depend on your testimony before the Judge when you got the divorce as to the agreement. If we can help,please contact us to discuss this further.

Good Luck.

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Answered on 6/06/03, 3:46 pm
Wayne Comer Wayne E. Comer, Esquire

Re: Ammending a divorce agreement

I do not pretend to know any NJ matrimonial law.

However, the fact that you were not represeted by counsel should give you a bit of a leg up on trying to "break" the Agreement. Beyond that you would have to show some form of misrepresentation

without which you would not have signed the Agreement. You would also try, and it is difficult, to convince a court that you could not, perhaps becuase of your background, etc. be expected to fully understand the salient part of that document. Above all, your situation requires a full and formal consulation with counsel bearing in mind that a hearing on your case will be

very heavy on the detailed factual setting surrouding the signing of that document.

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Answered on 6/06/03, 4:52 pm


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