Ex wife get's new attorney. I filed to get the final divorce decree set aside due to fraud on her financial affidavit. Is it a good or bad sign that she switched her attorney? Her first attorney was also her attorney during our divorce.

RepresentativeOk5968 · 2023-07-27T20:45:59+00:00

Well I wouldn't call it a good sign for her. Either the previous attorney was bad so she fired him. Or he was good, she tried to pull some shenanigans, and he walked away so she "fired" him.

AudreyTooTwo · 2023-07-27T22:41:13+00:00

Was your case ongoing or pending when she switched lawyers? If so, technically, the lawyer must send you and the court a letter telling you they're no longer representing your ex-wife. Maybe this varies from state to state. Maybe it's unenforceable. But that's how it's supposed to work. But, if there was no ongoing, pending case, it probably does not apply.

I just saw this line from you in another comment:

her finances/financial affidavit was never disclosed to me

Why not? That's a big red flag. Financial disclosure is a basic part of divorce.

Should we "supuena" the bank-accounts?

Spelled subpoena, no need for quotes. But if you're opening a new case, you have a period called Discovery in which you can demand financial records. If she refuses to give them, yes, your lawyer can subpoena them, but it must be under an ongoing case.

Okay, your other comment:

in about 2 months it will be 1 year of the final judgement. Do we need to get it set aside by then?

Do you have a lawyer? Are you and your lawyer really sure this is possible? I realize the laws vary from state to state. But in my state, you only had 28 days to challenge the divorce decree. And the reason had to be something like: it contains an error, or, you file a motion to reconsider to have the judge take a second look at something. But if you challenge a divorce decree because you forgot to ask for financials, I'm not too sure a judge would consider that a valid reason. That's like a losing football team asking to go back to the first quarter because they made some mistakes.

And ten months have gone by? I would really, really, really check with a lawyer to see if it's even possible to challenge a divorce decree at this point. It's always possible to MODIFY a decree. But you're asking the court to re-consider a year-old decree because of a mistake you made. Big Difference. You really need a lawyer to review this. At best, I'm guessing, is that you can ask the court to re-consider based on the best interests of justice. But asking for the proverbial second bite at the apple, a year later, simply because you lost is not going to fly.

I wish you luck.

CrazySanta7 · 2023-07-27T21:25:12+00:00

Its good for you, IMO. If her financial affidavit was legit and backed up by proper evidence, any attorney could defend it (well, most anyway). She wants a new attorney to find some 'creative' way to explain the discrepancies. Assuming you have some awesome proof, bro. Good luck!!

pk2at · 2023-07-28T20:39:18+00:00

All the best to you! Hopefully she has not been reading my posts on how its perfectly legal and very effective to hide assets during a divorce!

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