Before You Sign the Divorce Settlement Agreement…
…make sure it’s going to hold up in court! Even the best settlement in the world, that gives you everything you wanted and nothing you didn’t, can get flipped in court for any number of reasons. Don’t let your excitement over ‘winning’ the settlement agreement blind you to the need for caution — in fact, the more favorable to you the settlement is, the more careful you need to be that it sticks around! Here are the things to attend to:
Did Both of You Have Legal Counsel?
If either you or your former spouse didn’t have a lawyer present when you put the settlement together, the court may declare that the settlement is invalid because of lack of legal counsel. Make absolutely certain that you, your lawyer, your spouse, and their lawyer all sit down and go over the settlement clause by clause so that there are no surprises down the line.
Are You Confident about Full Financial Disclosure?
Another common reason for a settlement to get overturned is that the court finds out that one or the other of you wasn’t completely honest about their finances. You know what your own situation is (and you didn’t mislead the court) — but how confident are you that your ex-partner isn’t hiding something significant?
Are The Kids Well Cared For?
Possibly the single most common reason for an overturned settlement agreement is that the agreement didn’t do enough for the children of the divorcees. The courts are legally obligated to put the children’s well-being in front of all other considerations, so even when there’s a divorce agreement that everyone is happy with, it can still get turned on its side if the judge sees a gap in the child’s care, be it financially or emotionally.
Are ALL the Details Laid Out?
This is one of the reasons why it’s so important to have an attorney present — but if, for example, your attorney isn’t a family lawyer with plenty of experience navigating divorce settlements, they very well might still miss a key detail. Bring rock-solid-looking agreement that happens to not have a contingency in it for — as an example — dealing with the effects of a stock market crash on one’s retirement accounts and how that will affect the spouse’s share thereof, it might just end up getting canned, either immediately or in the future.
The best thing you can do to make sure that your divorce settlement is rock-solid is have a talented and experienced divorce lawyer on your side — like the ones at Gucciardo Family Law. Call us today, and know what peace of mind feels like first-hand.
Too much information?
We focus exclusively on family law matters so we are always available to answer your questions and help.
Leave a Reply