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Divorce Judgement Relief and Modification

Post-Divorce Judgement Relief Lawyers Morris County, NJ

Helping Clients across Chester, Chatham, Roxbury, Morris Township and the Morris County area to seek relief from unjust divorce settlements

Divorce Judgement Modification Attorneys Morris County | Default Divorce Relief Lawyers Chatham | Property Settlement Agreement Modifications Attorneys Chester, NJ
Divorce Judgement Modification

When faced with a pending divorce, many people have difficulty accepting that it is really happening to them, or just simply wish for the whole thing to be over. As a result, they sign highly unfavorable divorce settlements, or just let their divorce go to default, hoping that if they ignore the problem, it will just go away.

While it is certainly understandable why this happens, the truth is that your divorce and the resulting agreements like child custody, child support, alimony, and division of assets will have a massive impact on your life moving forward. This is why having an experienced divorce attorney to help you through this process is so important when your financial and parental future is being decided.

If you, like many, simply decided to let your divorce default (you filed no answer to the initial divorce complaint), you have one year from the date of the default judgment to contest the terms of your divorce settlement, and with the help of your Chatham divorce attorney, can seek a more favorable settlement which takes into account your specific needs and concerns. Or, if you were intimidated into signing a divorce settlement, or lied to by your spouse regarding elements of your marriage’s financial assets, you can petition the courts for a modification of your property settlement agreement.

At The Morris County Law Office of Townsend, Tomaio & Newmark, our seasoned and compassionate family law and divorce attorneys are ready to help you seek relief from default divorce judgments and divorce judgments which clearly are unfair to you. We have already helped many clients in towns like Mendham, Morris Township, Mt. Olive, and the greater Morris County area to void and/or modify their divorce judgments, and we are ready to begin helping you today.

Modification of a Default Divorce Judgement

New Jersey divorces and their resulting property settlement agreements are typically decided in one of two ways (excluding potential Alternative Dispute Resolution methods such as mediation). Either the defendant (the person being served with the initial divorce complaint) will file an answer at which point the parties will begin negotiating for the terms of their divorce settlement, or the defendant will not respond to the divorce complaint, and the divorce will be granted as a “default divorce”, and the courts will decide the terms of the property settlement agreement, generally in favor of the party filing for divorce.

If your divorce was settled by a default judgment, New Jersey Rule 4:50-1 governs how you and your Mendham divorce attorney may petition the courts to seek relief from default divorce judgments. The most important requirement for seeking relief from a default divorce judgment is that you do so within a year of the default judgment being granted by the courts. In addition to this, you and your Mendham post-divorce judgment modification attorney must also be able to show that either:

  • The judgment is inequitable (assets were unfairly divided)
  • A mistake was made in declaring either which assets were to be considered marital property, the value of certain marital assets, or in the division of those assets
  • The judgment involved fraud, misrepresentation, or intimidation by one party against the other
  • Divorce law has changed since the time of your judgment in a way that would have affected your initial divorce settlement

Rule 4:50-1 further states that because divorce judgments have such a massive impact on the lives of the parties involved, it is accordingly worth the court’s time to thoroughly review all relief petitions in order to ensure that divorce judgments are fair and equitable for both parties.

If you believe you have the grounds to file for a modification of your divorce judgment and are doing so within one year of the default judgment, then the Morris County divorce modification attorneys of Townsend, Tomaio & Newmark are ready to help you through the entire process, and ensure that your rights and interests are properly protected in your divorce settlement.

Property Settlement Agreement Modification

While it is usually more difficult to modify a signed property settlement agreement rather than a court-ordered default judgment, it is still possible under certain circumstances. A signed property settlement agreement can be modified in the case that either:

  • The agreement was the product of fraud, coercion, or intimidation by one party against the other
  • The agreement was based on mistaken information such as the incorrect valuation of a marital asset
  • The agreement was based on information concealed by one party from the other
  • The agreement is “unconscionable”, meaning no reasonable person would agree to the terms involved

If your spouse intimidated you, lied to you about certain aspects of your marital finances and/or property, or kept information from you, with the help of our experienced Morris Township divorce modification attorneys, you can petition the courts to modify your divorce settlement agreement.

Contact a Morris County Divorce Settlement Modification Attorney Today

At The Law Office of Townsend, Tomaio & Newmark, we have helped many clients across Morris County to successfully modify their default divorce judgments and signed divorce settlement agreements.

By practicing exclusively family and divorce law, our firm can provide you with highly knowledgeable and experienced legal counsel in any divorce-related matter, including the modification of divorce judgments.

Do not let an unfair, illegal, or forced divorce settlement ruin your life. Contact our firm today to schedule a free and confidential consultation, and begin taking the necessary steps to change your post-divorce life. You can schedule your consultation with one of our experienced and effective attorneys today by contacting us online, or calling our Morris County office at 973-840-8970.