Family Law – motion to set aside settlement agreement and claims of fraud, intimidation and mental incompetence: Lawson v. Lawson (COA 7/17/2009)

Lawson v. Lawson
2008-CA-000824 07/17/2009 2009 WL 2059450

Opinion by Judge Lambert; Judges Acree concurred; Senior Judge Harris concurred in result only by separate opinion.

The Court affirmed an order of the circuit court denying a motion brought pursuant to CR 60.02(f) to set aside a portion of a divorce decree. The Court first held that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in finding that appellant failed to bring the motion within a reasonable time when it was brought eleven months after the decree, the case involved an expedited divorce and appellant immediately utilized the benefits conferred upon her under the agreement. The Court then held that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in ruling that appellant’s claims of fraud, intimidation and mental incompetence were unsubstantiated when her actions indicated the opposite and her attorneys explained in writing to her the risks in accepting the agreement in lieu of conducting discovery into appellee’s assets.