Settling a divorce case often comes at the 11th hour and after intense, drawn out settlement discussions. A settlement is a collection of mutually acceptable compromises and a settlement cannot be properly viewed as a win or lose proposition. Frankly, no one ever gets all that they want regardless of whether the case is settled by the parties or by a trial. Occasionally, one party may have “buyer’s remorse” and wish to undo the settlement in whole or in part. When seeking to do so, the litigant has a very tough burden to satisfy. The Court will generally hold the parties to the agreement they reached absent a showing a fraud, duress, coercion, and the like as the summary below describes. It is difficult to get a do over once the case has been settled and properly documented.
FAMILY LAW
20-2-1373 Salama v. Salama, App. Div. (per curiam) (17 pp.) Plaintiff appeals from a Family Part order, which entered an amended dual judgment of divorce incorporating an oral settlement, and a Family Court order which denied her motion for reconsideration and to vacate the settlement and ADJD. The panel affirms, finding no reasons to disturb the judge’s appropriate exercise of discretion in denying the motion for reconsideration. The settlement placed on the record constitutes the parties’ agreement, as it continued the essential terms of the settlement and, therefore, the written document that fleshed out the verbal agreement is enforceable as plaintiff did not timely object and it does not change the basic agreement. Further, plaintiff’s unsupported certification, including her completely uncorroborated claims of fraud and coercion, were not sufficient to warrant either an order in her favor or a hearing to resolve a factual dispute.
