Contempt of Court

[CollegeDad]

Well, I guess I learn something everyday.  I went to lunch with a friend of mine who is an attorney who handles a few divorce cases every now and then and I mentioned this case.  He said that he thought that both the ex wife and doctor were in contempt of court.  He said that no one has the right to change a judge's order and that her agreeing to settle for less than the judge ordered is an attempt to change a judge's order. 

He said that he thought that if the doctor can bring forth evidence where she agreed to settle the 19K for 7.5K, she could be held to that settlement.  He said that the judge is attempting to establish a court of equity and one of the axioms of equity in law is you can't come to the table with dirty hands.  Neither one of these people can come to the table with clean hands in this matter. 


Interesting huh?   

So, there may be no contempt of court drama for the doctor after all as long as he can prove that she agreed to settle outside of the court. 

[m_t]

Your friend may be correct, but I'd be wary since he's not a family law attorney. And I'm not any kind of attorney, so there we are...

However, I think where the "good" doc may be in trouble is that the "release" apparently occurred prior to either of the children coming of age and that the release was never filed with the court.

[jb]

Well, College Dad you brought an interesting perspective. The pay-off was her idea not mine. I'm guilty of not being an attorney, but I do have proof she agreed. Now she wants to profit on both ends.  I made no attempts to hide funds from her or the court. I was just preparing for retirement in another part of the world. Everything I've done to protect my assets was done with the help of an attorney, skilled in these matters. My biggest rub and my attorney brought it up to the Judge, she sat on her claim and stated in open court, I didn't come after him after we signed the deal because I didn't want him to quit giving them money. In other words she wanted me to support the kids, which I did, then came at me later. She hasn't had a legitimate job since before we were divorced. Everything that supported the kids, even when I got behind, came from me.

[CollegeDad]

We will all be interested in how this matter is resolved.  Sounds like you have pretty solid proof of the agreement.  I hope that it was notarized by a notary public and signed by a witness.  If it wasn't notarized, I hope that it was at least signed by an uninvolved or otherwise uninterested third party. 

And once this is all settled, maybe you can find some peace of mind in your retirement without the encumberances of a nagging court issue hanging over your head. 

Let us know how it worked out.  I'm confident that you have acquired good representation to handle this matter for you.  If not, I recommend pursuing it.  Apparently you do have someone you trust to handle your assets for retirement.  Maybe they can represent you on this as well or you may need to line someone up for what is hopefully one last legal matter to be resolved with your ex.