Wife Can’t Reopen Divorce After Discovering Pension Asset
Wife learned that the husband had a pension benefit from Coca-Cola, but this had never been disclosed to the wife. She filed a lawsuit against the husband, alleging that the failure to disclose assets entitled her to an accounting and judgment based upon constructive fraud.
Tennessee case summary on after divorce discovered undisclosed pension asset.
Claudette Gilley Sanford v. Phillip Howard Sanford
The husband and wife in this Hamilton County, Tennessee, case were divorced in 2005 after agreeing to a marital dissolution agreement. The document was signed after the husband’s lawyer furnished a letter with a balance sheet that purported to summarize all of the parties’ assets. In 2017, the wife returned to court, and the parties ultimately settled. The husband agreed to pay $100,000 in exchange for any claims arising out of the marital dissolution agreement.
In 2019, the wife learned that the husband had a pension benefit from Coca-Cola, but this had never been disclosed to the wife. She filed a lawsuit against the husband, alleging that the failure to disclose assets entitled her to an accounting and judgment based upon constructive fraud. She also filed a motion to re-open the divorce judgment.
The trial court denied that motion. It ruled that such a motion must be made within one year of the original order. The husband then moved to dismiss the separate lawsuit. He argued that the 2017 settlement barred any further litigation. The trial court agreed and granted the husband summary judgment. The wife then appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
After stating the standard of review, the appeals court turned to the issue of how to interpret the 2017 settlement. It zeroed in on the language that the settlement operated as a release of “all known and unknown claims.” It also pointed out that the courts favor agreements to settle cases.
The court ruled that the settlement agreement was broad, and encompassed all claims that arose from the original divorce agreement.
After reviewing the facts of the case, the Court of Appeals agreed with the lower court that the $100,000 settled all claims, even though the wife was unaware of one asset. Therefore, summary judgment was appropriate, and the appeals court affirmed.
The court also taxed the costs of appeal against the wife and remanded the case.
No. E2021–00414-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. May 24, 2022).
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
To learn more, see The Tennessee Divorce Process: How Divorces Work Start to Finish.
To learn more, see Property Division in Tennessee Divorce and view our video Is Tennessee a 50 50 divorce state?
