Tennessee Wife’s Failure to Disclose Affair Requires Refund of Alimony
Tennessee law case summary on antenuptial agreements in divorce and family law from the Court of Appeals.
Jeffrey Matthew Brown v. Jennifer Lindsey (Williams) Brown – Tennessee divorce antenuptial agreement.
The husband and wife were married in 2004 and divorced in 2008. Prior to their marriage, they had executed an antenuptial agreement. In that agreement, the wife waived any claim for alimony, other than the lump sum of $80,000. That agreement provided that if the wife engaged in an extramarital affair, that she would waive that amount as well.
At the time of the divorce, the parties entered into a marital dissolution agreement, and the husband paid the $80,000 called for by that agreement. The husband later learned that the wife had given birth to a child, which alerted him to a sexual affair during the marriage. He moved to have the judgment set aside, and for the return of the $80,000. He argued that the wife had a duty to disclose the pertinent facts at the time of the marital dissolution agreement, and that she had fraudulently entered into the agreement.
The trial court held that the marital termination agreement and judgment were final, and denied the husband’s motion to reopen the judgment. The husband appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals agreed and reversed the judgment.
The Court of Appeals noted that a judgment can be set aside within one year if it is tainted by fraud, misrepresentation, or misconduct, which can include an intentional contrivance to keep the other party in ignorance of the real facts.
The Court of Appeals noted that the marital dissolution agreement and judgment was made “in accordance with” the antenuptial agreement. Therefore, the wife was obligated to inform her husband of the pregnancy, and her concealment was in violation of the original contract. The court rejected the wife’s argument that she should only be liable if she had affirmatively told him that she had not had an affair. Since she knew she was not entitled to the money, the court held that her nondisclosure was sufficient to taint the judgment.
The court of appeals reversed the judgment requiring the husband to pay the $80,000 and remanded the case to the trial court.
No. W2013-00263-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Sept. 12, 2013).
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
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