Former Wife Cannot Undue Settlement She Signed

Tennessee case summary on setting aside a divorce settlement.

Brian Lee Higdon v. Aehui Nmi Higdon

Former Wife Cannot Undue Settlement She Signed

The husband and wife in this Rutherford County, Tennessee, case met in South Korea where the husband was deployed in the United States Air Force.  They were married in 1993 and had one daughter, who was over the age of majority when the husband filed for divorce in 2018.  The husband’s attorney drafted a marital dissolution agreement.  The wife was not represented by an attorney at that time, and she signed the agreement, which was filed with the trial court along with affidavits from both spouses.  In particular, the agreement did not award the wife any portion of the husband’s military pension.  The agreement was approved by the court.

The next year, the wife hired an attorney and made a motion to set aside the decree.  She alleged that she believed the attorney was representing both of them.  She also alleged that she did not understand the agreement and that the husband failed to disclose assets.  She also alleged that she felt threatened.

The case was heard by Judge Darrell Scarlett, who denied the wife’s motion.  The wife testified that she was living in Korea at the time of the divorce and that she had received a letter from the husband’s attorney, but that maybe she didn’t read it.

When the wife returned to Tennessee to attend the daughter’s college graduation, she stayed with the husband.  She testified that she was threatened into signing the agreement.  In support of this, she testified that he had a gun safe that had many guns in it, but didn’t elaborate.

Dissatisfied with the outcome, the wife appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.  It first noted that review was de novo upon the record, but with a presumption of correctness of factual findings.

The appeals court also noted that setting aside an earlier judgment is an exceptional remedy, and the burden of proof is on the party seeking to have it set aside.

The appeals court noted that the case hinged on the testimony of the parties, and trial courts are given a high degree of deference in making determinations of credibility.  After reviewing the evidence, it found that the wife had failed to meet the burden to have the judgment set aside.

The court did go on to review the agreement and whether it was unconscionable.  But it found that the agreement was not necessarily inequitable.

For these reasons, the Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court, and remanded the case for collection of costs.  It also assessed the costs of appeal against the wife.

No. M2019-02281-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Oct. 29,  2020).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

To learn more, see The Tennessee Divorce Process: How Divorces Work Start to Finish.