Mesa, AZ asked in Divorce for Colorado

Q: Can a 21 year old CO divorce case be reopened for my ex to come after my retirement? Decree says she doesn’t get it.

My ex wife and I got divorced 20 years ago. At the table with our two attorneys she agreed to waive her rights to any of my retirement account and at the time I had less than ten years contributing. The court papers say this is “permanent and irreversible” or something like that. Married seven years. She told me she would not go after my retirement as long as I didn’t object to her being the primary parental custodian. I got every other weekend. I paid her child support on time the entire time until no longer required (12 years or so) for our kids. She spent her money on Cosmetic surgery and all sorts of things that wasn’t helping our kids. And I bought their clothes and almost everything they ever needed.

Now, 20 years later - I retire and now she told me she is looking for an attorney to go after part of my retirement. She remarried and had five or ten boyfriends in the past twenty years and she is now divorced a second time.

Can she get it reopened this long later?

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1 Lawyer Answer
Sabra M. Janko
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Answered
  • Colorado Springs, CO
  • Licensed in Colorado

A: An attorney would have to review your agreement in order to know what your legal rights and obligations are. Typically if she waived sharing in your retirement, then she could not reopen the matter to ask for it. Sometimes decrees do allow for requests at a later time when the retirement amount is known. Usually property division is final and can only be reopened if full disclosure was not made at the time of the initial proceeding.

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