Q: My wife lawyer sent me a email with a divorce date the next day and i didnt see it until a couple of days later. She
told the judge that i signed the divorce decree which i didn't and my ex wife got all three houses and all of her military retirement. We continue to live together for another year and one day she just put me out on the streets. I want to file a motion for a new trial or a motion for a modify divorce decree because i was not there or represented in the court at all. Can you help me?
A:
The deadline to file a motion for new trial is 30 days from the date the divorce decree was signed. If you did not receive notice that the decree was signed, that deadline can be extended up to 120 days from the date the decree was signed, depending on when you first learned that a decree was signed. A motion to modify the terms of your property division is subject to the same deadlines.
You will have to file a bill of review at this point and that may not be successful. It is going to be hard to demonstrate that you were not negligent if you saw the email three days later and didn't immediately investigate to find out what happened. That would have enabled you to timely file a motion for new trial.
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