Edens v. Edens

2005 NMCA 033, 109 P.3d 295, 137 N.M. 207
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 13, 2005
Docket24,342, 24,597
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 2005 NMCA 033 (Edens v. Edens) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Edens v. Edens, 2005 NMCA 033, 109 P.3d 295, 137 N.M. 207 (N.M. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

OPINION

FRY, Judge.

{1} This is a post-dissolution of marriage case in which Walter Edens (Husband) appeals the trial court’s order denying his motion to set aside the alimony provisions of the marital settlement agreement (MSA) that was incorporated into a final decree of divorce. Husband also appeals the trial court’s reconsideration of its initial denial of attorney fees and costs to Nancy Edens (Wife). Wife cross-appeals the trial court’s initial refusal to award her attorney fees and costs. We affirm the trial court’s decision refusing to set aside the lump sum alimony provision of the MSA incorporated into the divorce decree. We further hold that the trial court lost jurisdiction to reconsider its denial of an award for attorney fees and costs in this case because Husband had already filed a notice of appeal at the time Wife’s motions to reconsider were filed in the trial court. As a result of this determination, we hold the trial court’s order on Wife’s motions for reconsideration is void. Because the trial court’s initial order denying Wife’s request for fees and costs was entered without the trial court first considering argument, and because the court did not make findings of fact and conclusions of law on the issue, we remand to the trial court to revisit the issue.

BACKGROUND

{2} After approximately twenty-eight years of marriage, Wife filed a petition for dissolution of marriage and the parties filed the MSA. On the same day, the trial court approved and filed the final decree of dissolution of marriage, which incorporated the MSA.

{3} Although Husband and Wife proceeded pro se in the divorce proceedings, in the months leading up to entry of the final decree both Husband and Wife were advised by independent counsel. The parties conferred in January 2001 and resolved issues concerning, among other things, division of their community and separate property and liabilities. They then agreed to obtain the assistance of a mediator experienced in family law to resolve the issue of alimony.

{4} At the time of mediation, the parties acknowledged there was a disparity in their incomes. Husband historically earned an income considerably larger than Wife’s income. Husband worked as a sales engineer for the last eleven years of the marriage. Wife worked approximately half-time as a physical therapist during the last ten years of the marriage. During the years immediately preceding the divorce, Husband was earning approximately $180,000-$240,000 per year, while Wife was earning less than $30,000 per year.

{5} At the first mediation session, the parties discussed the concept of mediation, signed a mediation contract, and exchanged general financial information. Husband informed Wife that he planned to leave his job and move to Colorado to build a home. He planned to seek work in Colorado in the fall of 2001. Wife informed Husband that she earned between $1200 and $1500 per month, but the parties did not discuss whether this was net or gross income. Wife also stated that she would be unable to work full-time due to a medical condition that Husband was aware of, but that she was looking to increase her work hours to thirty-two hours per week. During this session and the following two mediation sessions, Husband did not dispute Wife’s neck and arm pain stemming from her medical condition, and he did not question her inability to work full-time. The mediator asked the parties to prepare budgets to be used at the next mediation session.

{6} During the second mediation session, Wife informed Husband that she thought she could increase her income to $2000 per month by working thirty-two hours per week. Again, there was no discussion of whether this was gross or net income. Wife in fact received a pay raise of $1.00 per hour that first appeared in her late March 2001 paycheck, but she apparently did not report this during mediation. Husband stated that he expected to earn approximately $137,000-$165,000 per year when he began to work again in Colorado. If he did not meet his expectations, his fail-back position was to earn somewhere between $70,000 and $100,000 per year. The mediator discussed alimony but did not advise the parties how they should treat the issue. He explained that numerous factors are considered when a court makes an alimony determination and suggested that the parties seek legal advice concerning this issue. The mediator also suggested that Husband seek advice from an accountant. Husband proposed a lump sum alimony award during this session, but the parties did not agree on any specific terms. Wife proposed that Husband pay her $1500 per month in alimony; Husband did not respond to this offer at the second session.

{7} At the third and final mediation session, Wife reported that her employer agreed to increase her work hours gradually to thirty-two hours per week and that she would be earning $34,725 per year by August 2001. The parties focused on reaching an amount to be paid to Wife as alimony. Husband had consulted with an accountant and his attorney about the issue of alimony. Ultimately, at Husband’s suggestion, the parties agreed to a nonmodifiable lump sum alimony amount to be paid at $2000 per month for the first six months after divorce and then $1500 per month thereafter until Wife turned sixty-two.

{8} Based on the agreement reached between Husband and Wife during mediation, the mediator drafted the MSA and final decree of divorce. The documents went through three drafts, and the parties reviewed, revised, and executed them during the approximately three months after the final mediation session. The MSA contained not only the alimony provisions, which set forth the terms of a nonmodifiable lump sum alimony payment, but also the property settlement and liability issues that the parties had agreed to prior to mediation. The trial court incorporated the MSA into the final decree of divorce as a final judgment.

{9} One year after the stipulated final divorce decree documents were filed in the trial court, Husband filed a motion to set aside the final judgment and alimony provisions of the MSA pursuant to Rule 1-060(B) NMRA. Husband argued that the provisions of the MSA concerning alimony should be set aside “on the grounds of misrepresentation, mistake, that it is no longer equitable that the judgment should have prospective application and/or because the contract provisions for alimony as written are so inequitable that it is unconscionable to enforce the decree incorporating the [MSA].” Husband maintained that Wife misrepresented her potential income, earning capacity, budget, and medical condition during mediation, and that the alimony provisions of the MSA should be set aside because the lump sum alimony agreement was based on Wife’s misrepresentations. Husband further argued that the MSA was ambiguous and inequitable and should be set aside based on those grounds.

{10} When Husband filed his motion, the financial circumstances of the parties had changed to some extent. At the time of the mediation sessions and before the entry of the final decree, Husband projected that he would be earning between $70,000 and $165,000 per year. But after the divorce and his move to Colorado, he had actually earned between $56,000 and $64,000 annually. Since the divorce, Wife had earned between $33,000 and $42,000 per year.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2005 NMCA 033, 109 P.3d 295, 137 N.M. 207, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/edens-v-edens-nmctapp-2005.