Title: Riehle v. Tudhope

State: vermont

Issuer: Vermont Supreme Court

Document:

Riehle v. Tudhope (99-289); 171 Vt. 626; 765 A.2d 885 

[Filed 13-Dec-2000]

                                 ENTRY ORDER

                      SUPREME COURT DOCKET NO. 1999-289

                             NOVEMBER TERM, 2000

Theodore M. Riehle, Jr.	               }	APPEALED FROM:
                                       }
                                       }
     v.	                               }	Grand Isle Family Court
                                       }	
Mary Tudhope	                       }
                                       }	DOCKET NO. 8-3-91 Gidm
	

                                                Trial Judge: Alden T. Bryan 
                                                             (Ret.), Specially
                                                             Assigned

             In the above-entitled cause, the Clerk will enter:

       Defendant Mary Tudhope appeals the family court's refusal to reopen
  the parties' divorce case  based on her claim that the settlement agreement
  incorporated into the final divorce order was  unconscionable.  We conclude
  that the court acted within its discretion in denying the motion, and 
  therefore affirm its judgment.

       Tudhope and plaintiff Theodore Riehle were married in 1979 and
  separated in 1990.  In  January 1991, one month before filing for divorce,
  they executed a separation agreement requiring  Riehle to pay Tudhope a
  lump sum of $430,000.  In May 1991, the family court granted the parties a 
  divorce and incorporated most of the terms of the agreement into the final
  judgment order.  Five  years later, in January 1996, Tudhope filed a
  complaint in superior court alleging that the separation  agreement was
  unconscionable and obtained through fraud, deceit, and duress.  In October
  1997, we  affirmed the superior court's dismissal of the action for lack of
  subject matter jurisdiction.  Tudhope  v. Riehle, 167 Vt. 174, 177, 180,