Opinion ID: 2131663
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: attack on divorce decree

Text: The divorce judgment was entered by default, pursuant to a property settlement entered into by the parties. Nick Bingert claims now that he entered into the agreement without effective advice of counsel at a time when he was confident that he would be reconciled with his wife and while he was under the influence of habitual intoxication. By this showing he seems to be attempting to reopen or vacate the original judgment. If so, the attack should have been made as a motion to reopen the judgment under the provisions of Rule 60, North Dakota Rules of Civil Procedure, just as a similar attack was made upon a judgment of divorce in Smith v. Smith, 71 N.D. 110, 299 N.W. 693 (1941), under a former rule relating to the reopening of judgments. See also Harchenko v. Harchenko, 77 N.D. 289, 43 N.W.2d 200 (1950). Even if we were to construe the motion to modify the judgment as having been brought under Rule 60, the showing is insufficient to justify relief. There is no adequate showing of mistake, inadvertence, surprise, excusable neglect, newly discovered evidence, fraud, misrepresentation, or misconduct of an adverse party or any other basis for relief from the operation of the judgment. The affidavits of record indicate that Nick Bingert, at the time of the divorce, was an alcoholic, but they do not show that he was incompetent to deal with his affairs or that he was misled or imposed upon by anyone. He may have believed he would be reconciled with his wife, but that is no basis for upsetting a binding agreement arrived at without duress or fraud. The record indicates that he sought the advice of his landlord, an attorney, and was informed by that attorney that he seldom handled domestic-relations cases. Nick Bingert was advised to retain an attorney experienced in the domestic-relations field, but declined to do so. Instead, he used the services of the one who recommended that he go elsewhere. The record also indicates that the parties worked out their own property-settlement agreement between themselves and then asked their attorneys to put it in writing. It was signed by both of the parties and the attorneys.