Court Opinion

ID: 9700430
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 21:28:20.289562+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:09.116202
License: Public Domain

NEUMANN, Justice,
concurs in result.
Despite my dissent in Crawford v. Crawford, 524 N.W.2d 833 (N.D.1994), I concur in the result in this case. Crawford was an appeal from a denial of a Rule 60(b), N.D.R.Civ.P., motion to set aside a judgment. Our standard of review for such matters is merely abuse of discretion, a very deferential standard that I believe was not followed in Crawford.
*784This case, on the other hand, is a direct appeal from a judgment in which the trial court clearly but incorrectly determined it had only the authority to review questions of fraud, mistake, undue influence, and the parties’ competence to contract. While we have always encouraged deference to the parties’ wishes when they agree to settle a divorce action, we have never held a trial court should abdicate its responsibility under section 14-05-24, N.D.C.C., to do justice and equity. The trial court’s ruling in this case was based on a misapprehension of its authority and responsibility, and therefore, must be reversed.