No divorce settlement final in CO per 4th District Judge
You should know that Judge Ronald G. Crowder, (4th District CO, El Paso County) recently allowed a 14 year old closed divorce case to be reopened to allow a woman to get a new life insurance policy (additional property benefits) that she FORGOT to ask for when she originally divorced her military husband!! Yes, despite not having an insurable interest (as per case law) and no legal right to re-open a painfully and fully negotiated closed property settlement--that was incorporated into a Final Order for Dissolution (as per case law), the ex-wife was NOW granted the right to get insurance on her ex-husband of 14 years ago---because Judge Crowder allowed himself to testify in the case by saying: "I don't see what the big deal is... I gave it to MY wife when I divorced her... it shouldn't take that long to do an examination." He actually overruled every argument made to him that was based on facts and the LAW---and based his decision solely on his OWN personal experiences! See September 5, 2007 decision in 93DR0266.
The effect of this decision is that NO DIVORCE CASE IS EVER CLOSED IN COLORADO! The parties can now keep coming back to ask for benefits---even when the benefit was NOT an existing property issue...OR even if the parties had competent counsel! If you forget to ask for anything---SBP, Life Insurance, permanent alimony, future earnings(even if you had a lawyer, even several) you can NOW come back and ask for MORE $$$$$!!
(This kind of thing has been denied in Colorado for decades... and denied in other jurisdictions---because it is against the law and against public policy---but evidently NOT in Judge Crowder's court room! This is not the first time this "new judge" has overstepped his authority... he did something similar in a criminal case 4 months before, as noted in a April 12, 2007 article in the Colorado Springs Gazette by Dennis Huspeni.
If a bad decision like this is allowed to stand, we could see a stampede of men and women trying to reopen their divorce cases!
AND YOU THOUGHT THAT NASTY DIVORCE WAS BEHIND YOU? NO, NOT HARDLY--IT JUST WON'T GO AWAY!
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09-19-2007, 09:21 AM
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