Legal Question in Family Law in Washington

The CR2 agreement my lawyer had me sign stated the money from my ex's 401k would be signed over to me and all debt would be paid from it. My ex has repeatedly refused to provide financial statements and now months have gone by. Due to stock prices falling there is not going to be enough funds to pay off debt. Is the CR2 still enforceable or will it be renegotiable?


Asked on 9/16/11, 8:30 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Amir John Showrai The Pacific Law Firm, PLLC

I don't want to second guess your attorney, and I'm pretty sure there are things in your case that would take too long to go over in a post, otherwise you'd be writing for a week. That said, if your ex refuses to provide the financial statements, why not bring a motion to compel, which is where you force your ex to produce the documents, or you can subpoena the documents directly from the financial institution that manages the 401(k).

Depending on exactly how many months have rolled by, I may be inclined to ask for a judgment against the ex for the difference between the value of the 401(k) had the ex signed over the 401(k) when the ex was supposed to, versus when you actually do get it. I'm not sure of how much is in the plan, but if it is a drop of less than 10%, I would not do anything, since these days the market can easily fluctuate by that amount in a couple of weeks.

It would be reasonably foreseeable that the market would fluctuate somewhat. However, if it is worth half now, then I'd say you have a case, especially if 4-6 months have rolled by since the ex was supposed to transfer the funds over to you.

As far as enforceability, if the CR 2A has been reduced to a Decree of Dissolution, then you enforce the decree. If the decree is yet to be entered, then you file to enforce the CR 2A. Everything is negotiable, even when you file a motion to compel production or a motion to enforce the CR 2A. Maybe after you file the motion your ex makes an offer to settle the motion. Talk to your lawyer about these ideas since that person has a better idea of the details of the case, which I do not, so my thoughts here are given half blind, and need to be put into context that only a lawyer familiar with all aspects of the case can decide if what I'm suggesting here will work.

Best of luck to you.

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Answered on 9/16/11, 2:36 pm


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