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Patti v. Patti

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Jan 30, 1989
146 A.D.2d 757 (N.Y. App. Div. 1989)

Opinion

January 30, 1989

Appeal from the Supreme Court, Nassau County (Yachnin, J.).


Ordered that the orders are affirmed, without costs or disbursements.

Contrary to the wife's present contention, we conclude that the court properly denied her motion to vacate the various agreements of the parties without a hearing with respect to her allegations of fraud, unfairness and unconscionability. Her conclusory claim that the husband fraudulently concealed assets at the time the separation and modification agreements were executed is belied by the facts that both parties were represented by able counsel and accounting experts during the negotiations and that extensive financial disclosure, including the deposing of the husband on numerous occasions, was conducted. The wife was clearly provided with ample time and opportunity to obtain full and complete disclosure of the husband's assets, and she acquired voluminous financial information as a result. Moreover, the terms of the challenged agreements were quite generous toward her, especially in view of the short duration of the parties' marriage. Accordingly, the wife's vague and conclusory allegations of nondisclosure were insufficient to warrant a hearing as to whether the agreements or any portions thereof should be set aside for fraud and overreaching (see, Christian v Christian, 42 N.Y.2d 63; McDougall v McDougall, 129 A.D.2d 685), or whether they were fair and reasonable when made and would not be unconscionable at the time of entry of the final judgment (see, Domestic Relations Law § 236 [B] [3]).

Additionally, we find that inasmuch as the wife accepted the benefits of the separation agreement and the modification thereof for years before moving to vacate them, she is precluded from now challenging them (see, Beutel v Beutel, 55 N.Y.2d 957; Hirsch v Hirsch, 134 A.D.2d 485; Weinstein v Weinstein, 109 A.D.2d 881; Chasin v Chasin, 98 A.D.2d 788).

Furthermore, the Supreme Court properly denied the wife's motion to renew, as she did not offer a valid excuse for her failure to apprise the court of the alleged additional facts at the time the original motion was made (see, McRory v Craft Architectural Metals Corp., 112 A.D.2d 358).

We have considered the wife's remaining contentions and find them to be without merit. Mollen, P.J., Bracken, Sullivan and Harwood, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

Patti v. Patti

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Jan 30, 1989
146 A.D.2d 757 (N.Y. App. Div. 1989)
Case details for

Patti v. Patti

Case Details

Full title:MICHAEL PATTI, Respondent, v. SHERRILL PATTI, Appellant

Court:Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department

Date published: Jan 30, 1989

Citations

146 A.D.2d 757 (N.Y. App. Div. 1989)

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