In Re Marriage Of Bisque

31 P.3d 175 (2001)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

H and W were married for seven years. Both parties were employed. H worked for a company owned by his brother, while W has worked for large, publicly-held companies where she made more money than H. On March 23, 1998, W purchased and received a kit to obtain a mail-order Mexican divorce. The parties signed an agreement before a notary public on March 25, 1998, under which W received the bulk of the marital estate, including the marital home and an adjacent lot. W waived any interest in stock in the company for which H worked, but the court found that the parties never held any ownership interest in that company. The parties mailed the completed paperwork for the Mexican divorce, which included special powers of attorney referencing the March 25 agreement, and they drove to the Jefferson County courthouse where they signed deeds conveying their real estate to W. The eventual Mexican decree also referenced the March 25 agreement and indicated that the case was filed March 27, 1998 and that a divorce was granted a week later on April 3, 1998. Two months later, H filed for dissolution. W then requested a declaratory judgment that the marriage had already been dissolved by the Mexican court. The court ruled the parties' mail-order Mexican divorce was invalid. The court granted a dissolution. The court also found that the agreement was 'extremely' and 'grossly unfair,' and that H signed the agreement because 'his will was simply overborne by his aggressive, persistent, overbearing spouse.' The court concluded that the agreement was a marital agreement, rather than a separation agreement because it was signed prior to the filing of the Colorado dissolution action. The court declined to set the agreement aside. H appealed.