You are here: / / THE POSTNUPTIAL AGREEMENT WAS NOT SIGNED UNDER DURESS AND WAS NOT UNCONSCIONABLE,...
,

THE POSTNUPTIAL AGREEMENT WAS NOT SIGNED UNDER DURESS AND WAS NOT UNCONSCIONABLE, SUPREME COURT REVERSED (FOURTH DEPT).

The Fourth Department, reversing Supreme Court in this divorce action, determined the postnuptial agreement was not signed under duress and was not unconscionable:

Initially, we conclude that the court erred insofar as it held that plaintiff signed the 2017 agreement under duress as a result of defendant’s emotional abuse. An agreement is voidable on the ground of duress “when it is established that the party making the claim was forced to agree to it by means of a wrongful threat precluding the exercise of his [or her] free will” … . Generally, “the aggrieved party must demonstrate that threats of an unlawful act compelled his or her performance of an act which he or she had the legal right to abstain from performing” … . “[T]he threat must be such as to deprive the party of the exercise of free will” … . Here, even accepting as true plaintiff’s allegations that defendant persistently urged him to sign the 2017 agreement and threatened to tell the parties’ children of plaintiff’s wrongful actions in the past, such conduct did not amount to any unlawful acts on the part of defendant sufficient to constitute duress … .

… [P]laintiff failed to sustain his burden of establishing that the 2017 agreement was unconscionable. “An agreement is unconscionable if it is one which no person in his or her senses and not under delusion would make on the one hand, and no honest and fair person would accept on the other, the inequality being so strong and manifest as to shock the conscience and confound the judgment of any person of common sense” … . The fact that defendant was represented by counsel but plaintiff was not is a factor for the court to consider, but is not dispositive … . As relevant here, in the 2017 agreement each party waived his or her rights in the other party’s separate property, which was defined in that agreement. … . …[T]he parties waived any right to receive maintenance. … Plaintiff … signed … three postnuptial agreements during the course of the marriage, and the testimony of both parties revealed that the parties conducted their finances in accordance with the terms of the agreements. … [I]t cannot be said that the 2017 agreement was such that it would “shock the conscience and confound the judgment of any [person] of common sense” … . Campbell v Campbell, 2022 NY Slip Op 04875, Fourth Dept 8-4-22

Practice Point: This decision includes concise descriptions of the criteria for determining whether a postnuptial agreement was signed under duress and whether the agreement is unconscionable.

 

You might also like
THE BULLET CASINGS IN EVIDENCE COULD HAVE COME FROM A PISTOL OR A RIFLE; DEFENDANT WAS CHARGED WITH ILLEGAL POSSESSION OF A PISTOL AND THE JURY WAS SO INSTRUCTED; BECAUSE THERE WAS NO BASIS FOR THE JURY TO CONCLUDE DEFENDANT POSSESSED A PISTOL, AS OPPOSED TO A RIFLE, THE CONVICTION WAS AGAINST THE WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE (FOURTH DEPT). ​
Defendant’s Indelible Right to Counsel Did Not Attach When the Attorney for Defendant’s Husband’s Estate Communicated with the Police—The Attorney Was Unaware that Defendant Was a Suspect In Her Husband’s Death at the Time of the Communication
DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO VACATE HIS CONVICTION SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED; DEFENSE COUNSEL DID NOT ATTEMPT TO SECURE THE TESTIMONY OF A WITNESS WHO WOULD TESTIFY THAT HER BOYFRIEND, WHO USED TO BE THE BOYFRIEND OF THE MURDER VICTIM, CONFESSED TO KILLING THE VICTIM (FOURTH DEPT).
TRIAL JUDGE SHOULD HAVE ALLOWED DEFENSE COUNSEL TO REOPEN THE PROOF AFTER A VIDEO PLAYED DURING SUMMATION DEMONSTRATED THE ALLEGED VICTIM HAD NOT TESTIFIED TRUTHFULLY, DEFENSE COUNSEL WAS INEFFECTIVE FOR FAILING TO VIEW THE ENTIRE VIDEO PRIOR TO TRIAL (FOURTH DEPT).
THE FACT THAT THE BENCH WARRANT WAS BASED UPON A CHARGE FOR WHICH THE STATUTORY SPEEDY TRIAL PERIOD HAD EXPIRED DID NOT INVALIDATE THE EXECUTION OF THE WARRANT AND THE RESULTING ARREST FOR RESISTING ARREST (FOURTH DEPT).
Past Psychological Records Deemed Relevant in Lead-Paint Injury Case Where Psychological Injury Alleged
NO SHOWING RUG OVER WHICH PLAINTIFF TRIPPED WAS NOT FLUSH TO THE FLOOR, HEIGHT DIFFERENTIAL WAS TRIVIAL, DEFENDANT’S SUMMARY JUDGMENT MOTION SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED.
SENTENCE IMPOSED AFTER FAILURE TO PAY RESTITUTION UNDULY HARSH AND SEVERE (FOURTH DEPT).

Categories

Sign Up for the Mailing List to Be Notified When the Site Is Updated.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Copyright © 2025 New York Appellate Digest, Inc.
Site by CurlyHost | Privacy Policy

THE CELL PHONE RECORDS OF PLAINTIFF-DRIVER IN THIS TRAFFIC ACCIDENT CASE HAD... PLAINTIFF RENTED DEFENDANT’S COTTAGE AND WAS INJURED WHEN THE DECK COLLAPSED;...