Consent Order Not Appealable; Open Court Stipulation Valid

The Second Department noted that an order made on consent is not appealable and affirmed Family Court’s determination that a stipulation entered into in open court was valid:

Stipulations of settlement are favored by the courts and a stipulation made on the record in open court will not be set aside absent a showing that it was the result of fraud, overreaching, mistake, or duress”…. Here, the Family Court conducted a proper allocution of the mother, determining that she understood the terms of the stipulation, that she had sufficient time to consult with her attorney, and that she consented to the terms of the stipulation, and thus properly determined that she voluntarily and knowingly accepted the terms of the stipulation…. The mother’s contentions in support of her motion that she felt “forced into settling” and “misle[]d” by her attorney, and that she “did not fully understand what [she] was agreeing to” are insufficient to establish a claim of mistake or duress so as to warrant setting aside the stipulation of settlement… . Matter of Strang v Rathbone, 2013 NY Slip Op 05088, 2nd Dept 7-3-18