Section 15.43 Finality of Decree as to Property Division and Undivided Property

• Library: Family Law Deskbook and 2014 Supp

VII. (§15.43) Finality of Decree as to Property Division and Undivided Property

Section 452.330.5, RSMo 2000, states:

5. The court’s order as it affects distribution of marital property shall be a final order not subject to modification; provided, however, that orders intended to be qualified domestic relations orders affecting pension, profit sharing and stock bonus plans pursuant to the U.S. Internal Revenue Code shall be modifiable only for the purpose of establishing or maintaining the order as a qualified domestic relations order or to revise or conform its terms so as to effectuate the expressed intent of the order.

From time to time, a party will discover certain property that was not included in the marital estate at divorce. Sometimes this failure to include the property in the estate occurs through sheer inadvertence; other times it occurs by misrepresentation or intentional nondisclosure by a party. In any event, when a judgment of the trial court distributing marital property becomes final, it may not be modified in the same case. Rather, the Supreme Court of Missouri has held that the sole remedy for this situation is an independent suit in equity to divide the previously undivided property. Chrun v. Chrun, 751 S.W.2d 752 (Mo. banc 1988).

The five-year statute of limitations applies to this equitable action. Sharpe v. Sharpe, 243 S.W.3d 414 (Mo. App. E.D. 2007); see alsoDoss v. Doss, 822 S.W.2d 427 (Mo. banc 1992).

Often, counsel will include an “omitted property” paragraph in...