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150 Vt. 647

Cameron v. Cameron

Supreme Court of Vermont

Decided May 10, 1988

Supreme Court of Vermont · decided 1988-05-10

Relies on State v. Recor · Darken v. Mooney · Richwagen v. Richwagen

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1988-05-10

How this case has been cited

Cited by 5 later decisions — most recently March 2001

5 state decisions

30198819902000decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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¶1Plaintiff appeals from an order of the Rutland Superior Court which granted his motion for rehearing and amendment of judgment but nevertheless awarded the marital property in a manner plaintiff contends to be an abuse of discretion. We affirm.

¶2Plaintiff and defendant were granted a divorce by court order on October 16, 1986, with the decree to become absolute on December 9, 1986. Although plaintiff filed a motion requesting a rehearing, amended findings with regard to fault, and a corresponding adjustment of the property award, the court held no hearing, but corrected a mis*648take it had made with regard to the valuation and award of certain stock.

¶3We note that the motion was ruled on after the nisi period had expired and the divorce decree became absolute. Ordinarily, the trial court’s jurisdiction to amend the decree is limited to the nisi period. 15 V.S.A. § 554. See Downs v. Downs, 150 Vt. 647, 549 A.2d 1382 (1988) (mem.). However, after the nisi period expires, a trial court’s order may be changed pursuant to a 60(b) motion. Richwagen v. Richwagen, 149 Vt. 72, 75, 539 A.2d 540, 542 (1987).

¶4V.R.C.P. 60(b)(1) allows the court to exercise its discretion to amend a final judgment or ordér to correct a mistake. See Darken v. Mooney, 144 Vt. 561, 566, 481 A.2d 407, 410 (1984). In this case the court did not abuse or withhold its discretion by amending the judgment and order to correct a mistake with regard to the valuation and award of certain stock.

¶5 Affirmed.

¶6Motion to reargue denied June 2, 1988.

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