Tudhope v. Riehle

In Tudhope v. Riehle, 167 Vt. 174, 704 A.2d 765 (1997), Tudhope filed suit in superior court alleging that the separation agreement she entered into with her ex-husband was unconscionable and obtained through fraud. The family court had adopted the agreement in its final order. Once the court did so, the agreement became part of the court's final judgment, and the only avenue for relief from it was a motion to set the judgment aside. Tudhope, 167 Vt. at 177, 704 A.2d at 767. Consequently, the Court held the later superior court action constituted a collateral attack on the final judgment and affirmed the superior court's dismissal of Tudhope's suit. 167 Vt. at 178-80, 704 A.2d at 767-68.