Reopening a property division after the decree.
Custody, child support, and alimony can be revisited when life changes. The property division cannot. It is a final judgment the day the judge signs it, so that people can refinance, sell, and move on without the decree following them. The exceptions exist for decrees that were wrong when entered: a spouse who lied about money, evidence nobody could have found in time, an asset everyone missed. Most of them come with a one-year clock.
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Three things to know before you ask.
The court may "revise and alter the decree respecting the amount of the alimony or allowance" after a decree for alimony or an allowance for a party or children (W.S. § 20-2-116). Custody and child support have their own modification sections. The property division is not among them; it is a final judgment, and the Supreme Court has applied the ordinary limits on vacating judgments to it since the early 1980s. The modifications page covers what can be changed.
A court may relieve a party from a final judgment for mistake, inadvertence, surprise or excusable neglect; newly discovered evidence that reasonable diligence could not have found in time; fraud, misrepresentation or misconduct by the opposing party; a void judgment; a judgment satisfied or no longer equitable to apply; or any other reason that justifies relief (W.R.C.P. 60(b)).
The motion must be made within a reasonable time, and for mistake, newly discovered evidence, and fraud "no more than a year after the entry of the judgment" (W.R.C.P. 60(c)(1)). The rule does not limit the court's power to entertain an independent action or to set aside a judgment for fraud on the court (W.R.C.P. 60(d)), but those are not a second year; they are different and harder cases.
Why the decree is final, and what the exceptions actually cover.
Finality is the point
The reason property cannot be modified while support can is practical. Support is paid from income that changes, for children who grow up, and the statutes let the court keep pace. Property is divided once, and everything that follows depends on the division staying put: the spouse who kept the house refinances it, the spouse who took the brokerage account sells and reinvests. A division that could be reopened whenever the market moved would be no division at all. So the Wyoming courts hold that a property decree is a judgment like any other, and a spouse who wants out of it has to fit within the rule that governs relief from any judgment.
That rule, W.R.C.P. 60(b), was not written for divorce. It asks whether something went wrong in how the judgment was obtained, not whether the division was fair. A spouse who agreed to a settlement at mediation and regrets it, who learns a year later that the ranch was worth more, or who did not read the decree before signing, has no ground. A spouse whose former spouse swore to a financial affidavit that left out an account, a bonus, or a company does.
The one-year limit for the three grounds most people have is the hardest fact on this page. It runs from the entry of the decree, not from discovery of the fraud, and Wyoming's rule treats fraud "whether previously called intrinsic or extrinsic" the same way. The first year after a decree is therefore the year to look hard at anything that did not add up: the tax return that arrives the following spring, the lifestyle the stated income could not support, the sale of a business that was valued at a loss. The hidden assets page describes how that evidence is found.
- 01Appeal: thirty days from entry of the decree, on the record made at trial; no new evidence
- 02Motion for new trial or to alter or amend: twenty-eight days from entry (W.R.C.P. 59)
- 03Clerical mistake or omission in the decree: corrected at any time, on motion or by the court itself (W.R.C.P. 60(a)); covers a decree that misstates what the judge ordered or needs clarifying to work as a QDRO
- 04Mistake, excusable neglect, newly discovered evidence, fraud, misrepresentation or misconduct: motion within one year of entry (W.R.C.P. 60(b)(1)–(3), 60(c)(1))
- 05Void judgment, satisfied judgment, or any other reason justifying relief: within a reasonable time (W.R.C.P. 60(b)(4)–(6))
- 06Independent action, or fraud on the court: no fixed limit, a much higher bar (W.R.C.P. 60(d))
- 07Enforcement of what the decree already says: contempt, attachment, injunction, at any time (W.S. § 20-2-112(a))
Deadlines from the Wyoming Rules of Civil Procedure in effect in 2026. A Rule 60(b) motion does not stay the decree or suspend its operation while it is pending (W.R.C.P. 60(c)(2)).
How a reopening case is built.
- Date the decree. The first question is the entry date, because it sets every deadline above. The second question is what the other spouse swore to: the Rule 26(a)(1.1) disclosures and the Confidential Financial Affidavit are the documents a fraud claim is measured against. The Rule 26 page explains what they had to contain.
- Prove it, do not allege it. A 60(b) motion is decided on evidence, and a spouse's belief that the other hid money is not evidence. Subpoenas to banks, brokerages and lenders, the tax returns for the divorce year and the year after, and where the sums justify it a forensic accountant, turn suspicion into a record.
- Show that it mattered. The court weighs finality heavily. The motion has to show not only that something was hidden or wrong, but that the decree would have been different had the court known. A small omission in a large estate may be left where it lies.
- Ask for the right relief. Reopening is not always the goal. The court can set aside the whole division and try it again, or set aside only the part the fraud touched and divide the hidden asset, charging the concealing spouse with it under the "respective merits" factor of W.S. § 20-2-114, plus fees. Where the decree already covers the asset and the spouse simply has not performed, the remedy is contempt, and the enforcement page covers it.
Omitted assets, the independent action, the settlement that was a contract, and Teton County.
What happens to an asset the decree never mentions, when the one-year door has closed, stipulated decrees, and the local practice
The asset nobody divided
Decrees miss things: a small retirement account from an old job, a mineral interest inherited during the marriage, a tax refund for the final joint year. An asset the decree does not dispose of has not been divided, and the former spouses are left holding it as they did before, which for anything jointly titled means they still own it together. How it gets resolved depends on why it was missed. When both spouses agree it was an oversight, the cleanest route is a stipulated supplemental order, and the Supreme Court has approved a district court's division of a debt the parties agreed had been left out. When one spouse knew and said nothing, the omission is a misrepresentation on sworn disclosures and belongs in a 60(b)(3) motion inside the year. When it was simply overlooked by everyone, a 60(b)(1) motion for mistake inside the year, or an ordinary action between co-owners afterward, can resolve it. The asset's value sets how much of this is worth doing.
After the year: the independent action and fraud on the court
Rule 60(d) preserves two things the one-year limit does not touch: the court's power to entertain an independent action for relief from a judgment, and its power to set aside a judgment for fraud on the court. Both are narrower than they sound. An independent action is a new lawsuit in equity that must show a judgment that ought not in good conscience be enforced, fraud or similar conduct that prevented the party from presenting their case, and no fault of their own, and courts grant it rarely. Fraud on the court is narrower still: not a lie by one party to the other, which is 60(b)(3) fraud with its one-year limit, but conduct that corrupts the court's own process, of the kind involving forged documents or a scheme that reaches the tribunal itself. The Supreme Court has also made clear that a spouse who claims fraud in the divorce cannot sue the other for damages instead; the remedy is in the divorce court, under this rule. A spouse who learns of a hidden asset at month fourteen is in a harder case than one who learned at month eight, and I will say which case it is at the first meeting.
The settlement that was a contract
Most Teton County decrees incorporate a settlement agreement reached at mediation. The agreement is a contract as well as a judgment, and a spouse who seeks to undo it is asking to undo both. The grounds are the same, but the court will also ask what the agreement itself said: whether each spouse warranted that the disclosures were complete, whether undisclosed assets were to be divided when found, and whether each side waived further discovery. A well-drafted agreement has an undisclosed-asset clause that does the reopening work by contract, and I put one in every agreement I write for that reason. The property division page covers the agreement's terms, and the mediation page covers how they are reached.
In Teton County
A Rule 60(b) motion goes back to the district judge who entered the decree, and in Teton County that is the same judge for every case. She sets hearings only once a motion is fully briefed and decides many motions on the papers, so the motion and its exhibits are the case: the law that entitles you to relief, the documents that prove the ground, and the dates that show the motion is timely, without reciting the history of the marriage. Any motion to continue must state the other side's position. Hearings are held in the temporary courtrooms at 250 E. Simpson Ave.; the courthouse page has the details. The divorce page covers the case as a whole, and the step-by-step page shows where the decree and the appeal window fall in the calendar.
Questions people ask after the decree.
Can a property division be changed after the divorce in Wyoming?
I just found out my ex hid an account. What can I do?
What is the difference between fraud and fraud on the court?
An asset was left out of the decree entirely. Who owns it now?
The decree says one thing and my ex is doing another. Do I need to reopen it?
Does the one-year limit mean I automatically win if I file in time?
Start with a confidential conversation with Aaron Herzberg.
A consultation is a scheduled working session, in person in Jackson or by video, in which we go through your situation and I tell you what I would do. It is a paid working session, not a sales pitch. The fee is quoted when we schedule. Your note reaches me directly, my office runs the conflicts check and puts the meeting on my calendar, and you can call or text any time.
40 E Simpson Ave, Jackson, WY 83001 · by appointment · video consultations for out-of-state clients · info@puzzlegroup.com