So wife and I separated in July 2022 and went to court to file an Order of Separation which divides assets and defines custody. In SC, you have to wait a year to actually file for divorce, so my understanding is that this order formally and officially divides everything. End of story. Now that we are approaching the date where we can actually file, she’s raising hell about wanting to renegotiate that court ordered agreement ….

Background:

She initiated the divorce, and she drafted the separation agreement which we both felt was fair at the time. It’s not the most well written, but we both understood what was in it and how things were split.

Few months after we split, she informed me she’s engaged (granted we are not divorced yet), and her new man is moving in with her and will be around our minor children. I accepted this (upset obviously), but still everything was fine… until she figured out I decided to move on and start getting out and go on dates myself. As soon as she understood that I had moved on, the jealousy shows up baaaaad. Suddenly, the agreement was, in her mind, no longer fair. I’m a horrible person. I’m a abusive father (we have 50/50 custody). I can pretty clearly show the correlation between her change in attitude towards that agreement and my dating via text messages and whatever…

My question is, would a judge even entertain re-opening a settlement agreement and if so what grounds would she have to claim?