I was involved in a divorce that took five years, 1998 - 2002. Three years in court to determine whether I was entitled to half of a business that we (my husband and I) were a part of within a "family business". They claimed it was gifted to him, which we proved was not true. California is supposedly a 50/50 state but it didn’t turn out that way because they lied about the money we earned and the value of the business. I just gave up. After five years I was weary of the fight and the attorney fees were over $500,000 so we settled. After 28 years of a marriage in which I didn’t work, I had no idea what it really takes to live. I’m 53 years old and work in an office making a bit more than minimum wage. I do get alimony but that doesn’t meet my bills so I have two boarders. I short changed myself by giving up, by taking what I did. He even made me agree that I would never take him back to court to ask for more support. Just after the divorce, we thought, was final all this money showed up that he said didn’t he didn’t have. Now, after seven years I learned that the divorce was never filed. Can I go back and ask for more in financial support? And ask for a portion of the business that really does exist and that he now clearly has control of? Do I have a case to ask for a portion of what is rightfully mine? And to request more support based on what we really made during our marriage. BTW – we didn’t have anything when we got married at ages 20 and 18.
Thank you for your advice.

This is a bit confusing so Im going to start with it. First off he can't make you sign anything that says you don't have the right to... ( fill in the blank ). Yes you have the right to ask for an adjustment since its been over 2 - 3 years since you were in court. Why wasn't it filed and finalized ? The reason Im asking is because you may be married still. And I don't mean in the fighting for divorce sense. I mean married married. The courts in California have been setting aside old cases when there has been no ongoing activity for a 5 year period. That means you may end up starting from square one if that has happened. If your case involves children and there is a continuation of child support etc then the rule applies only after there is no support "issues" meaning support is paid and the children are grown then the clock can start ticking. You really need to find out about this and don't ask HIS lawyer either. Take care of it on an independent level. You should also with your existing documents have all the numbers you need to call the court house and get a status of your case. Open, Closed or set aside.

And if the divorce is not final, you are still married, Any settlement is not nomally final till the divorce is final