We see it all of the time. The support (alimony and child support) obligor’s income is made up of multiple components – typically salary, bonus and/or deferred compensation. In cases where the bonus/deferred comp makes up only a small portion of the total yearly income, you usually wont see too much fighting about what the
Alimony Formulas: Yet Another Cautionary Tale
Over the years, I have blogged about alimony formulas, “rules of thumb” and similar ways that alimony is settled. I say settled, because in most instances, courts are not allowed to use a formula to determine alimony. Basically, there are two types of formulas that we often see. One takes a percentage of the differences
Appellate Division Clears Up the Alimony Statute Application for Early Retirement in Pre-Amendment Cases
The Appellate Division recently published a decision, Amzler v. Amzler, making it precedent setting on the use of the new alimony statute in a case of a payor’s early retirement, where parties entered into an alimony agreement prior to its enactment in September 2014. While 2014 may feel like years ago because it was,
Coronavirus Creates Estate Planning Opportunities – Divorce Too?
Over the last several weeks, via emails, attending webinars and otherwise, I have frequently heard that the coronavirus may create significant estate planning opportunities. In fact, while writing this post, I Googled “coronavirus and estate planning opportunities” and got 544 million results in .46 seconds. While I am sure that not all of the results
As if it Wasn’t Clear the First Time, The Appellate Division Rules On the Impact of a Social Security Administration Disability Determination on Support- Again
In a recent published (precedential) decision, Gormley v. Gormley, the Appellate Division cleared up confusion between two prior cases that dealt with the impact of a determination of disability by the Social Security Administration upon support.
In Gormley, the parties were divorcing. The Wife in this matter had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis
Two Months of Overnights May Not Definitively Mean Cohabitation, But It Should At Least Get You Discovery
As we have said before, the 2014 amendments to the alimony statute allegedly made it easier to terminate alimony if the recipient of the alimony was cohabiting. The statute now provides that alimony may be terminated or suspended if cohabitation was proven. The statute made clear that the parties didn’t even have to live together
How the Economic Downturn and Financial Impact of Coronavirus Could Be Felt in 2021 and Beyond
An all too familiar, if not overused, term to describe all thing Covid 19/Corona virus is “unprecedented.” In an attempt to avoid politics, whether any of this was foreseeable or not, there is no dispute of the absolute financial devastation that the world wide pandemic as created. The stock market has cratered, many people are
When Dividing Deferred Compensation – Say What You Mean and Mean What You Say – To Avoid Future Litigation
It is not unusual for deferred compensation (eg. stock options, restricted shares, RSU, REUs, and a whole host of others) to be addressed in marital settlement agreements, either as assets divided in equitable distribution, for purposes of computing income for support, or both. Often the language is complicated and in some agreements it is incomprehensible.
Appellate Division Gives Guidance Regarding Life Insurance to Secure Alimony
Yesterday, I blogged on the S.W. v. G.M. case in a post entitled More from the Appellate Division on Lifestyle, Foulas and the Concept of Income Equalization. In that blog, I noted that the S.W. court also addressed the issue of life insurance to secure alimony.
It is not necessary to get into the facts
More From the Appellate Division on Lifestyle, Formulas and the Concept of Income Equalization
A few weeks ago, I authored a post on this blog entitled Debunking the Myth That the Percentage Used in the So-Called “Alimony Rule of Thumb” Should Go Down as the Payer’s Income Goes Up. That post reiterated that the Court’s cannot use formulas, but that they are often used and that people have