As a lover of all things Coldplay, I was sad to hear that lead singer Chris Martin and his wife of more than 10 years, Gwyneth Paltrow, were divorcing. Gwyneth Paltrow announced the separation on her website Goop.com and used the term “conscious uncoupling” to describe their approach to divorce. Although the term had been
Beware the Divorce Litigant Who is Watering the Money Tree With The Tears From Cries of Poverty
Often, cases are given nicknames, sometimes by judges and law clerks, and sometimes by the attorneys. Sometimes the nicknames come from who the people are – for instance, a case we had several years ago where both parties were models became the “model case” at the courthouse. Sometimes, the names come from something that one
When Should Child Support Start?
Last week, the prolific Judge Lawrence R. Jones, J.S.C. shed some much-needed light on an essential question; namely: can the court retroactively set an obligor’s child support obligation to a date earlier than the filing date of an actual motion to establish child support in the reported case of Kakstys v. Stevens? According to
Who’s Your Daddy?
In a recent case, Passaic County Board of Social Services on Behalf of T.M. v. A.S., the New Jersey Family Court encountered a unique set of facts. A mother of two twin girls sought to establish the paternity of her daughters in order that the father would be obligated to commence paying child support.
J is for Justifying a Deviation from the Child Support Guidelines
Your lawyer has just told you what you are likely to receive for child support and your jaw has dropped because you know the amount comes nowhere near the actual cost of supporting the children. How then, do you get your soon-to-be ex-spouse to pay what you consider to be a fair amount for the
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR…BECAUSE YOU JUST MIGHT GET IT
As a matter of public policy, New Jersey Courts favor the enforcement of agreements reached between parties. Since Marital Settlement Agreements (“MSA”) are entered into consensually and voluntarily, they are often approached with a predisposition in favor of their validity and enforceability. That notwithstanding, these agreements are enforceable only if they are fair and equitable.
How Do Social Security Disability Benefits Affect Child Support?
If your former spouse is receiving Social Security Disability (SSD) benefits and is the payor of child support, it is important to know that your child is also eligible for certain benefits – known as SSD Dependency Benefits – and that they will have an effect on how much your former spouse must pay directly
The Importance of the Decision: Don't Let a Hotly Contested Issue Go Undecided
So often, parties go to court only to be told by the judge to “work it out.” It’s a strange phenomenon; after all, if the parties could “work it out,” why would they go to the trouble and expense of hiring lawyers, gathering proofs, preparing pleadings, and appearing in court?
We all know that one
Imputing Income for Interim Support at the Beginning of a Divorce
The issue of interim support payments comes up in almost every divorce matter. The law requires that the so-called “status quo” that existed during the marriage be maintained to the extent possible, but what does that even mean when there may now be two households to support, litigation expenses, and other costs that were never
Making the Release of the Dependency Exemption Conditioned Upon the Receipt of the Child Support Due
One of the issues to resolve in a divorce cases is the allocation of the dependency exemptions. While the IRS says that they should go to the custodial parent, by and large, states, including New Jersey feel that they can allocate the exemptions between parents and there is case law to that affect.
In most