Divorces involving a spouse in the military generally involve unique issues. In the recently published decision of Fattore v. Fattore, the Appellate Division held that the trial court cannot replace, “dollar for dollar”, an ex-spouse’s benefit from a military pension that was lost after the military spouse elected to receive disability benefits. Doing so
New Guidance on the Distribution of Deferred Compensation That Vests Post-Complaint
The issue of the division of deferred compensation in divorce – more particularly, unvested deferred compensation, is often one that is hotly disputed. This is in part because there is not a lot of case law on the issue. The case law is clear that deferred compensation (eg. stock options, restricted stock, RSUs, REUs, etc.)
You Know Why You Should Settle Your Retirement Alimony Case – Now What?
Last week, I blogged about whether you should settle your retirement alimony case and the ingredients that might go into that decision. To be honest, this “why you should or should not settle” question is only the beginning of what you might be facing when you decide it is time to retire and terminate your
How Not to Settle Your Case
Several years ago I did a post on this blog of the same name and then updated it some time later. The list then, as re-compiled below, are things to do if you really don’t want to settle your case. As I said before, everybody is entitled to their day in court if they want
Mind Your Manners
Credibility is key when it comes to matrimonial litigation – from your initial filing through the last day of trial. In our practice, we can often make educated guesses of the range for equitable distribution and alimony from the initial consultation based upon the many statutory factors that a court has to consider and some
You Can’t Disregard the Partnership Agreement When Valuing a Business
In 2014, I authored a post on this blog entitled Stern Revisited – Using the Shareholder Agreement to Determine Value. I noted then that it seemed that after the Appellate Division’s decision in Brown v. Brown which changed the landscape by doing away with discounts and essentially ushered in more of a value to the
Supreme Court of New Jersey Addresses Equitable Claims and Remedies (while reinforcing a potential palimony loophole through the proverbial “black hole”)
What rights do people have to an equitable distribution of assets stemming from a period prior to the marriage itself? If there is no right to equitable distribution under those circumstances, then what rights exist and what remedies can be implemented to protect those rights? In Thieme v. Aucoin-Thieme, a post-Judgment dispute involving several
You Destroyed Our Marriage—So I’m Destroying Your Memories; Consequences for Destroying or Disposing of Personal Photographs and Videos Accumulated During Marriage
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and in the recently unpublished (not precedential) case of C.S. v. B. S., Judge Jones determined that 25-years’ worth of family pictures destroyed by a scorned ex-wife are also worth $5,000.00.
In C.S. v. B. S., the parties divorced after approximately 25 years of
Divorce Lessons from Capt. Jack Sparrow
Johnny Depp a.k.a. Capt. Jack Sparrow is in the news again, this time for his failure to pay Amber Heard a $7 million divorce settlement. Heard had promised that any settlement that she received from Depp would be donated to charity. She has chosen two charities, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Children’s Hospital
All Apologies and the Distribution of a Famous Guitar
Perhaps Kurt Cobain knew when writing the song “All Apologies” that one day his daughter would be embroiled in a nasty divorce battle. While the lyrics, “Married, Buried, Married, Buried”, may not sound uplifting, they are undeniably classic Nirvana. Fans of the band would largely agree that the most well known live performance of the