It’s a story as old as time in the New Jersey courts. Alimony is set based upon the income of parties to a divorce, but then years later, a spouse loses his or her job and is unable to continue to make the agreed upon or ordered payments. What is a Court to do?
In
Too often in family law practice, the discovery process by which one litigant is supposed to procure information from the other litigant becomes a frustrating and costly game where the non-compliant party hopes that the other party will simply give up rather than continue the chase down the rabbit hole of information. Long-term readers of
As regular readers of this blog may know, cohabitation has been a hot topic of discussion in recent months with several new cases addressing the subject within and beyond the context of the amended alimony law. With new case law to consume, one question remains constant – how does a payor spouse fulfill his or
The amended alimony law that went into effect in late 2014 raised many questions as to the meaning of its terms and how such terms will be applied, especially as to how a payor’s retirement impacts upon an existing alimony obligation. As we have previously discussed, the law provides that a payor former spouse may
When we all think of insurance, we often think of medical insurance, car insurance and homeowner’s insurance as these seem to be the necessary and everyday types of insurance. Life insurance, which for some can be synonymous with high premiums, is one of the first costs to go when seeking to reduce your budget. I
With New Jersey’s amended alimony statute becoming effective on September 10, 2014, many questions have arisen as to how the statute will apply and the meaning of many of the new terms contained therein. The Appellate Division’s newly reported (precedential) decision in Spangenberg v. Kolakowski provides some insight from the judiciary that we have been
Today marks the first anniversary of new alimony law. One year ago today, September 10, 2014, Governor Christie signed into law Bill A-845 which substantially amended the provisions of the New Jersey alimony statute – N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23.
The major changes to the law are succinctly delineated in the following alert by Eric Solotoff and
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.
In the domestic violence statute, there is a presumption that the abused should get custody. In the custody statute, the prior history of domestic violence is simply one of the many factors that a court must consider. There really has not been a reported case that addresses the confluence of these two statutes until July
To what extent can a parent’s illness can have a bearing on a pending custody decision or existing custody arrangement. Oftentimes, the illness is of a mental nature, where one parent will argue that the other parent is unfit to care for the children because of that parent’s history of mental illness, psychological/psychiatric treatment and/or