One of the more difficult scenarios to deal with during a divorce is when the higher earner who will likely have to pay alimony and child support, loses her/his job
Continue Reading Losing Your Job During a Divorce – A Cautionary Tale About Quitting While You’re Ahead
Imputation of Income
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…
Continue Reading 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
Decision of Errors – Imputation, Disability, Need for Support and Deviating from Guidelines
The recent unpublished decision of Gormley v. Gormley serves as a good reminder for four polestar issues in matrimonial litigation, below, as well as to put on your best evidence…
Continue Reading Decision of Errors – Imputation, Disability, Need for Support and Deviating from Guidelines
NJ SUPREME COURT TO HEAR THE GNALL CASE
In August 2013, I blogged several times about the Appellate Division’s decision Gnall v. Gnall case. Many people claim that Gnall sets forth a new bright line standard that a…
Continue Reading NJ SUPREME COURT TO HEAR THE GNALL CASE
Reflections on Opting Out and Alimony (and Other Musings)
Sheilah O’Donnel tells herself that her new home, a townhouse in a development in Chevy Chase, Md., just a stone’s throw from a Safeway, isn’t really all that bad. Sure,
…
Continue Reading Reflections on Opting Out and Alimony (and Other Musings)
Does Gnall Suggest That We Should Be Filing Motions To Get Stay-At-Home Parents Back to Work at the Beginning of Cases?
I have previously blogged about the permanent alimony and lifestyle aspects of the Gnall case decided by the Appellate Division last week. Gnall had another interesting issue, that is, imputation…
Continue Reading Does Gnall Suggest That We Should Be Filing Motions To Get Stay-At-Home Parents Back to Work at the Beginning of Cases?
Imputation of Income in the World of Advertising
Reading the recently unpublished (not precedential) Appellate Division matter of Connaughton v. Connaughton brought me back to my days of toiling as an account executive at an advertising agency in Manhattan. Our team often worked long hours and frequently traveled for client meetings, commercial shoots, and the like.
Advertising also was and remains notorious for forcing account and creative executives to switch from agency to agency in order to make more money over time. For instance, a person who just joined an agency may be making tens of thousands of dollars more than a similarly situated person who started with and remained at the same agency throughout their career for no other reason than that the newly hired person came from a different agency.
The income situation in Connaughton was interesting in that Brian’s historical income increased as he frequently switched jobs and moved up the proverbial ladder. Similarly interesting was Elizabeth’s income growth, which stalled once she left the workforce and gave birth to the parties’ child. Specifically, the parties married in 1995, and a year later, Brian obtained a job with J. Walter Thompson while Elizabeth commenced a period of freelance work that lasted throughout the remainder of the marriage.…
Continue Reading Imputation of Income in the World of Advertising
Fox Rothschild's Robert Epstein and Lauren Koster both featured in current edition of the New Jersey Family Lawyer
Robert A. Epstein, an associate in our Family Law Group resident in the Roseland, New Jersey office, authored the article, Imputing Income to a Non-Working Spouse During the Pendente Lite…
The Anti-Climactic End of the Tannen Saga – The Supreme Court Weighs In, Sort Of
A little more than a year ago, we blogged on the reported Appellate Division Case, Tannen v. Tannen, which addressed the issue of trusts in the context of family…
Continue Reading The Anti-Climactic End of the Tannen Saga – The Supreme Court Weighs In, Sort Of
If You Think Your Alimony or Child Support Will Be Based Solely on Your Salary, Think Again
I recently heard a person say that their spouse believed his alimony and child support would be based solely on his salary. I am sure he would like that but that statement is wishful thinking at best. If he was correct, several hundred thousand dollars each year would be his alone and not considered for support. Aside from potentially being unfair, it is not the law.
In fact, in New Jersey, the definition of income from support purposes includes all sources of income. In fact, the Child Support Guidelines includes, but is not limited to 23 possibilities for income, as follows:
a. compensation for services, including wages, fees, tips, and commissions;
b. the operation of a business minus ordinary and necessary operating expenses (see IRS Schedule C);
c. gains derived from dealings in property;
d. interest and dividends (see IRS Schedule B);
e. rents (minus ordinary and necessary expenses – see IRS Schedule E);
f. bonuses and royalties;
g. alimony and separate maintenance payments received from the current or past relationships;
h. annuities or an interest in a trust;
i. life insurance and endowment contracts;
j. distributions from government and private retirement plans including Social Security, Veteran’s Administration, Railroad Retirement Board, deferred compensation, Keoughs and IRA’s;
k. personal injury awards or other civil lawsuits;
l. interest in a decedent’s estate or a trust;
m. disability grants or payments (including Social Security disability);
n. profit sharing plans;
o. worker’s compensation;
p. unemployment compensation benefits;
q. overtime, part-time and severance pay;
r. net gambling winnings;
s. the sale of investments (net capital gain) or earnings from investments;
t. income tax credits or rebates (excluding the federal and state Earned Income Credit and the N.J. homestead rebate);
u. unreported cash payments (if identifiable);
v. the value of in-kind benefits; and
w. imputed income