Thinking Ahead: The Power of a Prenup

iStock_000016304397SmallWith spring almost here, wedding season is on the way. If your nuptials will take place sometime in the coming months, have you taken a moment to think about the road ahead, after the ceremony and honeymoon, when “real life” as a married couple begins? It is always the hope that the stage will be set for marital bliss, but it’s also prudent to take some realistic steps towards making sure you are protected and “insured” no matter what the future brings. Read more

Extracurricular Activities, Graduate School on the Line in New Jersey Child Support Decisions

In New Jersey, two recently decided court cases show just far-reaching state family law is concerning the burden of parents to pay child support costs, especially in the area of education. Read more

Questions Arise: What is Constructive Abandonment in the Rachel Canning Case

iStock_000016363488SmallDevelopments in the Rachel Canning case continue to have New Jersey parents, and indeed, parents throughout the entire country, scratching their heads in bewilderment. The court has ordered both parties to provide trial briefs discussing “constructive emancipation” and “constructive abandonment.”

What do these terms mean? As we recently discussed, New Jersey courts haven’t generally used the term “constructive emancipation,” but courts in some other states, including New York, have. Looking at interpretations in those states, we can at least understand how Rachel Canning’s case hinges on whether or not she is emancipated (whether constructively or otherwise). Read more

Same-Sex Couples in New Jersey: Are Both Divorce and Dissolution Necessary?

Same-sex marriage has been legal in New Jersey since a groundbreaking ruling in October 2013 paved the way for marriage equality. But what about same-sex divorce? As family law attorney Bari Weinberger points out in her new article for the New Jersey Law Journal, some lingering questions and legally ambiguous situations may face some same-sex couples who decide to split up. Read more

Terrell Owens: Two Week Marriage Ends Over Financial Concerns

At the height of his NFL career, professional football player Terrell Owens was worth an estimated $70 million. However, in 2011, Owens told a judge in a Family Court dispute that a series of financial set backs had essentially left him broke. At the time, he was paying $125,000 a month in child support and mortgage payments to the four mothers of his four children.

The latest wrinkle in Terrell Owens’ money problems? A two week marriage that has already ended in claims that “T.O.” was trying to financially defraud new wife Rachel Snider into obtaining a mortgage and putting a down payment on a $2 million home. Read more

Why Hiding Divorce Assets Offshore Not An Option

Off the slopes and away from the rink, the Sochi Winter Olympics features a very fierce battle being waged. However, this race is not for a gold medal, it’s a divorce dispute involving Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin, who is said to have funded the bulk of the Sochi Games and Natalia Potanin, his wife. Read more

Blue Ribbon Commission Proposed To Study NJ Alimony Reform

Following the lead of other states that have updated alimony laws in recent years, the wheels of change appear to now be turning in New Jersey in the form of a new Blue Ribbon commission approved February 11, 2014 by the Assembly Judiciary Committee to study alimony reform. Read more

When Only One Spouse Wants to Divorce: Obtaining A Default Judgment

In a best case scenario, the decision to divorce is made only after much careful and thoughtful consideration and an understanding on the part of both spouses that ending their marriage is ultimately the right thing to do, even if it’s a very difficult thing to do.

In many divorce cases, however, separation can be the result of one spouse abruptly leaving out of the blue and abandoning the other, or the decision to divorce is a choice made by only one spouse, with the other spouse resistant to the idea.

Do you find yourself in one of these last two examples, either as the spouse caught off guard by divorce, or as the spouse who has left? Here’s what you need to know about what happens in New Jersey when divorce is only pursued by one spouse. Read more

5 People Who Need a Prenuptial Agreement

Image copyright Jean_Nelson, Depositphoto.com

Are you one of them? A prenuptial agreement is a legal document signed off on by a couple before their marriage that can address such issues as property and assets brought into the marriage by each person, and what the property rights of each will be should they divorce. A prenup can also spell out amounts of NJ spousal support or alimony the couple agrees to in the event of divorce, and how certain behavior (i.e., cheating/marital infidelity) can affect the conditions of a divorce. Read more

Why Did Eliot and Silda Spitzer File for Divorce as “Anonymous v. Anonymous”?

Eliot Spitzer, former Governor of New York and his wife Silda Wall Spitzer have officially filed for divorce, but in a move that might seem to some as unusual for a couple so much in the spotlight, the power couple’s divorce petition was filed as “Anonymous vs Anonymous”.

Why not use their real names? Read more