Blog

FOR PURPOSES OF MAINTENANCE AND CHILD SUPPORT

In a NY divorce action, a statutory formula is used to figure out how much the monied spouse will be ordered to pay the non-monied spouse for purposes of calculating maintenance and child support. The amount of income each party is assigned is based on their respective incomes and may be based on their potential incomes as well. However, the law in New York also allows a party to a divorce action to have income imputed to him or her based on various factors. One such factor is the income provided to him or her by family members.

Recently, we represented the wife, whose husband alleged that his income was only $50,000 annually. In fact, once in receipt of his dozens of bank accounts, it was determined that his parents had provided substantially more money to the married couple throughout their marriage. Although he staunchly contested these payments and asserted they were all loans that needed to be paid back, we proved, through extensive motion practice and oral arguments that due to the monies frequently...

more

Many married couples enter into a Stipulation of Settlement or Settlement Agreement before obtaining a final Order of Divorce. The purpose of doing so is to more quickly come to terms upon which they agree. Such issues involved in those agreements are custody, visitation, maintenance/alimony, child support, health insurance benefits, etc.

Recently, a young woman entered our office who had entered into such an agreement approximately two years before. After eight years of marriage and one child (now four years old), she realized the terms of her Stipulation of Settlement were not fair, giving too much power with regard to custody to her husband.

At the time the agreement was entered into, her husband had been represented by an attorney. The wife never sought counsel. However, she had ample opportunity to do so, as she had the agreement in her possession for several months before signing. Her husband constantly hounded her to sign the document and she finally did.

The agreement gave residential custody to the husband (meaning the child would reside with him) and...

more

A client came to us recently who had joint custody of her special needs son, with her ex-husband. However, the actions of the ex-husband began to deter their son’s progress; progress the boy had made over the course of several years by engaging in a variety of intensive therapies. If not for these constant efforts, their son would not even have ever spoken. However, he is required constant treatment and therapy, that will likely continue for many more years. His father failed to recognize this and did not act in his best interests. Therefore, the mother successfully moved for sole custody of the parties’ son, to ensure his needs will continue to be met, as well as to ensure his safety. Below is a statement by our client, the mother of the special needs child, who after contentious litigation, was awarded sole custody.

...

more