New York Divorce Report - New York's Divorce and Family Law Blog

While I took a short break from writing this blog, the Appellate Divisions have been very active, having decided several matrimonial cases of interest. In the next couple of posts, I will try to catch-up and discuss some of these recently decided cases. In Graev v. Graev, the First Department, sought to answer the question, when does an ex-spouse’s cohabitation with another adult result in a forfeiture of maintenance payments? Domestic Relations Law § 248 allows the court to eliminate maintenance upon proof that the wife is habitually living with another man and holding herself out as his wife. What... More

A divorce could easily stretch out for a year or more. For this reason, it is not uncommon for a spouse, dependent on the other, to make a motion for temporary maintenance (alimony or spousal support in New York) to be paid during the divorce. Sometimes, for either strategic or economic reasons, no motion is made for temporary support. However, the failure to make the motion for pendente lite maintenance does not necessarily result in a windfall to the economically advantaged spouse. To the contrary, after trial, the advantaged spouse could be found to be arrears in maintenance and owe... More

Postings in two divorce and family law blogs highlight a growing conflict between the states on how to deal with a parties continuing obligation to pay alimony or maintenance, as it called in New York, if the former spouse enters into a domestic partnership. To frame the issue, what happens if you are obligated to pay maintenance to your ex, but your ex rather than  re-marrying, enters into a domestic partnership? A number of states have enacted civil union or domestic partnership statutes which grant same sex couples some, but not all, of the rights and privileges of marriage. Maintenance... More