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

There are few certainties in life. However, one of life’s certainties is that all marriages will end, whether by death or divorce. At the end of marriage, whether by divorce or death, disputes over money and the disposition of marital assets may be inevitable. However, a pre-nuptial agreement can help lessen the potential for conflict by clearing identifying the parties separate property and defining the parties’ rights to the marital property. A recent article illustrated why a Pre-Nup may be a smart money move.  1. Why are pre-nuptial agreements beneficial? "One of the common reasons to get a pre-nup is... More

The Court of Appeals, New York’s highest court announced in a pair of cases that marital funds which were used to pay the separate obligations of one of the parties during the marriage could not be recouped in the divorce. This is a far reaching decision because, for instance, a second wife cannot now recover from her husband marital funds used to pay his first wife spousal maintenance or child support. In short, the divorce court should only consider the assets and liabilities existing at the time of the divorce. The Court in Mahoney-Buntzman v. Buntzman declared that: Courts... More

The Appellate Division answered a common question- what happens when one spouse uses marital assets to pay a separate obligation. It is quite common for the parties to enter the marriage with existing  financial obligations, whether it be student loans, credit card debt or even an obligation to pay child support  or maintenance from a prior marriage. It would be the norm to pay these financial obligations from current income. The problem is that the separate debt is being paid with marital assets, the current income. In the fascinating case of Johnson v. Chapin, the husband used martial assets for... More

The Appellate Division in Mildy v. Mildy examined some of the factors considered in equitably distributing martial assets. In this case, the Court was confronted with the issues of equitably distributing the wife’s enhanced earning capacity and jointly held real property which was, in large part, paid for with the wife’s separate property. The Wife earned a master's degree during the marriage.  Her enhanced earning capacity  was valued at $140,000. After trial the husband was awarded a half interest in the degree. The Appellate Court reduced the husband’s interest in the wife’s enhanced earning capacity to 25%, and provided the... More

The Pennsylvania Family Law Blog poses the very practical question- what do to with a gift or inheritance received during a marriage? How can one insure that a gift to an adult child does not end up marital property subject to the other spouse’s claims? As the blog post points out, Generally, marital property means all property acquired by either party during the marriage, regardless of whose name it is in. An exception arises for property acquired by gift (except between spouses), such as an inheritance. In New York, the same rule applies. Provided the gift remains in the sole... More

Thank you to the Prenuptial Agreement Blog for including me in the list of Top Family Law Blogs. Speaking of prenuptial agreements, a couple of cases addressing prenuptial agreements have been decided by the Appellate Division in recent weeks. Thus, I begin a series of postings addressing these cases. In the recent case of Selinger v. Selinger, the parties entered into a prenuptial agreement, in which they agreed “to waive any rights in and to the other's separate property, including gifts of land to the other as long as the gift was either evidenced in writing or "such records or... More