Category: Divorce

From time to time unreported income, failure to report nanny income, failure to deposit withholding tax for nannies, children on company payrolls or family members being claimed as employees for medical insurance purposes come to light.

Many Marital Settlement Agreements or Judgments of Divorce contain a provision that alimony will terminate upon the recipient’s cohabitation in a manner analogous or tantamount to a remarriage.

A New Jersey appeals court has affirmed the state’s right to a phase-in period before it accepts joint income tax returns from same sex couples under the New Jersey Civil Union Act.

A number of States, including New Jersey, have recently enacted Civil Union or Domestic Partnership statutes which grant same sex couples some, but not all, of the rights and privileges of marriage.

Apparently in response to widespread criticism of the recently amended Child Support Guidelines, the New Jersey Supreme Court has modified them to reduce the included income levels. The Court had recently modified the guidelines to include families earning up to $4500 per week; an increase which, according to some experts, would have included as much as 94% of New Jersey families.

In order to determine child support in any divorce case, we are compelled to use the Child Support Guidelines promulgated by the Rules Governing the Courts of the State of New Jersey. Under these Guidelines, we must determine the income of both parents in order to calculate the appropriate amount of child support.

In the recent New Jersey Supreme Court case of Pacifico v. Pacifico, the contract doctrine of contra proferentem was discussed. This doctrine provides that when a contract term is ambiguous, a court must adopt the meaning that is most favorable to the nondrafting party.

The purpose of alimony is to maintain the dependent spouse at the standard of living he/she had become accustomed to during the marriage. By law, alimony automatically terminates at the death of the payor, the death of the payee or the remarriage of the supported spouse. It will also terminate upon reaching the number of years specified in the Court Order or Agreement in the case of limited duration alimony or rehabilitative alimony.