Just who is the better custodial parent? Most parents would think that he or she is clearly the better custodial parent. But who does the court consider to be the best? Well, that all depends upon the interest of the child and not the interest of the parents. But just what is the interest of the child and how is it determined? Although the formula and guidelines exist, it is up to each individual judge to make that ultimate decision. To see a list of factors that the court will look at when determining custody and to determine the court’s view of the Best Interest of Child, visit the informative article at http://www.divorce-lawyers-newyork.com/best_interest_of_child_doc.php
Although a complete termination of alimony to the plaintiff was an abuse of the trial court’s discretion, the continued payment of $16,000 a year to a woman of the plaintiff’s means, after her brief marriage to the defendant, was not justified. Borowitz v. Borowitz
The trial court did not err in its judgment that plaintiff, by using the $1,000 in additional payments awarded to her as a condition to termination of alimony, could make herself employable either by undergoing surgery on her feet or by obtaining additional education, and that defendant’s remarriage, and the birth of a child from the new marriage, constituted substantial change of circumstances justifying termination of alimony. Tan v. Tan
Similar prior provision allowing the court to make reasonable and proper alterations in its alimony requirement also vested the court with ample power to declare the termination of all alimony upon the occurrence of facts reasonable justifying such a declaration. Lennahan v. O’Keefe
Absent unequivocal language that the court intended a spouse’s heirs to be bound by its alimony obligation terminated at paying spouse’s death. Lennahan v. O’Keefe
ELIZABETH, N.J. - With no sign of a settlement in the highly public divorce of New Jersey’s gay ex-governor, onlookers can expect more dirt to be kicked up in the week ahead.
Jim and Dina Matos McGreevey are each expected to take a turn on the witness stand this week as a judge tries to figure out how much the governor-turned-seminary-student should pay in alimony and child support.
The Garden State’s infamous former first couple has already done a thorough job of dragging each other through the mud as they decouple.
Following his famed “I am a gay American” resignation speech, which propelled the McGreeveys onto a national stage in 2004, the pair has been engaged in a lengthy public humiliation battle that seems unlikely to end soon.
It was unnecessary for the court to make any findings as to matters on the economic circumstances of the parties since the date the judgment of dissolution was entered where the record reflected that following the remand order no extraordinary circumstances had arisen.
Despite overwhelming odds, Allison Quets is not done fighting for the twins she gave up and then abducted. Legal experts say the two main issues that would have allowed her to see the twins, Holly and Tyler, have been decided. But Quets clings to the hope that someday a court will rule in her favor. “Sooner or later, we’re going to find the right court and the right judge,” Quets said in a recent interview, “and I know this will be rectified.” For more than two years, Quets has been in a bitter custody dispute with the twins’ adoptive parents, Kevin and Denise Needham of Apex. The Needhams couldn’t be reached for comment, but a family friend, Kat Moncol, said Quets’ quest is futile. “After she kidnapped the children, she doesn’t have a chance to see them at all,” Moncol said. “It was totally inappropriate.”
A bill proposing that regional magistrate’s courts be allowed to grant divorces would create formidable challenges, given problems with fraudulent decrees, MPs heard on Monday. This was the view of the Judicial Officers Association of SA (JOASA) in its submission to the national assembly’s justice committee. It said each regional court would need the equivalent of a registrar equipped and skilled to deal with divorce matters. ‘It will be difficult to institute divorce proceedings in these courts’ “There have been many fraudulent divorce decrees and a central registrar functions efficiently to control this,” the submission states. To impose the duties of divorce court registrars on current civil clerks at the various courts would be highly impractical, it warned.
Douglas County commissioners took the first step Wednesday to hand back responsibility for enforcing local child support orders to the state of Oregon. The commissioners signed a notice notifying the state that the county plans to close its child support unit beginning July 1. Under terms of an operating agreement with the state, the county is required to provide 90 days notice to end the agreement. Earlier, District Attorney Jack Banta signed a similar notice. The District Attorney’s Office is also a party to the agreement and needed to notify the state. The five county employees who work for the child support unit will become state employees after the transfer. They are guaranteed work at the same salary for the first year they are employed by the state. “The state statute is clear that the employees can go with the job,” County Attorney Paul Meyer said. The county and state will negotiate how to handle accrued vacation time, comp time and sick leave. The county may pay the employees for some of their accrued time or the state may allow them to carry over those hours. Either way, the employees themselves will not lose any money by making the move. The District Attorney’s Office estimated it could save $100,000 a year by having the state Department of Justice enforce the child support orders. Parents will still be able to seek help in enforcing such orders, but they may have to deal with a case worker based in a city outside Douglas County.
Ten new faces of parents accused of not paying court-ordered child support will soon grace the walls of local businesses. The Butler County Child Support Enforcement Agency released a new wanted poster Thursday, March 20. Individuals on the poster owe a combined $223,000 in back child support. Everyone listed on the poster has eluded attempts to collect child support and has a pending arrest warrant, CSEA officials say. “It takes a lot to get on this poster,” said CSEA Director Cynthia Brown. “We are asking the public to help bring these offenders to justice.” Agency officials say they have located 136 featured parents and collected more than $1.3 million in back payment since the first poster was published in 1995.
Illinois; dividing property during the divorce.Who gets what?Illinois refers to asses and debts as marital property, and during the divorce process they do what is called just proportions when dividing the property.Marital property is what is gathered together during the marriage, and then is split as equally as possible or as the divorce courts see fit to do so.Not all property in Illinois is considered to be marital property, so what are the things they will not consider to be marital property in the divorce?Here is a list.
Assets and property that you had before you were married, these are things they will not make you split in a divorce process, unless you have what they call commingled the property and assets together with marital property.Then there is a chance it can be split evenly in the divorce process.
If there is a separate income that is produced from an investment you had before you were married and all the income from it has been kept separate from marital bank accounts, again it has been kept separate and not been commingled with anything brought in together during the marriage.
It is always important even if you think you will never get divorced, to just keep separate assets, property and income separate from your joint accounts.If only this could be explained before it happens, but it is important to keep documents of everything you have.Those can save you in a divorce process along with all receipts and documents.So when the divorce courts are dividing property in a divorce, here are some of the factors they look at to determine who gets what in the divorce.
How long the marriage was, under 5 years or over 5 years?
All the material and the non material property there is to be gone through and split in the divorce.
The financial potential or how much the spouse is earning now, where they can go and if they can make more money.
The health and the age of each spouse is looked at in the divorce.
Which property was gained by which spouse in the marriage, basically who confirms they acquired the property.
How either spouse will benefit from the property in the divorce?
If there was other marriages, and if there are obligations to that family.
Any signed or agreements made during the marriage.
Also if there will be any tax consequences in the divorce.
No divorce is easy, no matter what anybody says, it helps to know what your doing and to have answers to your questions.Illinois Dividing Property. - Divorce
ABILITY TO PAY Courts always consider a person’s ability to pay when setting his alimony obligation. A court looks at the payer’s gross income from all sources (wages, public benefits, interest and dividends on investments, rents from real property, profits from patents and the like, and any other sources of income), less any mandatory deductions (income taxes, Social Security, health care and mandatory union dues). The result is the payer’s net income. In most states, deductions for credit union payments and wage attachments are not subtracted when calculating net income. Thus, if John makes $2,000 per month, and income tax, Social Security, unemployment insurance benefits and other government deductions reduce his income to $1,500, this is his net income. The fact that $300 more is withheld to pay a credit union loan does not further reduce his net income for the court’s purposes. The reason for this rule is that the law accords support payments a higher priority than other types of debts, and would rather see other debts not paid than have a spouse go without adequate support.
The courts have no authority over non – marital property. So, the first thing the court has to do is determine whether they have authority over property. Generally speaking, all property acquired by either spouse before the marriage is considered non – marital property. All property acquired after the marriage is considered property of the marriage or marital property. If the property is marital property then the court must “equitably” divide the property.
GETTING divorced can be traumatic enough, but losing assets rightfully yours could make things even worse. But many people are unaware that unless they apply for a property settlement within 12 months of their divorce, they risk losing their assets, said family law specialist with Watts MacCray, Jackie Vincent. Even those who are just separated are at risk, she said.”In a famous case from 2000, a legally married but separated spouse won the lottery,” she said. “His wife was still able to make a claim on these assets because she was still married to him and they had never done a legal property settlement. She was awarded almost $1 million.”A property settlement application divides the assets and financial resources of a marriage, she said, including the family home, furniture, vehicles and investments. It also takes in superannuation, which is treated like any other marital asset after the Family Law Act was amended in 2002.Debt is also considered a marital asset in some cases, said Ms Vincent. “A mortgage is a shared debt,” she said. “Even if the debts are in only one name, if they are there to support the family - such as a personal loan to buy a car or furniture - then it’s a shared debt.”
As Good Friday approaches, I would like you all to reflect on the words of the Rev Roger Smith, who wrote the following impassioned plea to parishioners some years ago in an Easter newsletter: “The truth is that children can put up with most things - drunkenness, violence, illness, etc - but the one thing they cannot survive is their parents’ divorce. Divorce causes children to fail at school, to become drug addicts, to become criminals. We hear a lot about child abusers these days. My view is that, when a judge issues a divorce decree where children are involved, both parents should be investigated for child abuse - not physical, but mental and spiritual.
Even though the steps of divorce follow a similar sequence, each state has different requirements at each stage, so you need to check with your state divorce laws to find out how to proceed in your case. You can read a detailed explanation about the general steps of divorce in our article about the divorce process, or you can read the following questions and answers to get a better understanding about your individual circumstances:
Making the decision to divorce is a difficult emotional process. Sometimes you may not be sure that divorce is the right thing to do, yet at other times you may wish it was already over. What could add to the anxiety of divorce? Taxes.
Divorce may not be as inevitable as taxes, but it certainly complicates the issue —- and vice versa. Here are tips for how to approach some of the tax issues in divorce: Consider the tax implications of support. Child support is not deductible, and alimony is. Calling child support “family support” makes it fully taxable to the recipient and deductible to the payer, just like alimony. Do not characterize the payments as family support unless you will end up with more money after taxes are paid. Specify in your divorce decree who will claim the children as exemptions. On your tax returns, the exemption for your kids goes to the custodial parent, unless you specify otherwise in the divorce decree. If you have joint custody, the exemption goes to the parent who has the child the greatest number of days. If you are entitled to claim the children on your return, but your ex threatens to claim them instead, file early in the year. If you’ve already claimed the children, the IRS will make your ex prove he or she was entitled to the exemption. Keep track of legal fees during your divorce. Fees paid for advice concerning the tax consequences of your divorce can be taken as an itemized deduction.
Max Sindell was 14 when he first thought about becoming an expert on divorce.
“I always felt that I had a different perspective on divorce. It was one of the best things that happened to me,” he says from his home in Brooklyn. Now 22 and a graduate of Johns Hopkins University with a degree in creative writing, Mr. Sindell wrote The Bright Side: Surviving Your Parents’ Divorcewhile he was a student. Published last August, it has spawned a website, Survivingyourparentsdivorce.com, and several speaking engagements. Divorce is a transition parents tend to own as part of their identity. It’s a state of being, at least socially.
