Changes to the Federal Tax Code have repealed the tax deduction for maintenance. Matrimonial law in New York State typically is legislated in Albany. However, this year the biggest change in matrimonial law comes from Washington, D.C. The 2017 “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” includes among its 186 pages a section entitled “Repeal of Deduction [Read More]
Matrimonial law in New York State typically is legislated in Albany. However, this year the biggest change in matrimonial law comes from Washington, D.C. The 2017 “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” includes among its 186 pages a section entitled “Repeal of Deduction for Alimony Payments.” This section eliminates the IRS Code provisions that allowed the [Read More]
A growing trend in New York is split or joint residential custody of children. This is an arrangement in which the child or children spend equal time, or roughly equal time, with both parents. This is done through something as boldly simple as a schedule that alternates the children with each parent for one week [Read More]
This is the second in a series of articles about New York’s new maintenance law. So far we have discussed that New York’s new temporary maintenance law has two variations, which depend on whether or the payor will be paying child support. In this post we will apply the formulas that I have written to [Read More]
New York State's New Maintenance Law changes the way courts must address temporary and post-divorce maintenance. This may be the most important development in New York domestic relations law in many years. This series of articles will examine the new law. It will start with the provisions for temporary maintenance. The new provisions for temporary [Read More]
Our illustrious Governor has signed the new maintenance law this past Friday. The new Temporary Maintenance provisions included in this law will go into effect on October 25, 2015. The balance of the law, including a new post-divorce maintenance formula, will go into effect on January 23, 2016. This will make New York matrimonial practice [Read More]
New York adopted temporary maintenance guidelines in 2010. Since their introduction these guidelines have been the source of a significant amount of litigation. The statute contains a formula for the calculation of the presumptive amount of temporary maintenance. It also states that a court may deviate from the presumptive award under the temporary maintenance guidelines [Read More]
After seventeen years laboring in the pit of despair that is the Family Court, I know that I have not seen it all, not do I ever wish to. However, there is not too much that shocks me anymore. Nevertheless, I was really blown away to see what sort of nonsense they entertain in New [Read More]
In New York a court must consider all of a parent’s resources in determining an appropriate amount of child support. So an inheritance or a gift can be counted as income or as a resource available for purposes of calculating child support. This is done more often in cases where the basic child support under [Read More]
In some support cases or divorces we encounter a situation where a party is self-employed or has cash income and they fail to report all of their income on their income tax returns. In these cases it is a real challenge to prove what their true income is. There are a few ways to deal [Read More]