New Jersey Lawyer & Attorney : Stark & Stark Law Firm : New Jersey Law Blog

On his last night as Governor of the State of New Jersey, Governor Corzine has supposedly signed into law a bill prohibiting the enforcement of "palimony" agreements unless such agreements are in writing (S-2091/ACS for A4296, 3833 [Scutari, Cardinale, Stender,Carroll/Stender, Carroll]).  The passage of this bill has an important impact on non-dissolution family law, where persons in long-term committed relationships sans "marriage" had the potential to make a palimony claim based upon a promise to support if the relationship went south.  While palimony law is primarily contract based, the new bill will require any such "promise to support" to be set forth in writing.  It will be interesting to see if a mere letter or email will meet this new requirement or if same will be reduced to terms similar to pre-nuptial agreements.
 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Under the new Rules 1:38-7 Confidential Personal Identifies must be redacted from all documents filed with the Court except a Case Information Statement, its attachments, and the Confidential Litigant Information Sheet. Litigants now must certify to the Court that no such identifiers are being filed outside of the afore referenced documents.
 
Personal Identifiers include:

• Social Security Number
• Drivers License Number
• Vehicle Plate Number
• Insurance Policy Number
• Active Financial Account Number
• Active Credit Card Number

You can however refer to an account by last 4 digits if necessary to distinguish from another account. What this means: Get out your black sharpie and mark up those docs before submitting them to the Court.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

This is the sixth and final installment of a six-part blog series focused on the Railroad Retirement Act (RRA). You can read the full series here.
 
ERISA does not apply to RRA annuities. Thus, the railroad Retirement Board (RRB)will accept a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) only if it provides for an annuity partition that is valid under the RRB’s regulations.  However, a QDRO is not required to effect an annuity partition if appropriate language is incorporated into the divorce decree or court-approved property settlement agreement.

If you or your spouse have been railroad employees and thus may be eligible for a RRA annuity, it is strongly recommended that you speak to a legal professional to ensure that these unique benefits are properly accounted for and distributed incident to a divorce.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

This is the fifth installment of a six-part blog series focused on the Railroad Retirement Act (RRA). You can read the full series here.
 
Although Tier I benefits are not divisible, an eligible divorced spouse can receive an annuity similar to the non-divisible Tier I annuity under the RRA.  This is in addition to any divisible portion of the employee’s Tier II annuity awarded by way of equitable distribution by Court Order.  Unlike an equitable distribution award, which provides the former spouse a share of the employee’s Tier II annuity, the payment of a Tier I type annuity to an eligible divorced spouse does not reduce the amount of the employee’s annuity.  This is similar to SSA benefits available to a former spouse where the parties had been married for 10 years or more.

If you or your spouse have been railroad employees and thus may be eligible for a RRA annuity, it is strongly recommended that you speak to a legal professional to ensure that these unique benefits are properly accounted for and distributed incident to a divorce.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

This is the fourth installment of a six-part blog series focused on the Railroad Retirement Act (RRA). You can read the full series here.

Below is a list of several other components related to the Railroad Retirement Act:

1. Supplemental Annuity:  Railroad employees who complete twenty five (25) years of service and commenced services before 1981 may receive a supplemental annuity under section 2(b) fo the RRA, which ranges between $23 to $43 per month.  This component is divisible upon divorce.
2. Vested Dual Benefit:  Railroad employees who meet certain vesting requirements and are fully insured under the RRA and SSA prior to 1975 are eligible for an additional benefit amount.  This component is divisible upon divorce.
3. Overall Minimum Increase:   If an employee’s annuity under the RRA is less than the amount that would be received under the SSA, the employee’s annuity may be increased so that the employee receives at least as much as would be received under SSA.  The amount of this increase is divisible.

If you or your spouse have been railroad employees and thus may be eligible for a RRA annuity, it is strongly recommended that you speak to a legal professional to ensure that these unique benefits are properly accounted for and distributed incident to a divorce.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

This is the third installment of a six-part blog series focused on the Railroad Retirement Act (RRA). You can read the full series here.

Tier II benefits are based solely upon railroad industry service and earnings (i.e. it does not take years/earnings outside of industry employment into account, unlike Tier I benefits).  Tier II benefits are calculated under section 3(B) of the RRA.  Tier II annuity benefits are divisible as property.  Moreover, of all RRA annuity components, Tier II benefits are the only benefits that may continue to be paid to a former spouse after the death of the employee.


If you or your spouse have been railroad employees and thus may be eligible for a RRA annuity, it is strongly recommended that you speak to a legal professional to ensure that these unique benefits are properly accounted for and distributed incident to a divorce.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

This is the second installment of a six-part blog series focused on the Railroad Retirement Act (RRA). You can read the full series here.

 

Tier I annuity benefits are determined according to earnings and career service.  To qualify for Tier I benefits, an employee must have worked a minimum of ten (10) years in the railroad industry.  Tier I benefits become payable when the employee reaches the retirement age as established by the Social Security Act (SSA), or reaches the age of sixty (60) and has thirty (30) years of service.  Tier I annuity benefits are non-divisible and thus not subject to equitable distribution upon divorce.

 

Tier I annuity benefits represent the same benefit amount that the SSA would provide the employee upon retirement.  The Tier I component of an employee’s RRA annuity is calculated by applying the benefit formula of the SSA to the employee’s earnings record.  An employee’s earning record includes both rail industry earnings and any earnings from employment covered by the SSA.

 

If you or your spouse have been railroad employees and thus may be eligible for a RRA annuity, it is strongly recommended that you speak to a legal professional to ensure that these unique benefits are properly accounted for and distributed incident to a divorce.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

This is the first installment of a six-part blog series focused on the Railroad Retirement Act (RRA). You can read the full series here.

 

The Railroad Retirement Act (RRA) is a federal statute that provides unique benefits for railroad workers.  The 1974 Amendment to the RRA resulted in an annuity benefit system that is comprised of two main benefit components, generally referred to as Tier I and Tier II benefits.  In addition, railroad employees may qualify for additional annuity components (which are described below).  Under the RRA, railroad employees and employers pay taxes under the Railroad Retirement Tax Act (RRTA), which are in lieu of, but similar to FICA contributions.

 

A railroad employee’s monthly annuity rate is computed  based upon length of service and earnings during their employment.  As a result, an RRA annuity cannot be segregated, nor can a separate account be established, as property to a former spouse.  (Note: an order dividing an employee’s “account” instead of “retirement annuity” is not valid under the RRA).  Moreover, the RRB cannot furnish the present value of future benefits although an estimate can be computed based upon an employee’s service and earnings.   However, the RRB does issue annual statements (BA-6 Forms) that reflect the employee’s creditable railroad service and compensation.

 

If you or your spouse have been railroad employees and thus may be eligible for a RRA annuity, it is strongly recommended that you speak to a legal professional to ensure that these unique benefits are properly accounted for and distributed incident to a divorce.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Usually, when a spouse dies in the midst of divorce litigation, significant problems arise.  The first is that upon the death of a spouse  prior to entry of Final Judgment effectively terminates the divorce proceedings.  See Carr v. Carr, 120 N.J. 336, 339 - 340 (1990). Thus, any right of the surviving spouse to equitable distribution under the divorce statute is extinguished.  The result is that the surviving spouse is left to pursue his or her share of the marital assets through the probate code by way of exercise of elective share if he or she has been disinherited or the decedent was intestate. 

 

The second problem arises in that the probate code explicitly denies the election share option to a surviving spouse if: (a) at the time of death the decedent and surviving spouse were living separate and apart in separate habitations; or (b) the decedent and surviving spouse had ceased to cohabit as man and wife as a result of circumstances that would give rise to a cause of action for divorce in New Jersey. N.J.S.A. 3B:8-1.  Thus, the surviving spouse is left to pursue relief by way of a constructive trust under quasi-contractual law, which may be established by the Court as a vehicle by which equity may be accomplished.

 

If your spouse or civil union partner should pre-decease you immediately preceding the commencement of divorce/dissolution litigation or in the midst thereof, it is strongly advised that you seek the advise of an attorney to ensure that your property rights are upheld and you receive proper distribution of the marital assets.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

If a person becomes incapacitated during a divorce proceeding, a guardian should be appointed by the Court in order to properly to govern the individual and their property. See Kingsdorf v. Kingsdorf, 351 N.J. Super. 144, 146 (App. Div. 2002). 

 

In order to do so, an application to the Court by the party who wishes to be come the guardian must be made.  Generally, when parties are in the midst of divorce litigation, the competent spouse is prohibited from becoming the guardian as it is usually deemed to be a conflict of interest.  Upon appointment of a guardian by the Court, the guardian may move forward on the incapacitated spouse’s behalf in order to negotiate and finalize the divorce proceedings. This includes, but is not limited to entering a Property Settlement Agreement and Final Judgment of Divorce.  This may even include filing the complaint for divorce on behalf of the incapacitated spouse. 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks