Credit Card Miles and Points in DivorceIt is well known that when parties divorce, there will be an equitable distribution of the marital assets and debts that the parties acquired during the marriage. Many people also know that it rarely matters whose name that the asset or debt was acquired in.

I cannot stress enough that the preparation of a financial statement, or a Case Information Statement, is perhaps the most important step of the entire divorce process. Getting bank balances and mortgage payoff statements is easy, and tasks that no one thinks twice about. However, there are other assets, or benefits in a marriage that are easily overlooked, and can result in an inequity to a spouse if not considered.

Most of us have a credit card (or two, or three) that accumulate miles which can be traded in for airline tickets, hotel points, or some ability to trade points for something of value.

Continue Reading Counting the Miles (And Other Hidden Assets in Divorce)

The new alimony law that was recently passed on September 10, 2014, changed one of the types of alimony from “permanent” to “open durational.” It was really just a change in semantics. Permanent alimony was never meant to be “lifetime” alimony as many clients called it. Under our previous law, permanent alimony could have been

After a protracted test of wills between alimony reformers and traditionalists, a new alimony statute was signed into law by Governor Christie on September 10, 2014. The new law, which is immediately effective, will serve to meet the competing needs of divorcing couples by balancing increased uniformity with judicial discretion in terms of alimony awards.

The responsibility of college education expenses between divorced parents is often a source of conflict, and many times the parties end up back in court even though they have been divorced for years. Although New Jersey law obligates divorced parents to contribute to their children’s college education expenses, a recent lower court case dealt with the issue of a parent’s responsibility if the child wants nothing to do with that parent.
Continue Reading College-Age Child’s Refusal to Interact with Parent May Affect the Parent’s Obligation to Pay College Expenses

Most Marital Settlement Agreements (a.k.a. Property Settlement Agreements) provide a mechanism for divorced parents to claim their children as tax dependency exemptions (TDE’s) on their federal and state income tax returns. Agreements silent on the subject default to the custodial parent’s annual recurring right to do so.
Continue Reading Claiming Children as Tax Dependency Exemptions-What’s New?