Articles Posted in The Legal Stuff

In New York, “Maintenance” is simply another word for “Alimony.” Maintenance is a legal obligation placed on one spouse (the spouse with greater income) to provide financial support for the other spouse (the spouse with less or no income) for a specified duration of time. If your divorce was commenced after January 25, 2016, the…

New York Courts Rollout Presumptive Mediation in Matrimonial CasesIn an effort to quell the volume of divorce litigation in New York Courts, Presumptive Mediation is being rolled out for matrimonial cases this September. Whether or not couples choose the path of mediation, the Courts now say couples should at least try it, and are putting…

If you are getting married, going through a divorce, or even contemplating divorce, one of the many questions to ask yourself is how does the law in your state divide property upon divorce. If you litigate your divorce in the State of New York, the court will apply the Law of Equitable Distribution. The term…

Often times in my mediation practice I get asked the question: How do I change my last name?Many people are under the misconception that as soon as they sign the divorce papers, they can legally change their last name back to their maiden name — but that’s not true. The changing of your last name…

One of the issues to be decided in mediation is how frequently child support will be recalculated. In New York, child support is calculated pursuant to the Child Support Standards Act (CSSA) In calculating child support, the CSSA looks at the gross income of the parties, minus standard deductions such as FICA, and then calculates…

Nesting is an arrangement in which the parents agree to rotate in and out of the marital home while the children continue to reside in the marital home full time. The parents create a schedule where only one parent is at home with the children at any given time — for example, mom is in…