Question: My husband and I are thinking about moving out of state with our three children. My oldest has a different father and we all live in NY state. We both have joint custody with having residential custody, myself. Download Our Free Divorce Guide I would like to go to school in the state where we are […]
Category Archives: Jean Mahserjian Blog
A lot of people are concerned with the tax consequences of being Divorced, and whether or not they can file their tax returns jointly, as of the judgment of Divorce. The short answer to the question is that two people who are not Divorced yet, as of the end of the tax year, can still […]
There are a number of circumstances under which a person may want to modify their Separation or Settlement Agreement relative to a Divorce. If two people can agree, they can certainly draft an addendum, which can be attached to your agreement and incorporated into your Divorce. Otherwise, you can go to a Supreme or Family […]
If you have a Child Support order in New York State that was issued by Supreme or Family Court, it is possible that you can modify that order. You may have a Supreme Court judgment of Divorce that encompasses Child Support, or it says that future issues pertaining to Support modification or enforcement may be […]
If a parent is looking to relocate, that person should petition the Family Court to seek permission to do so. Sole Custody may be a factor which strongly supports the possibility that the court will grant permission to relocate. Having Sole Custody of a child does not, in and of itself, give that parent permission […]
Oftentimes, two spouses are concerned about the effects of a Divorce upon their Health Insurance coverage. The reason why is because a person’s eligibility for Health Insurance, as a spouse, will terminate upon a Divorce. For a spouse that is concerned about the high cost of obtaining a Health Insurance plan of their own, they […]
In New York State, a Contested Divorce is a Divorce where the parties do not agree on all of the issues that need to be resolved for a Divorce to be finalized. Those issues include the basis for Divorce, child support and custody, division of assets, and spousal maintenance. If even one of those issues […]
We are often confronted with a question from our clients as to whether or not they need an agreement to obtain a prompt, Uncontested Divorce. There is some confusion on this issue because parties describe this as a separation agreement. They will then tell us that they do not want to be separated, but want […]
In my opinion, it is impossible for one Mediator or one Attorney to sit with both parties to fully and adequately explain their rights and obligations in the Divorce process. That being said, retaining an Attorney does not need to be as expensive as it would be if you were litigating. Also, it does not need […]
We are often asked about Life Insurance after Divorce. That is an issue that is raised in cases where there is going to be a stream of payments for equitable distribution, spousal maintenance, and child support. It is quite common for the court to order the provision of Life Insurance, if those payments are going […]
Often times during a Divorce action, people are concerned about how mortgage, utilities, and debts will be paid. In some cases, one spouse will abandon those responsibilities financially, and it is up to the court to ensure that the status quo is maintained. The court may direct the withdrawn spouse, or both spouses, to continue […]
In New York State, there are a number of mandatory add-ons to Child Support. In addition to the basic Child Support Payment that is paid each month by the non-custodial parent to the custodial parent, there are additional expenses that must be paid. Those expenses include Non-Reimbursed Medical and Dental Expenses. In the first instance, […]
Our clients often as us how Dependency Exemptions are handled in a Divorce case. First and foremost, we refer to the federal law, which is the tax code. Under the tax code, the parent who has custody has the right to claim the children as dependents. However, in many instances, the parent’s negotiate an outcome […]
Many times, a client will come to me concerned about how to pay for a Divorce action, particularly with litigation. I saw to them that they can seek, through the court, a request for Attorney’s fees to be paid by the moneyed spouse. Obviously, the qualifier here is that they are the less or non-moneyed […]
There are a number of Grounds for Divorce in New York State. The Grounds for Divorce is the basis for the granting of the actual Divorce, and those Grounds are contained in New York statutes. Historically, we only had Fault-Based Divorce in New York, but we now have No Fault Divorce. Download Our Free Divorce […]
If your spouse resides in another state, you may not be able to file for Child Support in New York State. That will depends upon whether or not your spouse resided in New York State, prior to moving away. It may also depend upon if your spouse abandoned you and the children in New York […]
To obtain a divorce, we must state a grounds for divorce in the divorce paperwork. There are still a number of fault based grounds for divorce in New York State law, however for the overwhelming majority of our clients, and almost all of our clients on the Uncontested Divorce website, we file a no-fault divorce. […]
In New York State, the non-custodial parent pays child support to the custodial parent. Now that issue gets a little sticky when we have parents who are sharing custody equally. Under New York case law, the non-custodial parent is the parent who earns more money however that does not mean that in every case of […]
Spousal maintenance is a term that covers what clients will refer to alimony, spousal support or spousal maintenance. In New York, the proper term is spousal maintenance. Download Our Free Divorce Guide We have two types of spousal maintenance in New York; both are defined by statute. The first type is temporary spousal maintenance. Temporary spousal […]
When we’re talking about the division of assets under New York law, we are talking about the division of assets and debts that were accumulated during the marriage. The New York domestic relations law has an expansive definition of marital property and a less expansive definition of separate property. Separate property might be a bank […]
Child custody is often one of the more difficult issues that we address when undertaking the divorce process. We must have a provision for the custody of children 18 years or younger.Now, children are not emancipated until they are 21 in New York but a court can only issue a custody order for children who […]