Family Law Articles

The popular rap artist T.I. has had his share of run-ins with the law. But he’s also recently gone to court voluntarily to protect his own interests. When his ex-girlfriend, with whom he had two sons, sought to increase his child-support obligations from $2,000 to $3,000 a month, T.I. went to court to challenge this, arguing that she was spending the money on herself rather than on the kids. He demanded an accounting of how she was spending the money.

T.I. isn’t alone. Many non-custodial parents are suspicious about how the other parent is using their child-support payments and would like similar accountings. So are they entitled to it?

In many states, they’re not. But some states do make provisions for such accountings in particular circumstances. [Read more…]

An “irrevocable spendthrift trust” is a popular vehicle for parents to pass along wealth to their kids while protecting the trust’s assets from their kids’ worst instincts.

Here’s how it works. The parent sets up a trust and names the child or children as beneficiaries. The trust document also includes language stating that if one of the beneficiaries owes someone money, that creditor can’t touch the assets in the trust before they’ve been distributed. And the person named as “trustee” is in charge of these distributions.

Once a beneficiary has received a distribution from the trust, creditors can go after that money, but only money in excess of what the beneficiary needs to support him or herself. [Read more…]

Traveling or working abroad can be very exciting. You get to experience new cultures, see new places and meet fascinating new people. In fact, you might just fall in love and decide you want to bring this special someone back to the U.S. and spend the rest of your lives together.

Congratulations and best wishes for a wonderful future! But remember that this could be a recipe for heartache and disappointment if you don’t follow some necessary steps along the way. That’s because returning to the U.S. with a non-citizen spouse isn’t necessarily as simple as you think and takes advance planning. Otherwise you may arrive in America ready to live as a family, only to have immigration officials block your spouse from coming in.

So what do you have to do? [Read more…]

A lot of times after a divorce agreement is finalized spouses may have misgivings. Not necessarily about being divorced, but about the divorce agreement itself. Hindsight is 20/20, and they might feel they got a raw deal and could have walked away with a lot more. So if you’re unhappy with your divorce agreement, can you undo it?

Generally the answer is “No.” In most states, courts won’t revisit judgments lightly.

Still, there are a few situations where a court may decide to give a divorce judgment a second look. [Read more…]

Traditionally who was a parent was pretty clear-cut. If a child was yours biologically or if you adopted him or her, you were considered a parent. That would give you the right to seek custody and visitation if you and the other parent were no longer living in the same home.

But just as traditional notions of “family” have evolved in recent years, so have traditional notions of who a parent is. Two recent court decisions make this clear. Both decisions appear to recognize the idea of a “de facto” parent: a non-adoptive, non-biological caretaker who has earned parental status through the bond he or she has developed with a child and who deserves to be viewed on equal legal footing with the biological parent. And while both decisions involve same-sex couples, the reasoning behind them could extend to any non-adoptive, non-biological “parent.”

The first case is from Maryland and involved Michael Conover, a transgender man (a person who was born biologically female but identifies and lives as a male) who married a woman before undergoing gender transition. Before his transition, he and his wife, Brittany Conover, lived as a same-sex couple. [Read more…]

If you’re getting divorced and you’ll be moving out while your spouse stays in the house, it’s a good idea to use your smartphone to make a video record of the home at the time you left it.

For one thing, you might not be able to take everything that’s important to you with you at the time you move, especially if you’re going to a smaller place. And once you move out, you’ll have little control over the home’s maintenance and upkeep.

As a result, whether accidentally or on purpose, your spouse might throw out, destroy or sell belongings of yours that have significant monetary or sentimental value. Your spouse might also let the house fall into disrepair, or there might be some damage to the home, which could lower its value. [Read more…]

So it wasn’t “until death do us part” after all, but there’s still that dazzling engagement ring. He wants it back; she wants to keep it. Who wins?

As with many things in the law, it depends on the facts, and it also depends on the state.

In some states, such as California, accepting an engagement ring is usually viewed as a promise to marry someone. Once a woman has said “I do,” the promise has been fulfilled and it’s hers to keep, even if the couple later get divorced.

[Read more…]

A mother’s live-in romantic partner who developed a strong relationship with her child can get partial custody of the child after their breakup, a Pennsylvania court recently decided.

The mother gave birth to the child in 2007 and quickly separated from the child’s father. She then began a relationship with a woman known as C.B.

C.B. became very involved in the child’s life, participating in his medical appointments, helping select his schools, and communicating with his teachers and doc- tors. The child also had a close relationship with C.B.’s extended family, referring to her father as “Pappy” and her siblings as “aunt” and “uncle.” C.B.’s family members babysat the child, and C.B.’s mother was the child’s emergency contact. [Read more…]

It’s very common for small businesses to have “buy-sell” agreements. These say that if one owner leaves, dies, or gets divorced, the other owners can buy out that owner’s interest. The purpose is to make sure that if something happens to one owner, the other owners can continue to operate the  business without having an ex- spouse, child, or stranger as an unwanted partner.

If you have such an agreement or are thinking of signing one, it’s a very good idea to have it reviewed by a family law attorney. This is true if any of the owners might someday get divorced, even if you personally are unlikely to get divorced or aren’t even married.

Here’s why: Buy-sell agreements typically set a price at which the other owners can buy the owner’s shares, or a method for determining the price, such as book value, a multiple of current annual profits, an independent appraiser’s estimate, or a board valuation made in good faith.

[Read more…]

Many divorce agreements say that a spouse can stop paying alimony if the other spouse remarries or begins living with a romantic partner. That sounds simple – but in today’s world, romantic relationships can be anything but simple. Sometimes, as on Facebook, the best way to describe a new relationship is “it’s complicated” and whether a spouse can stop paying alimony can be complicated, too.

Here are some examples:

* Steven and Lorraine Robitzski divorced in 2004, and Steven was ordered to pay Lorraine $2,500 a month in alimony, unless she cohabited with someone. Lorraine found a new boyfriend, and Steven went to court claiming that they were living together.

According to Steven, Lorraine and her new beau spent about 100 nights a year together, they held themselves out as a couple at family and social activities and on Facebook, and the couple’s children referred to the boyfriend as “Pap Thom.”

[Read more…]

When Courtney Carr got divorced, he had a right to a large military pension. He and his wife Beth agreed that he would elect a survivor’s benefit. This would give him a smaller pension payout, but if he died first, Beth would begin collecting $2,750/month as his survivor. An expert calculated that the present value of the survivor’s benefit was about $226,000.

The divorce judge decided that the couple’s assets should be split with 60% going to Beth and 40% going to Courtney (to reflect the fact that Courtney had more income potential). However, in splitting the assets 60% – 40%, the judge didn’t count the $226,000 value of the survivor’s benefit as an asset. [Read more…]

A divorcing spouse’s future Social Security benefits can’t be divided at divorce, says the Illinois Supreme Court.

In this case, the husband was participating in a government pension plan in lieu of Social Security, and a judge divided up his future pension payments so that his wife would get a share. The husband responded by arguing that if the judge could split his future pension benefits, the judge should also split the wife’s future Social Security benefits. [Read more…]

In a very unusual case, a stepparent has been ordered to pay child support for two stepchildren.

The mother in this case was a lawyer who gave birth to twin boys in 1998. The biological father wasn’t a part of the boys’ life and never tried to claim custody. The mother married another man in 2005 and moved to Pennsylvania. The mother and the stepfather separated when the twins were 11 years old; they divorced two years later, but they informally shared custody while the divorce was pending. [Read more…]

When Tom and Deirdre Fichter divorced, Tom was ordered to pay the amount required by the New Jersey child support guidelines for the couple’s daughter Megan.

Years later, Megan turned 16 and began driving. Deirdre went back to court and asked that Tom start contributing extra to cover the cost of adding Megan to her auto insurance policy.

Tom complained that he was already paying the guidelines amount, and it wasn’t fair to add an additional expense on top of that. [Read more…]

When Robert and Jamie Semulka got divorced, Robert agreed to pay Jamie $40,000 in installments. He also agreed to contribute to their children’s college education.

Two years after the divorce, the couple moved back in together. They stayed together for nearly a year before once again separating.

After the second separation, Robert refused to abide by the divorce agreement. He claimed that the couple’s reconciliation had nullified the divorce proceeding, and that by moving back in with him, Jamie had given up her right to enforce the agreement. [Read more…]

A growing number of divorced people are buying a house with a new partner to whom they’re not yet married.

In some cases, the couple plan to marry, but as a result of the divorce and other complications, they’re not able to arrange wedding bells as quickly as they would like. In other cases, people get into a new, serious relationship, but they’ve just come from a bad experience and are cautious about re-tying the knot.

Sometimes, a person simply moves into a new partner’s house and becomes a co-owner. [Read more…]

The amount of child support a parent has to pay is usually determined by his or her income, but two new cases from Pennsylvania show that other sources of wealth – such as receiving an inheritance or marrying someone rich – can have an effect.

In one case, a police officer who was originally ordered to pay $1,458 a month to support his three small children was later ordered to pay $2,267 a month, after a judge took into account the fact that he had received a $600,000 inheritance.

The man argued that the inheritance wasn’t “income.” The court said this was true, but the money could be invested so as to produce income, and this could be counted in determining how much child support he had to pay. [Read more…]

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has legalized same-sex marriage throughout the country, a lot of gay couples who have lived together for many years are getting married. And while every engaged couple should at least give some thought to a prenuptial agreement, it’s even more important for same-sex couples in this situation.

Here’s why: When a couple gets divorced, and a judge divides their property, the judge will usually take into account the length of the marriage. A judge is more likely to divvy up assets that were acquired during the marriage than assets that a spouse owned before the wedding. [Read more…]

It’s common for one spouse in a divorce to keep the couple’s home and assume the mortgage. Typically, the spouse keeping the home will refinance the mortgage in order to remove the other spouse’s name, so the other spouse isn’t jointly responsible for the debt.

But what happens if the spouse fails to refinance?

This happened in a recent case in New Jersey. An ex-wife was awarded the couple’s home with the understanding that she would refinance it within nine months. She failed to do so – and then made several late mortgage payments. [Read more…]

A divorcing couple in New York signed an agreement saying that the husband would pay their two adult children $1,900 apiece each month to help cover their rent, until they turned 30 or began living with a significant other. The parents made this agreement because they thought it would help keep them on good terms with each other and make their divorce less contentious.

Later, the husband broke his promise – he gave each child a $10,000 lump sum and told them they had nothing else coming. The wife then went to court to enforce the deal. [Read more…]

It’s natural for parents to be concerned about a child’s relationship with a stepparent. Of course, parents most often worry that a stepparent will have a negative influence on a child’s life. But some parents worry that a stepparent will have too positive a relationship with a child, and as a result, will undermine their own relationship and authority.

This happened recently in New Jersey, where a child named Daniel developed a positive relationship with a woman named Lori after his father moved in with Lori and her three children. Lori, who had experience as a tutor, helped Daniel with his homework and generally looked after him while his father was away. Eventually, Daniel started calling her “Mom,” which is what Lori’s own children called her. The father began consulting with Lori on any important child-rearing issues. [Read more…]

The first step in a divorce is usually for one member of the couple to “walk out.” But increasingly, divorcing spouses aren’t walking out at all – they’re staying put. In fact, it’s been estimated that as many as one-half of all separating couples today live together in the midst of their divorce proceedings. And some couples even live together temporarily after they’re officially divorced.

Here’s a look at some of the reasons for this trend, as well as the potential drawbacks.

The biggest reason for living together during divorce is economic – these are tough times for many people, and it can be difficult to suddenly have to afford two separate households, with separate payments for rent, mortgage, utilities, groceries, and other household expenses. Many couples decide to keep living together for a while so they’ll have time to save up for when they have to start financially separate lives. [Read more…]

Even though a woman was living with her mother and got free room and board, the value of what she received wasn’t “income” in deciding how much child support she had to pay, the Virginia Court of Appeals recently decided.

The husband had primary custody of the couple’s children, while the wife paid support. The husband argued that the wife was effectively saving $1,200 a month by living with her mother, based on what she was paying in living expenses before she moved in with her. He argued that this $1,200 should be added to her “income” in calculating her child support bill.

But the court said that the wife’s rent-free living arrangement wasn’t “income” unless she was receiving it in exchange for providing services to the mother, which apparently wasn’t the case. [Read more…]

A wife decided that her marriage was over in 2006, but she didn’t actually move out of the house she shared with her husband until 2011. So does she have to share the assets she acquired between 2006 and 2011 with her husband?

Yes, according to the California Supreme Court.

This is an important issue, because many couples continue to live together for some time after their marriage is effectively over. They may do this to minimize the impact of a separation on the children, or because they’re not ready to announce to the world that their marriage has ended. Often, the reason is economic – one spouse simply can’t afford to move out. [Read more…]

Social media sites are among the latest weapons that spouses are using to gain leverage in divorce and custody battles. A recent case from New York illustrates how.

A father who was fighting for custody of a four-year-old boy went to court with details from his wife’s Facebook page. The page was full of photos and status updates showing her sightseeing in Italy and eating seafood in Boston, which the father used to claim that she was frequently traveling out-of-state while he was busy raising their son.

The mother objected, arguing that the court shouldn’t be able to look at the profile because she kept it private and because she had “unfriended” her husband before they separated. [Read more…]

Some people might assume that it’s always better for a small child to be raised by family members, such as grandparents, rather than being in daycare. But a Pennsylvania appeals court recently awarded custody to a father, even though it meant the child would spend a lot of time in daycare instead of with the mother’s parents.

In this case, the wife’s parents lived in the couple’s home. When the couple had a child, the wife’s mother became the primary caretaker.

Conflict soon broke out over the wife’s parents’ alleged attempt to keep the husband from bonding with his new child. As a result, the couple agreed that the grandparents would move out, and they did. [Read more…]

A “spendthrift trust” is a trust that is set up to provide children or others with income while protecting them from potentially poor spending decisions. The donor who creates the trust gives a trustee – often a family member, lawyer or financial advisor – authority to decide how often to distribute the trust assets, usually with some guidelines from the donor as to acceptable uses of the money.

Spendthrift trusts protect the beneficiaries from impulsively wasting the assets. They can also protect beneficiaries by making it harder for creditors to collect the assets if a beneficiary has a business failure, lawsuit, or divorce.

But while a spendthrift trust can often protect assets in a divorce, it isn’t always foolproof, as a recent Massachusetts case shows. [Read more…]

A school bus must pick up and drop off children at both of their divorced parents’ homes, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently decided.

In this case, the father and mother shared legal custody of their daughter, alternating on a weekly basis.

Until 2010, the school district had provided bus transportation to both homes. But that year, in order to cut costs, the district announced that it would only bus students to one location. As a result, the school would only bus the girl to and from her mother’s home, since her mother’s address was listed on the school paperwork. [Read more…]

It’s natural for grandparents to want to be a part of their grandchildren’s lives. But in some families, hard feelings can develop, and one or both parents may decide to exclude grandparents from seeing the children. Do grandparents have a right to go to court and demand “visitation”?

That’s a very difficult question, and the answer depends a great deal on the state where everyone lives and particularly on the specific family circumstances. But it’s a question that’s coming up more and more often, as grandparents – and in some cases, other family members – try to use the court system to gain visiting rights.

This issue frequently arises where there has been a divorce, and the parent who gets custody wants to limit the children’s exposure to the other parent’s family. The issue can also come up when one parent passes away, and the surviving parent doesn’t get along with his or her in-laws. [Read more…]

When Michael and Kathleen Krupinski divorced back in 1990, a court awarded Kathleen one-third of Michael’s eventual pension benefits as a public school teacher, once he retired and began receiving the payments. Michael was also ordered to pay Kathleen $100 a week in alimony.

Michael continued his education after the divorce, and ultimately became a school administrator, which significantly upped his salary and the value of his pension. By the time he retired in 2010, he was making almost three times the salary he’d been making as a teacher at the time of the divorce, and he started receiving much higher pension payments than he otherwise would have.

Because of this, Michael went back to court and asked to have his alimony obligation terminated, in light of the fact that the increase in his wife’s one-third share of his pension more than made up for it. [Read more…]

When a Pennsylvania couple divorced, they were given shared custody of their son. Sometime later, the father moved to a new community 11 miles away. As a result, when the son was staying with the father, he had a longer trip to school. (The couple disagreed about how much longer the commute was, but it was arguably up to 40 minutes.)

The mother went to court and argued that she should be given primary custody because the longer commute was disruptive, and prevented the child from developing stable roots and routines. A judge agreed with her. But the father appealed. [Read more…]

A father who has an estranged relationship with his teenage son can refuse to contribute to the son’s college expenses unless the son agrees to participate in family counseling, according to a New Jersey court.

The father and mother had divorced years earlier, and the divorce agreement said that both parents would contribute to the children’s college expenses based on their ability to pay at the time the children were ready for college.

After the divorce, the father’s relationship with the oldest child soured. The father wanted to make things better, but the son refused to speak to him. [Read more…]

If you’ve been injured recently, and have filed (or are thinking of filing) a personal injury lawsuit – but you have also filed (or are thinking of filing) for divorce – it’s extremely important to coordinate the two types of claims.

That’s because the way the personal injury lawsuit is handled could have a big effect on how much of the proceeds you’ll have to share with your spouse in the divorce proceedings.

At a minimum, you should be sure to tell your personal injury lawyer all about the divorce, and tell your divorce lawyer all about the personal injury claim. [Read more…]

We’ve often reminded people that it’s important to update all your beneficiary designations after you get divorced – including wills, life insurance policies, bank and brokerage accounts, retirement plans, and so on.

One thing that gets less attention, but is also very important, is to change your beneficiary designations again if you remarry. Failing to do so can create problems if something should happen to you unexpectedly.

For instance, a New Jersey man named Michael Fox bought a $100,000 life insurance policy in 1992 and named his wife as the beneficiary. After he got divorced, he changed the beneficiary designation, naming his sister instead. [Read more…]

Many divorce agreements say that a spouse can stop paying alimony if the other spouse begins “cohabiting” with someone of the opposite sex who financially supports them.

A colorful case in Florida involved a divorced woman who owned a two-bedroom townhouse. To help make ends meet, she took on a male tenant who paid her $400/month in rent. [Read more…]

Aside from child custody, the most emotionally charged issue in a divorce is often who gets to keep the house. For most couples, a house is their most valuable asset, and it has an enormous symbolic value as well.

Sometimes the best plan is to try to keep the house. But not always. For many divorcing spouses, it’s smarter overall to allow the other spouse to keep the home (and the mortgage), and receive other assets instead. And some couples are better off if they jointly sell their home.

Here are some things to consider: [Read more…]

A man who claimed his ex-wife lied to him when she told him he was the father of her child can sue for damages, the Tennessee Supreme Court recently ruled.

The woman was already pregnant when the couple married in 1991. The husband claimed that she assured him at the time that he was the father. When the couple divorced nine years later, the husband was ordered to pay child support.

But he sued his ex-wife after learning from DNA tests that he was not in fact the boy’s biological father. He claimed his ex-wife knew all along that another man was actually the father. [Read more…]