Post-Divorce Changes

Income from Employment or Self-Employment
Income from Employment
Income from Self-Employment
Retirement
Cohabitation
Child Support for College Age Children

Mother and teenage son at the beach If you’re presently paying child support and/or alimony under the terms of your Marital Settlement Agreement, you might need to change the terms of your Marital Settlement Agreement if (1) your income from employment or self-employment has been eliminated or substantially reduced; (2) you have retired or wish to retire; or (3) your former spouse is “cohabitating” as defined by New Jersey law; or (4) your children are now much older, perhaps in college or emancipated.

Without such change becoming incorporated in a binding court order, you would continue to remain bound to the support obligations contained in your Marital Settlement Agreement. Significantly, if your support obligations are paid through New Jersey Probation, you could incur arrears for any unpaid support amounts along with additional penalties imposed.

To successfully change your Marital Settlement Agreement, you essentially have two choices: (1) file a motion with the Court asking the Court to reduce or terminate your support obligations; or (2) reach an agreement with your former spouse and execute a “consent Order” modifying or eliminating your support obligations.

A Consent Order is a legal document signed by both parties and their attorneys and submitted to the court to be entered as a binding order.

Filing a motion with the court could be extremely time-consuming and costly. The outcome is completely unpredictable and could result in a trial often referred to as a “plenary hearing” before the judge to decide whether your support obligation would be reduced or terminated.

Prior to a plenary hearing, the court can order the parties to do any or all of the following:

Conduct formal “discovery” using Interrogatories, Requests for Production of Documents, and/or “experts;”
Appear for Early Settlement Panel and Post Judgment Economic Mediation;
Appear in court for an all-day Intensive Settlement Conference where the parties attempt to resolve the support issue and the attorneys can seek guidance from the judge as appropriate; and/or
Submit legal briefs, proposed findings of facts and conclusions of law and/or evidence exhibits.

These procedural mandates are extremely time-consuming. Legal fees can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Alternatively, reaching agreements between the parties, with the help of their attorneys is often the better option, and is generally less costly, both financially and emotionally.

When you work with me, my goal is your goal. I listen to you and hear your concerns. Together we design a cost-effective resolution and negotiate with your former spouse or his or her attorney, to reach agreement and obtain a binding consent order.

We also discuss whether it would be beneficial to file an application with the court to protect your rights which would be prepared to maximize a favorable outcome. We always evaluate the cost and benefit to you so your decisions are fully informed.

Please take a moment to sign up for my blog or check out the services I offer. Schedule a personalized one on one consultation where we will explore all the ways that I can help you resolve your legal matter.

Income from Employment or Self-Employment

If you have an alimony and/or child support obligation and your income from employment or self-employment has been eliminated or substantially reduced, you will still be obligated to pay unless you obtain a new court order.

Please take a moment to sign up for our blog or check out the services we offer. Schedule a personalized one on one consultation where we will explore all the ways that we can help you resolve your legal matter.

Income from Employment

If your employment income has been eliminated or substantially reduced, you can file an application with the court to reduce or eliminate your support obligation. Before you do, however, you need to be unemployed or receive substantially reduced income for at least 90 days.

In addition to compliance with the court’s procedural requirements, any such application should show, at a minimum, detailed reasons for loss of employment, and documented efforts to replace your income.

When you work with us, our goal is your goal. We listen to you and hear your concerns, and design a cost-effective resolution and negotiate with your former spouse or his or her attorney, to reach agreement and obtain a binding consent order.

We discuss whether it would be beneficial to file an application with the court to protect your rights, which would be prepared to maximize a favorable outcome. Regardless, I always evaluate the cost and benefit to you so that your decisions are fully informed.

Income from Self-Employment

If you are self-employed and your income has been eliminated or substantially reduced, you can file an application to the court to reduce or eliminate your support obligations. Your application needs to explain both the economic and non-economic benefits you receive from the business compared to those at the time of the support order.

Regardless, filing an application with the court can result in significant legal fees with an unpredictable outcome.

Alternatively, reaching agreements by the parties themselves, with the help of their attorneys is often the better option, and is generally less costly, both financially and emotionally.

Retirement

If you have an alimony and/or child support obligation and you have retired or intend to retire, you are obligated to pay unless you obtain a new court order, either by agreement with your former spouse or by filing an application with the court.

If you’re under 67 years old (the age at which you’re eligible to receive full social Security benefits if you were born after 1959), it’s generally more difficult to reduce or terminate your alimony obligation if you retire or intend to retire.

Even if you are over 67 years old, if you file an application with the court to reduce or terminate your alimony obligation for actual or intended retirement, the court will consider several factors listed in the New Jersey alimony statute to determine whether any reduction or termination is appropriate under the circumstances.

In addition to complying with the court’s stringent procedural requirements, your application to the court must be sufficiently detailed to show that you are no longer able to pay your existing alimony obligation.

Because of the inherent uncertainty of outcome and consequences, if your application is denied, it generally makes much more sense to come to an agreement with your former spouse.

When you work with us, we listen to you and hear your concerns, and design a cost-effective resolution and negotiate with your former spouse or his or her attorney, to reach agreement and obtain a binding consent order.

We discuss whether it would be beneficial to file an application with the court to protect your rights, which would be prepared to maximize a favorable outcome. Regardless, we always evaluate the cost and benefit to you so that your decisions are fully informed.

Cohabitation

Alimony payments may be suspended or terminated if the spouse receiving alimony “cohabits” with another person. This means that the person receiving alimony is involved in an intimate personal relationship with another adult.

The 2014 New Jersey alimony law no longer requires that a former spouse has to be living full-time in the same home as another person to be considered cohabitating.

You will need to obtain a court order, however, to suspend or terminate your alimony obligation if you believe your former spouse is cohabitation with another adult.

The two ways to obtain a court order are by:

Filing a “consent order” with the court, which is an agreement reached with your former spouse, or
Filing an application with the court and taking the chances that a judge will let you out of your alimony obligation.

If you file an application with the court, the judge will consider several factors to determine whether or not your former spouse is cohabiting, including:

Intertwined finances such as joint bank accounts and other joint holdings or liabilities;
Sharing or joint responsibility for living expenses;
Recognition of the relationship in the couple’s social and family circle;
Living together, the frequency of contact, the duration of the relationship, and other indicia of a mutually supportive intimate personal relationship;
Sharing household chores; and
the length of the relationship

In addition to complying with the court’s stringent procedural requirements, your application to the court must be sufficiently detailed to convince the court that your former spouse is cohabiting under New Jersey alimony law.

Because of the inherent uncertainty of outcome and consequences if your application is denied, it generally makes much more sense to come to an agreement with your former spouse.

When you work with us, we listen to you and hear your concerns, and design a cost effective resolution and negotiate with your former spouse or his or her attorney, to reach agreement and obtain a binding consent order.

Child Support for College Age Children

In New Jersey, divorcing parents have an obligation to financially support their children until the children are emancipated. When the child completes a continuous four-year undergraduate education up until when the child reaches 23 years of age.

Divorcing parents also have a separate, though related, obligation in New Jersey to contribute to the college costs for their children.

When parents choose to have a court determine their child support for children attending college:

If the child lives at home and commutes to college full time, the amount of child support is generally (not always) calculated under the New Jersey Child Support Guidelines.
When the child attends college full-time away from home, the amount of child-support is generally determined on a case-by-case basis after consideration of a variety of statutory factors.

In light of the obvious costs (both financial and emotional) and inherent uncertainty of a court decision for your children’s financial support, you would save much time and money by successfully reaching an agreement with your former spouse while preserving a co-parenting relationship for the benefit of your children.

When you work with us, we listen to you and hear your concerns, and design a cost effective resolution. We negotiate with your former spouse or his or her attorney, to reach agreement and obtain a binding consent order. You will often come away with valuable tips, tools, and strategies for minimizing conflict that they can use not only during negotiations but long into the future.