New York Family Law Blog
In an action for a divorce and ancillary relief, the defendant husband appeals from so much of a judgment of the Supreme Court that awarded the complainant wife an equal share of the net proceeds from the future sale of the marital residence and directed him to pay his wife $100 per week for her maintenance for a period of 10 consecutive years and $47.50 per week each child for the child support of each of the four infant children of the marriage. The said judgment also awarded the wife a one-third share of his net periodic retirement benefits accrued during the marriage and the sum of $2,204.18 as arrears owed by him pursuant to a previous court order. It also set forth a schedule for visitation of the parties’ children and awarded the wife $2,000 in counsel fees.
A New York Family Lawyer said the only marital assets of the parties were the marital residence and the defendant’s pension. In awarding the wife an equal share of the proceeds to be realized from the sale of the marital residence at the time the youngest child attains the age of 21 years or is sooner emancipated, Special Term effectuated the purpose and intent of equitable distribution. Although no testimony was presented as to the value of the defendant’s pension, Special Term properly awarded the wife a one-third share of that portion of the net periodic pension benefits attributable to employment during the marriage that the defendant will begin to receive at the time of his retirement. Since there were insufficient marital assets from which to derive a large lump-sum payment and various contingencies rendered the determination of present value difficult, this method of distribution was proper. However, because there was no evidence of when the defendant became a participant in his retirement plan, it was not possible to determine the length of time prior to the commencement of the divorce action that the defendant accumulated benefits.
A New York Child Custody Lawyer said the matter must be remitted to the Supreme Court to determine the commencement date of the defendant’s participation in his pension plan. This will enable the trial court to calculate the fraction by which the wife’s one-third share should be multiplied to determine the amount of her entitlement. The numerator of this fraction shall be the number of months between the time of the beginning of the defendant’s participation in his pension plan and the commencement of the divorce action, while the denominator will consist of the total number of months during which the defendant accumulated benefits.
A Nassau County Family Lawyer said in another child support related proceeding, the husband appeals from so much of an order of the Family Court as found that he had willfully disobeyed a child support order of the same court, committed him to jail for 30 days, and fixed the amount of arrears due to the petitioner wife and to the County Department of Social Services at $4,401 and $3,517, respectively.
A New York Child Custody Lawyer said the order is reversed on the law without costs or disbursements and matter is remitted to the Family Court, for a further hearing to determine the issues of the petitioner’s reasons for removing the child of the parties to California, and the appellant’s financial ability to pay child support.
A Staten Island Child Custody Lawyer said absent the exceptional reasons therefore, the petitioner’s removal of the parties’ child to a community 3,000 miles from the appellant father unjustifiably denied him his right of visitation as provided in the order. Since the record is silent as to the petitioner’s reasons for such removal, a hearing should be had with respect thereto, and with respect to the appellant’s financial ability to pay child support (the trial court improperly refused to accept testimony pertaining to the appellant’s financial ability).
A Staten Island Family Lawyer said in every divorce proceeding, all sorts of battle between husband and wife are inevitable. If you want to win your fight on divorce, child support and child custody, ask for the best Nassau County Child Support Lawyer together with the expert Nassau County Family Attorney from Stephen Bilkis and Associates.