The law outlines what is marital property and what is separate property. However, the issue becomes murky when separate property was the marital residence, since often the marital residence is marital property. Real property purchased prior to the marriage does not become marital property merely because it is the marital residence (meaning that the couple lives there as husband and …
New York Child Custody and Visitation Law: Agreements to “Electronic Visitation” or Parental Access
In this electronic age, parents can craft an agreement allowing the parent to have meaningful communication with the child(ren) using electronic methods (i.e., Parenting 2.0!) including: • Telephone (e.g., to the other parent’s phone or the child’s phone) • Video-conferencing (e.g., FaceTime, Skype) • Text messaging (e.g., WhatsApp, Viber) • Social media (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat) • Electronic mail …
Child Custody and Visitation: Getting the Basic Parenting Schedule in Place
Parents should decide on a “basic parenting time schedule” that the parents will conduct in a regular week. Parents should consider what is reasonable taking into consideration the location of the parent’s home, the parent’s schedule and the child’s schedule. If the parents do not live near each other, the parenting schedule deviates from regular short-term access such as every …
New York Child Custody Law: What About Splitting Siblings?
The courts prefer to keep siblings together for stability, companionship and close family ties. “Young brothers and sisters need each other’s strengths and association in their everyday and often common experiences, and to separate them, unnecessarily, is likely to be traumatic and harmful.” Obey v. Degling, 37 N.Y.2d 768 (1975). However, the courts will order split custody if it’s in …
New York Child Custody Law: So What Exactly is “Legal Custody?”
Legal custody refers to the parent or parents that have decision-making authority over “major decisions” regarding the child, such as non-emergency medical care, religion, education, and extracurricular activities. When you think of the phrase “legal custody,” replace it with the phrase “decision-making” (e.g., sole decision-making or joint decision-making). Please note that “day-to-day” decisions are made with the parent who has …
The New Enhanced Earning Capacity Rule
The new spousal maintenance law signed into law by Andrew Cuomo at the end of September changes the concept of enhanced earning capacity in terms of looking at as an asset subject to equitable distribution. In the previous law, if a party earned a license or professional degree during the marriage, it was considered an asset to be divided …
Why Hire an Attorney for an Uncontested Divorce When Forms are Available Online?
Filing a New York uncontested divorce or an annulment can seem easy to do. In the case of an uncontested divorce, there are forms available on the court’s website. For annulments though, there are no forms available to the public, but it is substantially similar to filing for an uncontested divorce. That being said, there are over 15 documents that …