Your Wedding Day: Are You Ready For The Legal Changes Marriage Brings?

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Throughout the month of May, we will be posting a special blog series on marriage-related legal issues, including prenuptial agreements, reconciliation agreements, and more. Please check back each week for tips and advice that can help you boost your marital savvy!

With the spring and summer New Jersey wedding season about to begin, many engaged couples are spending the next few weeks and months busily preparing for the big day. If you’re getting married anytime soon, in addition to things like finalizing invitation lists and reception menus, you may be wondering what you should be doing right now to get ready for the realities of marriage, including the legal changes that take place after you both say “I do.” Read more

Badmouthing Spouse Leads to Lowered Divorce Settlement

torn divorce decree and cash, with broken wedding ringDivorce stirs up plenty of emotions, but a recent headline-grabbing divorce case in which a wife received a lowered divorce settlement for “badmouthing” her attorney husband and allegedly ruining his business reputation provides good reason why it may be best to keep negative feelings about your spouse under wraps. Read more

New Jersey “Child Support Amnesty Week” Begins April 28

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For parents who have fallen so far behind on child support payments that a warrant has been issued for their arrest, the New Jersey Office of Child Support Services is extending a one-time opportunity to make things right. Read more

Is Getting A Divorce About To Get Harder?

Divorce papers with hand and pen

Is there a nationwide movement afoot to make getting a divorce more difficult? A provocative new article in the Washington Post describes how a number of state legislatures are now pushing for waiting periods, mandating marriage classes, or even eliminating no-fault divorce entirely. Read more

What Happens to Student Loan Debt During a Divorce?

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During a divorce, the matter of dividing a couple’s marital debts is given just as much weight as dividing their assets. While “marital debt” usually translates for most couples to mean debt from credit cards, for a growing number of college-educated spouses, there is another issue to contend with: student loan debt. Just what happens to student loans during a divorce? Read more

Judge Gives Engagement Ring to Woman Based On Break Up Text

iStock_000005823202SmallThanks to the ruling of a NY judge, a broken off engagement has resulted in one woman being able to keep her $53,000 engagement ring over the protests of her former fiancé, the NY Daily News reports. Read more

High Society Couple to Hold Hamptons “Divorce Yard Sale”

iStock_000015202352SmallThe posh summer season in the Hamptons will get off to an usual start this Memorial Day Weekend with the “divorce yard sale” of James B. Fairchild and Whitney St. John, a couple once billed as a modern day F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. According to the NY Daily News, Fairchild, son of former Women’s Wear Daily and W publisher John Fairchild, and St. John, a high society real estate broker, have decided to hold a joint sale of antiques and collectibles as part of their divorce settlement. Read more

How to Protect Your Finances in a Divorce

iStock_000018458248MediumNo matter how amicable (or not) a split your divorce is shaping up to be, it’s completely normal to be concerned with how best to safeguard your financial future as you move forward into your new life. How do you go about protecting your finances during a separation or divorce? Here are six basic steps: Read more

What is “Conscious Uncoupling”?

In headline-making news yesterday, Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin announced their marital separation through a blog post on Paltrow’s lifestyle site, Goop.com titled “Conscious Uncoupling“:

“It is with hearts full of sadness that we have decided to separate,” the pair wrote. “We have been working hard for well over a year, some of it together, some of it separated, to see what might have been possible between us, and we have come to the conclusion that while we love each other very much we will remain separate.” Read more

Senate Panel Approves Bill To Cut Off New Jersey Child Support At Age 19

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Is New Jersey child support about to undergo a fundamental change? With bill S-1046, allowing for the end of child support payments once the child reaches the age of 19 recently advanced by a Senate Judiciary panel, we appear to be one step closer.

Update July 23, 2015: The New Jersey Senate approved bill S-1046 by a vote of 31-2.  The bill must still be acted on by the Assembly and signed by Gov. Chris Christie to become law.

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