CBS 2: Many Successful Women Now Have No Choice But To Pay ‘Manimony’

Women are now the top income earners in one-third of all marriages. But what does this mean when some of these marriages end in divorce — as an estimated 50 percent of marriages do? As CBS 2 New York reports, more and more women are being forced to pay not only alimony to their former spouses but also child support. Read more

Who Gets the Apartment? What Happens in a Divorce When You Lease or Rent

Maria and Shane had leased their Jersey City apartment for three years when the couple decided to get a divorce. Shane moved in with his brother while he looked for a new place to rent. Maria remained in the apartment and over the next few weeks, had the building superintendent change the locks and paid the rent herself on the first of the month. Read more

Trial Freezes: Still Waiting for Your Day in Court?

Due to the state’s judge shortage crisis, divorce trials in Essex County, home to the state’s busiest courthouse, have been on hold since December 2011. Still waiting for your day in court? Depending on the issues involved, it may be wise to ask your divorce attorney if a form of alternative dispute resolution is appropriate in your case. Two of the most popular alternatives to litigation include:

Mediation: If both parties are willing, private divorce mediation can accomplish the same goals as litigation, but comes with the added bonus of helping you feel more in control of the divorce process.

What Happens: In a typical divorce mediation session, you and your spouse sit down with your attorneys and a neutral professional known as the mediator (often a lawyer or retired judge). At first, you may take turns identifying your individual needs and wants. The mediator then tries to facilitate a settlement discussion, talking about compromises that might make sense in your situation. However, a mediator only makes recommendations when asked — his or her sole goal as a neutral professional is to get the parties to come to a resolution that they can both live with. It should be noted that this process is not recommended for divorces where abuse or domestic violence is present.

What Else to Know: Mediation is completely private and non-binding. Let’s say your July 14 court date is postponed and you give mediation a try, but it doesn’t work out to your satisfaction and you decide to go before a judge in the fall. The courts won’t know what happened behind closed doors, so nothing that happened during mediation can be used against you (nor can it be used against your spouse). With that said, however, mediation is so popular precisely because people are getting the results they want.

Arbitration: Getting divorced through arbitration is similar to mediation in that it’s confidential and an out-of-court type settlement, but the arbitrator is the one who in the end decides the terms of the divorce, much the same as a judge.

What Happens: In a typical arbitration session, a neutral arbitrator–often a lawyer or retired judge–sits in a room with a stenographer and takes testimony. Unlike the give and take of mediation, you need to go into an arbitration meeting prepared and ready to present your case to this person in the exact same way you would a judge. After listening to both sides, the arbitrator deliberates and then hands down a binding decision that you will need to live with (or go to court to appeal).

What Else to Know: If you feel you have a very strong case and have demands that you know your spouse will not compromise to meet, this type of alternative dispute resolution may be the route to take. For those who want a third part to make a decision, but don’t want to linger in court system limbo over the summer, arbitration can be a very efficient way to reach a settlement.

Did Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan Sign a Pre-Nuptial Agreement?

After news broke Saturday that Mark Zuckerberg wed longtime girlfriend Priscilla Chan in a quiet backyard ceremony just a day after the Facebook CEO took his company public to the tune of $104 billion, it has quickly become the status update everyone wants to know: did the couple sign a pre-nuptial agreement before taking their vows? Read more

10 Celebrities Who Divorced Before the Ink was Dry on Their Marriage

In the world of celebrities, divorces occur almost as frequently as marriages. These celebrities couldn’t wait to get hitched… and then divorced. Here’s a look at the ten shortest marriages of all time: Read more

Heidi and Seal Divorce: Can a Post-Nuptial Agreement Be Challenged?

Supermodel, Project Runway host, and entrepreneur Heidi Klum has accumulated a fortune worth an estimated $70 million. But is her soon-to-be ex-husband Seal entitled to any of it? Read more

10 Bizarre Divorce Laws

Ending a marriage is never easy. But opting for divorce is made even more complicated by the outdated and sometimes incomprehensible laws still in the books. Divorce is even illegal in some parts of the world, making it all the more traumatic to obtain. While getting a divorce is often considered a sad upheaval in the lives of the people it affects, it can be made even stranger by some of the laws that still exist today. Read more

How To Bring the Romance Into a Prenuptial Agreement

Keeping Romance in Prenuptial Agreements
Almost every article you’ll read about prenuptial agreements starts with the obvious: bringing up the idea with your intended groom or bride is awkward and un-romantic. Well, of course it is! What can be less conducive to fantasies of happily-ever-after than a document that, to most people, seems to be a way of preparing for a divorce before you’re even married? Read more

Whose Last Name Does the Child Carry Post-Divorce?

In New Jersey as in other states discussing children and parenting legal issues, the tradition of a child taking his or her father’s last name was once the standard. In recent years, however, the courts have set a new standard for names, this one is based on what the best interests of the child might be. The court is quite firm that this standard has no relationship to gender-based traditions: that is, it’s not automatic that children should carry their father’s name, if it can be shown that this isn’t in the child’s best interest.

When might it be in the best interest of the child to change names? The Superior Court has listed 4 key factors to be considered in applying this best-interests standard: Read more

Pet Peeves in Divorce Court: Deciding Custody of Animal Companions

Pet Custody and Divorce
For many of us, our pets are just like children. In recent decades, the question of “pet custody” has become a very real issue in divorce courts around the nation, especially when the break-up isn’t amicable. Court battles over pets can get just as nasty as child custody battles — or sometimes nastier. And it’s not an issue that’s likely to go away any time soon, particularly since courts (and legislatures) are starting to address the issue. Read more