Estate Planning For Older Couples Getting Married the Second Time Around: Is Your Will Enough?

estate planning and postnuptial agreeements for older couples
When older couples marry, especially when it’s marriage the second time around for both, certain legal issues can arise that require sorting out. One of the stickiest? Joining your assets in marital union only to then make estate planning decisions for any adult children involved. Will your spouse’s children have any claim to your estate? How do you legally protect your assets so that only your own adult children will have an inheritance claim? Let’s look at the case of Stan and Margaret to understand how a growing number of recently married couples in their senior years are using post-nuptial agreements to protect their estate plan — and their peace of mind. Read more

Divorcing A Narcissist: 5 Steps To Protect Yourself

divorcing a narcissist

To a narcissist, divorce is more than a failure; it’s an ugly black mark across a carefully polished façade. Because a narcissist cannot tolerate anything less than perfection, his or her dysfunctional coping strategy is to place all the blame for the break-up at your feet. It doesn’t matter if your spouse was the one to initiate the divorce. Your mere existence is a reminder to the narcissist of having “failed,” and for that, you must be punished. Read more

NJ Senate Passes Bill to End Child Support Payments at Age 19: How Will This Change Your Order?

child support age cut offWe have been tracking the progress through the New Jersey legislature of Senate bill 1046, which, if passed into law, would cause a major change in termination procedures for New Jersey child support payments. This bill would result in child support payments ending automatically if or when a child marries, dies, enters military service, or reaches the age of 19, unless the child is currently in an out-of-home placement through DCP&P, or unless a court order specifies another date.  On July 23, 2015, the Senate passed this bill by a vote of 31-2. The measure now moves to the Assembly.

While we must caution parents that S-1046 is not yet the law, we also wish to help our clients with current or anticipated child support orders understand exactly how the bill would change the current law, and what it might mean for their own situations. Some of the questions we have heard include the following: Read more

Court Rules Pocket Dialed Phone Calls May Be Fair Game For Divorce Evidence

smartphone pocket dial divorce evidenceAlmost everyone has been on either the calling or receiving end of a pocket dial (aka “butt dial”), that annoying habit cell phones have of accidentally auto-dialing when placed in a back pocket. Getting divorced? Here’s extra motivation to keep your phone safe: if you accidentally pocket dial your spouse, he or she may be able to use information gleaned from listening in as evidence against you in your divorce case, according to a recent federal ruling. Read more

New Jersey Divorce Chronicles, Part 8: Who Gets the House?

dividing family home in divorce

Subject No. 1: Sharon

In Part 6 of our ongoing case study, we saw that after Sharon took a hardline stance on child custody, Robert ended up with a temporary order for primary physical custody. In Part 7, we saw how Jason’s more conciliatory approach with Melissa not only resulted in a parenting time plan that was closer to what he wanted; it also avoided the expense of a hearing. Is Sharon going to continue her aggressive tactics for the rest of her case, or is she beginning to see that a change in approach might be in order? Read more

NJ Supreme Court Case Addresses Questions About Alimony Awards for Stay-At-Home Spouses: Gnall v. Gnall, Part II

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On July 29, 2015, the New Jersey Supreme Court decided the case of Gnall v. Gnall, an alimony case we first blogged about in November of 2014, following oral arguments. This case was decided under the New Jersey alimony statute as it existed prior to the recent reforms.  The Appellate Division reversed a trial court’s award of durational alimony to plaintiff Elizabeth Gnall and sent the case back for consideration of a permanent alimony award. Defendant James Gnall appealed to the Supreme Court, which reversed the Appellate Division’s judgment and instructed the trial court to instead make new findings of fact and re-determine the appropriate alimony award based on those new findings.
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Expert Q&A: Marital Reconciliation After An Affair

Has your marriage been rocked by infidelity? For many couples, the anger, hurt, and sense of betrayal that result from discovering a spouse’s cheating are often insurmountable. For other couples, however, saving the relationship can still be possible — if the couple is willing to fully engage in the process of healing emotional wounds.

Does attempting marital reconciliation make sense for you and your spouse? We asked Dr. Salvatore Benanti, therapist and founder of the The Center For Optimum Living in Kinnelon, NJ, for his expert take on what couples can expect from the reconciliation process. Read more

Free Range Parenting v. Helicopter Parenting: What is the Law in New Jersey?

iStock_000016682576XSmallThe New Jersey Law Journal has just published an article by attorney Bari Weinberger discussing how laws that attempt to protect children can impact a parent’s right to make decisions. “Free range parenting,” Weinberger explains, “is a term coined in reaction to what some consider to be a recent trend toward over-protectiveness of children. Free range parents perceive this over-protectiveness, sometimes called “helicopter-parenting,” as a futile attempt to protect children from every conceivable risk of harm, potentially at the expense of a child’s development of age-appropriate independence.” Read more

Weinberger Divorce & Family Law Group, LLC Answers Your Divorce & Family Law Questions

Ask a Family Law QuestionGet answers to your divorce and family law questions: we know that family law matters can be confusing, so we make sure we are here for you. Managing partner Bari Weinberger was invited to be the divorce expert on the Life Through Divorce twitter party, #divorcetalk, last night where she had the chance to answer some of your family law questions live.

As a trusted authority on divorce and family law matters in New Jersey, we are frequently contacted via our social media channels and through our Ask A Family Law Question section of our website with questions concerning divorce, alimony, child custody matters, and more. It was great to connect live online with a number of people who were reaching out for help. Some of the questions answered last night included: Read more

Spouse Cheated? 5 Tips For Overcoming Adultery

divorce is a healing processAdultery is often cited as the leading cause of divorce, but does cheating always need to spell the end of a marriage? Finding out your husband or wife has been unfaithful can be excruciatingly painful, but when both spouses are willing to do the work, it may be more possible than you think to move past adultery and reconcile your relationship. If your marriage is in danger of being shattered by infidelity, here are some ways you still may be able to pick up the pieces. Read more