Life insurance is one of the financial assets you must disclose during your divorce as part of the equitable distribution process. But the court can treat your policy any number of ways, depending on your family’s overall circumstances: A piece of property — A whole life policy has cash value. The court may assess the surrender value of the policy…
For numerous reasons, individuals or couples may choose to place property in revocable trusts. These trusts hold the property during the grantor’s lifetime and then pass that wealth onto heirs when the grantor dies. When a trust is revocable, the grantor can change the terms, including the named beneficiary, at any time. The question for couples going through a divorce…
Parental kidnapping can involve snatching a child and fleeing the country with the intention never to return, deliberately failing to return a child on time to a custodial parent, and everything in between. Parental kidnapping is the deliberate violation of a custody order. It need not involve violence, threats or even removal of the child to a different location. Simply…
If you receive income from a trust fund, you probably don’t want to share it with your spouse after your divorce. Fortunately, if you have lived in New York long enough to file for divorce here, your trust fund is probably safe. However, under limited circumstances, your ex might have a claim to support from your trust fund. The…
Although wives and husbands of military personnel typically lose benefits when they dissolve their marriage to a service member, federal law does provide certain protections for former military spouses. Depending on the length of your marriage to a service member, you may retain these rights: Access to the commissary and post exchange — If you were married for at least…
A fraudulent transfer is a transaction one person makes to frustrate another person’s legitimate claim to an asset. In divorce, fraudulent transfers occur when one spouse deals away property he controls to prevent the court from counting it and distributing it to the other spouse. Fraudulent transfers are illegal, of course, but they can be tricky to discover and difficult…
In deciding all divorce issues affecting your children, the family court applies a single, all-important standard: “the best interests of the child.” But how does the court know what is in your child’s best interest? In tough custody battles, parents often have conflicting notions of what’s best for their child. They present the court with very different impressions of who…
In recent years, there has been a notable increase in the number of empty-nesters and retirees who’ve gotten divorced. It makes perfect sense not to spend your golden years in a broken relationship, but once you’ve found a new relationship, you should bear in mind that it too could break. That’s why we at Bryan L. Salamone & Associates, P.C.…
At Bryan L. Salamone & Associates, P.C., we understand how much our clients want to enjoy their freedom. Many have waited far too long to dissolve their marriages and get on with life. However, we still believe that is the proper sequence: first, dissolve your marriage; then, get on with your life. Living as though you were already single could…
New York State recently reformed many aspects of its Domestic Relations Law, including rules for permanent alimony. The new law creates an advisory schedule for the duration of permanent alimony based on the length of the marriage: From 0 up to and including 15 years — Alimony may last anywhere from 15 percent to 30 percent of the marriage’s length.…