Have Questions?
-
What About Health and Life Insurance for Me and My Children?
The Court can order a spouse to:
- Purchase, maintain or assign a policy of insurance for health and hospital care and related services for either spouse or children
- Purchase, maintain or assign a policy of insurance on the life of either spouse and designate either spouse or children of the marriage as irrevocable beneficiary
-
What Can I Do If I Can No Longer Afford to Pay Maintenance?
The Supreme Court of the State of New York and the New York Family Court may modify the maintenance provisions of a divorce judgment made on or after July 19, 1980 even where there is an agreement which continues to exist as a separate agreement after the divorce judgment is granted by the court. The modified judgment supersedes the terms of the prior agreement and judgment for such period of time and under such circumstances as the Court determines. The criteria upon which such modification may be ordered is “Extreme Hardship.”
-
If My Spouse Stops Paying Child Support, Can I Stop Visitation?
No. If it ever appears that the custodial parent who receives spousal maintenance has withheld or wrongfully interfered with the other parents’ visitation rights, the court may decide to suspend their maintenance payments or cancel any arrears that accumulated during the time when visitation rights were withheld.
-
Is Property Equally Divided in Equitable Distribution?
No, equal is not synonymous with equitable. New York is not a 50/50 community property state, which means that marital property must be distributed fairly, but not necessarily equally, between the spouses. The factors used to determine how to divide property are enumerated in the statute.
