All posts tagged New York

Grounds For Divorce In New York State Law

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Irretrievable breakdown.
Divorce is granted between you and your spouse if the relationship has been broken for at least six months. However, if you filed for divorce before October 12, 2010, youre ineligible to divorce on these grounds. A divorce will be denied if the couple who is seeking a divorce fails to reach a settlement regarding the property they acquired during their marriage. There must also be a settlement in place regarding custody and visitation rights; as well as spousal and child support.

2. Abandonment.
New York allows divorce if your spouse abandons you for at least a year. In this case, abandonment means your spouse either kicked you out or left you without any intentions of returning. To divorce on these grounds, you and your spouse must have reached a settlement regarding custody visitation, property, spousal and child support.

3. Adultery.
Divorce is granted if your spouse commits adultery. It should be noted, however, that if you encourage your spouse to cheat or engage in sex with him or her after learning about the affair, then you wont be granted a divorce. Divorce is also denied if youre the cheating spouse.

New York divorce laws dont grant divorce to couples if more than five years have passed since infidelity happened. You cant testify in a divorce ending in adultery. Instead you must have someone else as a witness.

4. Separation agreement.
A divorce is granted to married New York couples who have lived separately for at least a year as a result of signing an agreement of separation. Prior to the finalization of divorce, both parties are expected to obey this signed agreement.

5. Cruel and inhuman treatment.
Cruel and inhuman treatment means youre in danger physically or mentally if you continue living with your spouse. This is based on verbal and/or physical abuse.

If this abuse happened over 5 years ago, you cant divorce on these grounds. Your spouse even has the right to object to these grounds.

6. Imprisonment.
A New York judge will grant a divorce to a spouse whose husband or wife is incarcerated for three years or longer. A divorce can not be granted if the spouses incarceration happened more than five years ago and he or she is now free.

7. Judgment of separation.
If you and your spouse live separately because of a “judgment of separation” or a “decree of separation,” for at least a year, then you can seek a divorce on these grounds. All the stated conditions in the decree or judgment must be obeyed by both parties.

Child Support in New York

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Any couple that goes through a divorce has to deal with many issues, but those that have children usually go through even more acrimony when dealing with custody and support for their children. Child support is financial support provided by the noncustodial parent. Child support includes, cash payments (based on the parent’s income and the needs of the child), health insurance for the child, payments for child care, and payments for reasonable health care costs that are not covered by health insurance. Family Court determines the amount of child support the noncustodial parent will pay. Under New York State law, parents are responsible for supporting their child until the child is 21 years old.

There are guidelines in which the court uses to determine the amount of child support that is owed to the custodial parent, based on the noncustodial parent’s adjusted gross income and on the number of children involved. The court first determines the noncustodial parent’s gross income. The court then multiplies the adjusted gross income by the standard guideline percentage for the number of children. These percentages are as follows:
17% for one child
25% for two children
29% for three children
31% for four children
at least 35% for five or more children.
Then the noncustodial parent’s share of child care, medical, and educational expenses is added to the income percentage amount. The combined amount, percentage of income plus share of expenses, is the basic child support amount.

For incomes over $130,000, the court determines whether or not to use the percentage guidelines and may consider other factors in setting the full child support payment.

The main problem that many noncustodial parents have an issue with is that many fill out long and tedious expense forms and when it comes time to determine the monthly the courts do not take into consideration the expenses of the noncustodial parent. If you cannot pay your child support you can file a “petition for modification” with the court that issued the support order. Only the court can change what you owe. Just because you think you cannot pay, do not stop paying. Continue to pay what you can while you wait for the court to make a decision. You should know that the court will only change the amount of support you need to pay if there has been a substantial change in your ability to pay.

Dealing with child support and child custody it can be very emotional, remember that in the end you want what is best for your children.