Egg Harbor Township, NJ Divorce Law Firms & Lawyers

Thank you for your question. There are too many variables and outcomes to give you a simple response because we will need to discuss custody, parenting time, alimony, child support and equitable distribution, if there are children and marital properties involved.  Kindly contact a family law attorney to discuss your case in more depth so that you can properly discuss your rights and options.

Thank you for your question about equitable distribution during the divorce process in New Jersey.  New Jersey is an equitable distribution state. This means that all marital assets, property, and debt that have been accumulated during the course of your marriage are divided fairly and equitably by the court. It is important to note that equitable distribution does not necessarily mean your assets will be divided into equal parts.  Marital assets are any assets acquired from the date of marriage until the date of filing for divorce.  Whether or not your husband may have a claim to the home in your and your father’s name requires a fact sensitive analysis.  I suggest you contact a family law attorney to determine your rights regarding the home. 

In divorce settings ( outside of the courthouse) there are a million alternate ways to resolve support, asset division, and parenting time issues in divorce settings, including settings where one spouse "defers on his equity interest" in the asset for a period of time because of the children. The difficulty is working out the terms to ensure its success. To draft language to address this type of setting should take a family law attorney about 4 - 5 pages since we need to determine if the mortgage payment is going to be paid as part of the alimony and/or child support obligation, whether the mortgage payment is going to be shared equally or in a different ratio; what happens if one party defaults in his / her payments; who pays for routine maintenance and routine repairs or whether they get shared; who pays for extraordinary type repairs or are they shared; what happens if your spouse starts living with a guy in the house, does that trigger a sale or buy out; who gets credit for the mortgage pay down or is that shared; what is the triggering event for the sale or buy out; how do you determine the market value for its sale or buy out; what is the timeframe for a sale or buy out once the triggering event occurs; if there is going to be a buyout, how is the mortigage handled and what is the timeframe for the refience of same to occur; if there are any tax benefits for the mortigage interest and / or the real estate taxes, are they shared equally or in a different ratio; and how do you and she recalucualte each parties share of the expenses in the event of a material change in circumstnace setting. These are simply a few of the questions that a family law attorney would be addressing in drafting a settlement agreement. If these terms are not addressed and not clarified, then you have created a black hole setting or a nightmare for a court if a dispute takes place in the future over any or all of these issues. The fact that you and your spouse are getting along now has nothing to do with the future or how each of you will feel about these issues later. And, if these issues are not clarified now, how can a judge figure out what you and your spouse intended to do with each of these issues.