Flemington, NJ Divorce Law Firms & Lawyers

No. Property owned before marriage remains separate property of the owner unless and until it is transformed into jointly owned property. Except in community property states, "ownership" remains in the name of the person holding title and the other spouse only has a claim to a share in a divorce case.

You would be well advised to consult a lawyer who can review all the details with you, and research an area where state and federal laws might conflict. Under Wisconsin law, which might or might not govern a federal pension, the wife has an interest in the increase in value of your pension during the time you were married. (I.e. Compare its value as of the date of the marriage with the date of separation or divorce.) There may be federal law on the subject as well, with which I am not at present acquainted.

The most important question is whether the agreement reached by your ex and you as to the suspension of alimony during the pandemic was contained in a writing or a series of writing, when was alimony to restart and whether you had an obligation to pay back the alimony during the period of suspension. The next question is why is the house, cars, etc in your new wife's name? Is she employed with a separate bank account for her employment income and she is paying for all of the expenses or did she have premarital monies that she used to pay for those items ( which can be traced to her ) or did you put everything in her name to try and protect it from your ex?  If you need to file an applicaiton with the court, you need to prove that you have acted in good faith and provideall of your efforts to work and meet your expenses and your obligation to your ex.  This is when you should sit down with an experienced family law attorney to review your financial setting, empl,oyment history, cash flow and your obligations to your ex to discuss options available to you.