New York High-Stakes Family Law Blog

Life will inevitably go on following your divorce in New York. Part of that may include you needing (or wanting) to relocate. That can cause complications if you have custody of your kids. Often, the issue of relocation will be addressed in your custody agreement. Yet if it is not (or you find yourself needing to relocate for family issues or business), what are you to do? Many come to members of our team here at Robert G. Smith, PLLC with this same question. Like them, you may be concerned that your decision to relocate could negatively affect your custody situation. 

You typically need to inform both your ex-spouse and the family court that has jurisdiction over your case of your intent to relocate well in advance of it actually happening. If your relocation will impact your ex-spouse's visitation rights, then the court will evaluate your case to determine whether you have a good reason to move. According to the New York City Bar, factors that it will consider include: 

• The quality of relationship your kids share with both you and your ex-spouse
• If the relocation would cause strain on the relationship with your ex-spouse or other siblings not living with you
• How much your kids' lives may be improved financially, emotionally and scholastically by the move
• If your kids and your ex-spouse will be able to maintain their relationship by simply modifying their visitation

Mistrust among divorcing spouses can be common, even during amicable divorces. However, when a spouse has a history of financial infidelity, mistrust can play an even bigger role in a divorce.

Financial infidelity is becoming more common in America, and could be contributing to numerous divorces each year. Financial infidelity involves secretive acts regarding significant amounts of money or debt. It can include secretly spending money, owning secret credit cards, having secret bank accounts, hiding secret stashes of money or accumulating secret debts, but it does not typically include small secrets, such as a secret birthday gift.

Going through a divorce in New York is hard enough but becomes especially complicated when you have young children involved. Child custody issues are an essential part of a divorce agreement between you and your divorcing spouse. Sometimes, there are certain circumstances that warrant court-mandated supervised visitation for a parent. 

According to Psychology Today, approximately 40% of marriages in the United States end in divorce. Many of these marriages involve children, and today most couples seek joint custody of their child or children. However, sometimes there are reasons why this should not occur and a judge will order you or your spouse to be subject to supervised visitation while spending time with your minor.

At the beginning of this year, major changes to the federal tax code took effect, including one that greatly impacts the tax implications for alimony. Prior to 2019, the law allowed alimony payers to take a tax deduction on their payments while alimony receivers were required to claim the payments as taxable income. Now, neither side is allowed to deduct or required to claim.

According to a recent New York Times article, the reason for this change was an imbalance that has long existed. Since the provisions were first enacted in 1942, alimony payers have been very likely to claim the deduction while alimony receivers have been much less likely to report the income. Getting rid of both requirements means less of a revenue shortfall for the IRS.