How To Avoid Alimony In Nj

What is "Cohabitation", and How Can It Affect My Divorce Settlements?

During any Morris County divorce, the central bug of alimony and child support are decided based upon the circumstances of both parties at the time of their divorce. If one of these remarries subsequently the divorce, it tin can drastically change their fiscal circumstances, and as such warrant modifications to those agreements.

All the same, what happens when a divorced party doesn't legally remarry, but chooses instead to enter into the kind of mutually supportive and intimate personal relationship usually associated with marriage or a civil union? This type of relationship is defined equally "cohabitation", and can take just as bully an impact on existing alimony agreements that a remarriage or civil spousal relationship could.

How Does NJ Law Ascertain "Cohabitation"?

Chester, NJ Divorce Settlement Modification Lawyers

As previously mentioned, New Jersey legislature has defined cohabitation equally being a "mutually supportive, intimate personal human relationship in which a couple has undertaken duties and privileges that are commonly associated with marriage or civil union."

This doesn't necessarily that the couple needs to be living together full-fourth dimension in order for a court to detect that a cohabitative relationship exists, rather, the courts will consider the following factors when determining whether or non a couple is cohabitating:

• If the couple shares finances like articulation bank accounts or shared holdings and/or liabilities
• If the couple share responsibilities for living expenses
• Recognition of the relationship by family and social cicles
• Whether or not the couple is living together, and if not, the frequency of contact, and the duration of the relationship in question
• If the couple shares household chores
• Whatever other evidence the court deems relevant

These factors for cohabitation were established through a variety of previous cases, and have now been grouped together and divers in New Jersey's alimony statute N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23(north).

How Can Cohabitation Affect My Alimony Settlement?

Mendham, NJ Alimony Modification Attorney

If a political party who is paying alimony to a former spouse believes that that spouse has entered into a cohabitative relationship with some other developed, the supporting party may wish to pursue an alimony modification petition. In the case of a remarriage, proving that the dependent spouse now has another source of fiscal support, and thus may no longer require every bit much as support as is currently existence paid in the existing agreement, is relatively straightforward.

In the instance of cohabitation, however, proving that cohabitation exists can be somewhat more difficult. For case, it may be especially difficult to know, or prove, whether or non your sometime spouse is sharing a banking company account with their new partner. This is where the legal idea of "prima facie" comes into play. Prima facie basically means that there is suggestive evidence for something at offset advent, and in the case of cohabitation, every bit long as you can demonstrate testify which suggests your former spouse may be cohabitating with another developed, the courts will move your example into the discovery phase, meaning you lot and your Mendham, NJ alimony modification attorney can request that financial documents be provided by your former spouse in a process known as discovery.

By having access to things like banking company records, living expenses, and legal interviews in the form of depositions through the discovery process, yous and your attorney can obtain the bear witness necessary to definitively proving that a cohabitative human relationship exists, one which warrants a modification to your existing alimony agreement.

If you are receiving pension payments, and are in a romantic human relationship with another adult, you should take a serious wait at the factors outlined above in order to gain a amend understanding of whether or not your romantic relationship volition touch on your entitlement to alimony.

Morristown Spousal Support Lawyers Help Clients in Modification Hearings

At The Law Function of Townsend, Tomaio & Newmark, our attorneys have extensive experience helping clients across Chester, Mendham, Chatham, Harding, Morristown, and the greater Morris County expanse with mail service-divorce modification proceedings of all kinds, including alimony modifications.

Whether you are currently paying alimony to a party who has entered into a cohabitative relationship, or take begun a human relationship with another adult which may affect your existing pension agreement, our house is set to provide you with the knowledgeable, constructive, and empathetic legal counsel that y'all need and deserve in matters which have such potential to impact your fiscal responsibilities and stability. By practicing exclusively family unit and divorce law, our attorneys can focus on the issues about important to you and your family, staying current in New Bailiwick of jersey family law, and refine our ability to work closely with each customer, and keep them informed and involved throughout the legal process.

To speak with our firm today in a costless and confidential consultation regarding your divorce, alimony agreement, or alimony modification concern, please contact us online, or through our Morristown, NJ office at (973) 840-8970.

Source: https://www.ttnlaw.com/blog/2017/08/what-is-cohabitation-and-how-can-it-affect-my-divorce-settlements/

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