New York Divorce Report - New York's Divorce and Family Law Blog

The Court of Appeals, New York’s highest court announced in a pair of cases that marital funds which were used to pay the separate obligations of one of the parties during the marriage could not be recouped in the divorce. This is a far reaching decision because, for instance, a second wife cannot now recover from her husband marital funds used to pay his first wife spousal maintenance or child support. In short, the divorce court should only consider the assets and liabilities existing at the time of the divorce. The Court in Mahoney-Buntzman v. Buntzman declared that: Courts... More

The Appellate Division answered a common question- what happens when one spouse uses marital assets to pay a separate obligation. It is quite common for the parties to enter the marriage with existing  financial obligations, whether it be student loans, credit card debt or even an obligation to pay child support  or maintenance from a prior marriage. It would be the norm to pay these financial obligations from current income. The problem is that the separate debt is being paid with marital assets, the current income. In the fascinating case of Johnson v. Chapin, the husband used martial assets for... More