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Divorce

3d human with golden dollar isolated on mirror floor When you begin working with a New York divorce lawyer like Mr. Darren M. Shapiro, you'll find that there are several concerns to think about when it comes to ensuring you pursue your best interests in your divorce. Ultimately, each spouse in a divorce wants to ensure that he or she can move forward into a new period of their lives, without having to worry about things like fighting for child visitation or maintenance payments. However, in order for life after a divorce to go smoothly, parties will often need to work carefully with their divorce attorney or child custody lawyer, discussing concerns before the case moves to court.

Usually, in a divorce case, the court will need to decide whether either spouse involved should be entitled to some form of support from the other spouse, in the shape of spousal maintenance. This payment can also be referred to as alimony. As marriages have modernized, it's worth noting that the law surrounding maintenance has evolved with them, meaning that courts today consider a range of crucial factors before they decide which spouse should be given what degree of support. Mr. Darren Shapiro can help you to understand the various complex issues of your divorce that you might need to address.

When a marriage is approaching its end, the consideration of spousal maintenance that takes place within the New York court and your divorce lawyer, will determine if payments should be made to one spouse, not just while the divorce is pending, but also as you both move forward separately into your lives. Maintenance or spousal support can be given on a semi-permanent basis, when the scenario suggests that such an outcome is appropriate. Payments made during a divorce process are known as temporary support payments. On the other hand, payments that are made after the divorce has been finalized are known as post-divorce payments. Spousal maintenance - intended to support a payee spouse, is separate from child support, which is intended to provide support for the child, or children of a marriage.

Determining spousal maintenance can be a difficult process. New York lawmakers recently passed a law that tweaked the way that spousal maintenance is calculated. This is why it's so important to work with an experienced and knowledgeable divorce attorney, or child custody lawyer during the process of your divorce. According to the law, if an agreement cannot be made through the parties themselves, then the divorce proceeding will make use of a pre-established formula when calculating temporary maintenance payments, and post-divorce payments. Importantly, this formula is also the same that applies to the proceedings for spousal support that take play with a divorce lawyer in family court. Mr. Shapiro will help you to understand the formulas in use before you approach the courts, so that you're better prepared for the process ahead.

While it's difficult to outline all the elements of spousal maintenance on a single page, some of the matters that the court might take into consideration, and that you should address with your child custody attorney and divorce lawyer include:

  • The total income that is received regularly by the payor spouse. Importantly, the new laws indicate that only the initial $175,000 of the income for the payor spouse should be used in the process of maintenance calculation.
  • Whether the parties had confirmed a written agreement regarding the maintenance payments that would be given during a divorce before the marriage took place.
  • The overall length of the marriage

Although it's important to recognize that the New York courts have the opportunity to deviate from the figures that are relevant after the formula has been put into place, these courts must also adhere to the formula provided as a base-line. In other words, the courts of New York have a distinct foundation from which to make decisions regarding the appropriate payment of spousal support and maintenance.

One crucial element that divorce attorneys and child custody lawyers like Mr. Darren M. Shapiro often need to address is what should happen if a spousal support payment isn't given on time. Once a court has determined that a spouse should be required to make payments of maintenance to the other spouse, this creates a legal obligation. This is something that Mr. Darren Shapiro can discuss with his clients during their sessions together. The legal obligation sets out a payment schedule that the parties in question need to adhere to. In some cases, a payor spouse could fail to give payments on time, which can be frustrating for the payee spouse.

When payments are missed, Mr. Shapiro can help you to seek help through the court system to acquire the payments you are owed. However, it's important to note that you will need to file your claim within a maximum of 20 years, or else waive your right to see the balance of missed payments. If you are within the time limits required, and you have a valid court order that requires your former spouse to make support payments to you, then you can work alongside Mr. Darren Shapiro to compel your former spouse to make those payments. Our office also defends people in these kinds of cases. Mr. Darren M. Shapiro has extensive experience working within the courts of New York, and endeavors to offer a no-fuss approach to seeking out justice for his clients. Mr. Shapiro has worked with numerous clients as a divorce attorney and child custody lawyer, seeking the payments that they deserve.

For more information about how Mr. Darren Shapiro can help with your case, please feel free to reach out. Mr. Shapiro will help you to access the best results for all clients, regardless of whether this entails litigation, collaborative law, mediation, or settlement negotiations. To lean more, please call (516) 333-6555 at your earliest convenience!

Client Reviews
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"Darren Shapiro did an outstanding job with case he was hired for. His price was reasonable and his actions were effective in this case. I would hire this Lawyer again and highly recommend his services." Anonymous
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