No-Fault Divorce Comes to New York

With a flick of the pen, Governor David Paterson has ended New York's holdout as the only state in the union to disallow no-fault divorce.

2010-10-31

October 31, 2010 (Press-News.org) With a flick of the pen, Governor David Paterson has ended New York's holdout as the only state in the union to disallow no-fault divorce. Prior to the signing of the law, which took effect October 12th, New Yorkers were able to divorce only by proving fault for abandonment, adultery, cruelty or imprisonment.

There was, however, a way for couples to divorce without fault prior to the new law. This required couples to enter into a separation agreement and live apart for at least one year. The catch with this option comes in the agreement; couples had to agree on all of the terms.

Because of the lack of a no-fault divorce option in New York, the law encouraged "institutionalized perjury" -- where one spouse falsely accused the other spouse of wrong doing (abuse, adultery, etc.) -- in order to proceed with the divorce process.

Minna Buck, a former Family Court Judge, states, "[No-fault divorce] will stop people from lying under oath when they go to court, which is what they do now if they don't want to wait for a year."

Temporary Maintenance Formula

Along with the no-fault divorce bill, Governor Paterson also signed into law a bill that sets forth calculations for temporary spousal maintenance. The formula in the bill is gender neutral -- the spouse with the greater income will pay maintenance to the other spouse -- and is intended to help the spouse with less money make ends meet throughout the divorce process.

The temporary maintenance formula will determine the amount to be paid as the lower of the following two calculations:

1. 40 percent of the combined income of the spouses minus 100 percent of the income of the lower income spouse; or

2. 30 percent of the wealthier spouse's income minus 20 percent of the income of the lower income spouse

Those with incomes near the poverty level will not have to pay temporary maintenance and those earning high incomes will only have to pay on the first $500,000 of income.

For questions about no fault divorce in New York or the new temporary maintenance formula, please consult with an experienced family law attorney.

Article provided by Colwell, Colwell & Petroccione, LLP
Visit us at www.colwell-law.com

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Do No Harm; If A Doctor Does, They Need To Admit To Conduct That Injures

2010-10-31

Hippocrates insisted that "The physician must...have two special objects in view with regard to disease, namely, to do good or to do no harm." It is with the faith that their physicians will "do good" or at least "do no harm" that patients seek out medical care. Recent studies have indicated that physicians are poorly trained in matters of patient safety and practice in an environment that often work against the wellbeing of those seeking their expertise. A recent study by the National Patient Safety Foundation noted that medical schools today focus principally on providing ...

The Use of Skype Ordered in Family Court

2010-10-31

For people in family court, staying in touch, especially via court-ordered visitation arrangements, can be a challenge. But some courts are implementing new high-tech approaches to address old family law issues. A New York judge recently ruled that as a condition of her out-of-state move away to Florida, a Long Island mother must make her two children available to talk to their father through Skype, an online video conferencing service. Although this was the first time such a condition has been ordered in New York, a number of other states have begun experimenting with ...

The Rise of Gray Divorce

2010-10-31

The Baby Boomer generation gave us the summer of love and a break from some of the traditions of the previous generations. Now it appears the Baby Boomer generation is also giving us a normalization of divorce, especially later in life. Despite an overall decline in the United States divorce rate, divorces among those married 20, 30 and even 40 years appear to be on the rise. According to Erica Manfred, a New York divorce expert, this rising number of splits between long-married couples is referred to as "gray divorce." Gray Divorce Statistics While not specifically ...

Megan's Law: The Sex-Offender Registry in New Jersey

2010-10-31

In 1994, the Registration and Community Notification Laws (RCNL), more commonly known as Megan's Law, was enacted in response to the public's demand for more information on the identity and residence of previously convicted sex offenders who are considered a possible threat to the safety of others in the community. Megan's Law created a state registry of sex offenders, a similar Internet registry and a community notification procedure to alert the public when state officials deem it necessary for public safety. The law requires continual registration from people convicted ...

NY Requires Interlocks and Imposes Increased Penalties on DWI Offenders

2010-10-31

On August 15, Leandra's Law -- also called the Child Passenger Protection Act -- went into effect. Leandra's Law is named for 11-year-old Leandra Rosado, who died last October after she was thrown from a car driven by a drunk driver. The law requires that those convicted of drunk driving, including first time offenders, install interlock devices in their vehicles. The interlock device is a breath test that disables the ignition of the vehicle if it detects a trace of alcohol. According to statistics from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), locations ...

A New Big Rig Danger: Bogus Medical Checks for Truckers

2010-10-31

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has responsibility in several important areas: investigating the causes of accidents involving trains, aircraft, and a variety of other vehicles and vessels; promoting transportation safety; and helping victims of transportation-related accidents as well as the families of fatal accident victims. One important aspect of this mission is the board's oversight of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which directly regulates commercial trucks, buses and other vehicles to prevent fatal truck accidents and catastrophic ...

Driving by Gender: Who Causes More Motor Vehicle Accidents?

2010-10-31

It's a debate as old as the internal combustion engine and the advent of headlights: Are women better drivers than men, or vice versa? While media stereotypes once led to the acceptance of "woman driver" as an inherently critical label, the truth is that men are significantly more likely to get into crashes. This fact has long been known by the insurance company actuaries who set policy rates for individuals, but the precise differences are well described in recent statistics. On the high end, the New York Times reported in August on a city traffic study that revealed ...

Excising the Gall Bladder: The Risks of 'Band-Aid' Surgery

2010-10-31

In routine gall bladder surgery, the surgeon mistakenly punctures the patient's aorta, a major artery supplying oxygen-rich blood to the body. The patient is 20-year-old Airman Colton Reid. His fiance watches as Reid's feet turn blue from lack of blood flow; yet there are more than eight hours of delay before Reid is transferred from the teaching hospital at Travis Air Force Base to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, where Reid can get adequate treatment. Because of the lack of blood flow from the punctured aorta, and the delay, doctors at UC Davis are ultimately forced ...

EPA's Broad Study Targets the Safety of Shale Drilling

2010-10-31

Hydraulic fracturing, also commonly called hydrofracking or fracking, is the process of drilling into shale and then turning the drill horizontally to tap pockets of natural gas. The Post-Standard says Ron Bishop, a chemistry professor at the State University College at Oneonta, explains that the procedure involves pumping in thick chemical slurry to keep the drill bit clear of debris. Concrete seals the well and large amounts of water -- potentially millions of gallons -- are pumped in under pressure to hydrofracture the shale and release natural gas. The polluted water ...

Exempt or Nonexempt: Do You Receive Overtime Pay?

2010-10-31

When it comes to the idea of overtime pay, most think that only the laborer, manufacturer or other "blue collar" worker is eligible to receive overtime, not the professional, executive, supervisor or manager. In today's workplace, however, the old blue collar/white collar doesn't' always apply. A worker can be entitled to overtime pay regardless of the color of his or her collar. Employees eligible to receive overtime pay are generally referred to as "nonexempt." Other employees, who are exempted from federal and state overtime laws in certain instances, are called "exempt ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Gene scissors in camouflage mode help in the search for cancer therapies

Breaking the cycle of vulnerability: study identifies modifiable elements to build community resilience and improve health

Center for Open Science awarded grant from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to preserve and safeguard publicly funded scientific data

Two new studies from Schneider Electric and the Boston University Institute for Global Sustainability reveal 95 barriers and 50 risks slowing decarbonization in the building sector

Women authors underrepresented among retracted medical papers

Is it light or humidity? Scientists identify the culprits of emerald green degradation in masterpieces

[Press-News.org] No-Fault Divorce Comes to New York
With a flick of the pen, Governor David Paterson has ended New York's holdout as the only state in the union to disallow no-fault divorce.