Two years have passed since the changes to the alimony regime introduced by the TCJA went into effect. These changes have raised significant questions for practitioners and litigants in New York wrestling with issues relating to maintenance (alimony) arrangements in a post-TCJA world.

Where a couple began their relationship prior to the legalization of same-sex marriage in New York state, should that pre-martial relationship carry more weight in the determination of certain financial issues, namely the equitable distribution of marital assets and the determination of the amount and duration of spousal maintenance?

 

Can clients seek compensation for domestic violence from their spouses in a parallel tort action as opposed to addressing these issues exclusively in divorce proceedings … or is that a double dip?

What happens when the AFC believes that the child's wishes are contrary to the child's best interests and finds himself/herself at a crossroads with the child? The AFC must then decide whether it is permissible to use substituted judgment.

'Ameliorative measures' do not protect children facing 'grave risk of harm' upon return to home country under the Hague Convention and consideration of such measures should be eliminated by the U.S. Supreme Court.