How do I get child support/alimony modified?

Courts use a case called Lepis v. Lepis, and the factors contained in (called Lepis factors) in order to determine a modification in child support or alimony. Here are those factors:

In accordance with this general principle, courts have recognized “changed circumstances” that warrant modification in a variety of settings. Some of them include

(1) an increase in the cost of living.
(2) increase or decrease in the supporting spouse's income.
(3) illness, disability or infirmity arising after the original judgment.
(4) the dependent spouse's loss of a house or apartment.
(5) the dependent spouse's cohabitation with another.
(6) subsequent employment by the dependent spouse.
(7) changes in federal income tax law.

Courts have consistently rejected requests for modification based on circumstances which are only temporary or which are expected but have not yet occurred. In other words, temporary unemployment isn't going to get you a modification.

The most annoying part of these standards is that courts do not apply them uniformly. There is a lot of variation at the edges where one judge might grant you a different result than the other. In these cases, although most of the motions are filed without an attorney, a consultation with an attorney might be the best way to increase your chances for success on a motion of this sort.

How does a Court come up with child support amounts in NJ?

Judges (and lawyers in general) are not renowned for their ability to do mathematical gymnastics in their head. Instead, what they use are these long, drawn out documents called the Child Support Guidelines. In short, based on whatever income you are making, they tell the judge what the proper amount should be. There is little or no guesswork involved. Theoretically, the judge could award a different amount, but since this makes it so much easier, and the documents are approved by the Supreme Court, judges rarely deviate from them.

What is Equitable Distribution?

Equitable distribution is the way that courts decide, in a divorce situation, which spouse gets what property.

One thing should be made clear: equitable does not mean equal. The court tries to find a fair resolution, after it figures out which property is subject to distribution. It then considers the following sixteen factors:

Articles

An Overview of Equitable Distribution in New Jersey

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Title:	An Overview of Equitable Distribution in New Jersey
Date:	September 28, 2004
Author(s):	Jan L. Bernstein, Jennifer Lazor
Area(s) of Practice:	Family Law

New Jersey is an equitable distribution state which means that, in the event of a divorce, the marital property is not automatically split 50-50. Rather, equitable distribution is defined as the division of marital assets in a manner that is fair but not necessarily equal.

New Jersey courts have developed a three step process to distribute assets. First, the court will identify which assets are subject to distribution. Assets included in an equitable distribution may range from the marital home, a business, bank accounts and automobiles to stock options, pensions, bonuses and lottery winnings. Generally, courts have defined marital property to be property acquired by either or both spouses from the date of marriage to the filing of the divorce.

Conversely, some main categories of separate property include property acquired prior to marriage, property acquired during the marriage as gifts from third parties or by inheritance, or property acquired after the filing of the divorce complaint from post-complaint efforts. Courts have held that separate property must be kept separately and not allowed to be co-mingled to prevent it from being identified as marital property. In addition, if separate property is improved during the marriage, it may also become marital property. Courts will also consider whether any incremental value to the property was a result of a market fluctuation or a result of the contributions and efforts by one spouse towards the asset's growth to determine if incremental value is subject to distribution.

Next, the court will value the marital property for purposes of distribution. This step may be as straightforward as looking at bank statements or it can be a more complicated process such as retaining an appraiser or accountant to value a business, or to analyze business benefits, such as deferred compensation, restricted stock or stock options.

In step three, the court is granted wide discretion to determine the most equitable way to distribute the assets. In accordance with New Jersey's Equitable Distribution Statute, courts will consider the following factors:

a. The duration of the marriage;

b. The age, physical and emotional health of the parties;

c. The income or property brought to the marriage by each party;

d. The standard of living during the marriage;

e. Any written agreement made by the parties before or during the marriage concerning an arrangement of property division;

f. The economic circumstances of each party at the time the division of property becomes effective;

g. The income and earning capacity of each party, including educational background, training, employment skills, work experience, length of absence from the job market, custodial responsibilities for children, and the time and expense necessary to acquire sufficient education or training to enable the party to become self-supporting at a standard of living reasonably comparable to that enjoyed during the marriage;

h. The contribution by each party to the education, training or earning power of the other;

i. The contribution of each party to the acquisition, dissipation, preservation, depreciation or appreciation in the amount or value of the marital property, as well as the contribution of a party as a homemaker;

j. The tax consequences of the proposed distribution to each party;

k. The present value of the property;

l. The need of a parent who has physical custody of a child to own or occupy the marital residence and to use or own the household effects;

m. The debts and liabilities of the parties;

n. The need for creation, now or in the future, of a trust fund to secure reasonably foreseeable medical or educational costs for a spouse or children;

o. The extent to which a party deferred achieving their career goals; and

p. Any other factor which the court may deem relevant.

Making this more complicated, this list is not exclusive. There may be other factors involved. For this reason, it is extremely important that in a case with substantial assets and/or feuding spouses, lawyers are involved every step of the way (despite all the expense).

Upcoming Series on Family Law

Tomorrow, I will be starting a series on family law issues that the non-lawyer might want to answer. We'll address basic issues and questions that come up during the initial stages of court proceedings involving divorce, child support, custody, adoption, and anything else that comes to mind. Feel free to shoot me an email at carcher at carllaw dot com if you want a specific issue addressed.

Would you Post Your Credit Score on Facebook?

I would advise against it, but this site lets you do just that. I understand (see Friday's post) that Facebook encourages (some would say it does more than encourage you, but I digress) you to spread private information about yourself to every corner of the internet. However, this is a little like teasing your social security number, one digit at a time, so thieves can have whatever access they need to your information.

Stupid Criminals and Facebook Don't MIx!

See this post.

It's amazing how common this sort of thing is. People are proud of what they do, whether it be bad or good. They can't help talking about it, even if any reasonable person would look at it and shake their head in disbelief.

Being "Ready" and Being "Prepared"

There's an old chestnut about lawyers being one or the other, but not both.

Lawyers who have been around the block a few times can be "ready" to make an argument in no time flat. They have done it before, they know the nuances, and they know how to adapt to facts they may not have caught the first time around.

Lawyers who are "prepared" know the facts, but they still need to put together the argument itself. They need to be able to adapt and roll with the punches as their adversary comes up with something unexpected.

Of course, it's better to be both, but if you don't have the experience to be "ready," you need to be prepared.

A Writing Tip for Lawyers and Non-Lawyers Alike

I did not have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long one instead.-Samuel Johnson

Too often, I write letters or briefs without thinking enough about the content of my message. If you know what your message is, great. If not, think about it until you can put it in one sentence, and use the rest of your letter or brief to explain your ideas- briefly. It will take longer, but your writing will be more persuasive and more forceful.

In Soviet Russia...Lawyer Fires You?

Can your lawyer fire you? Some people don't realize it, but a lawyer absolutely can fire a client. When you become a client, you usually have to sign some sort of agreement or retainer letter. It outlines the responsibilities of the lawyer to you, and of you toward your lawyer. Mostly, the requirements are that you follow the lawyer's advice, pay the bills on time, and return phone calls and provide information the lawyers needs to do his/her job. When a client cannot do so, the lawyer can sometimes have no other choice but to file a "Motion to Be Relieved As Counsel" and, in effect, fire the client.

Crazy Ideas Might Just Grow Your Business

Over the weekend, I got a newsletter from an animal shelter. The newsletter had a 250 word article about the importance of a Last Will and Testament.

My reaction: why didn't I think of that?

It seems obvious that you wouldn't approach a pet shelter with an idea about wills. That's why my name isn't associated with that article. The idea might be crazy, or stupid, but then again it might just work because you haven't considered every side of the issue.

Another Thought on Credit Cards

I am a subscriber of the SoloSez listserv, and there was recently a discussion about checks, and how annoying it is when someone writes you a check and it bounces. The response from several members of the list was that they did not accept checks for that reason, and they took cash or credit cards instead.

This view makes sense to me. As a businessowner, I want to have as much certainty as I can that the payments I receive will be honored, and that I can rely on them to offset my expenses. That said, I feel that credit cards have much the same downside as checks, because it is possible for a payor (the one using the check or the credit card) to retract their payment after tendering it. There is no certainty except cash (and even then, it could be counterfeit...), but except for some specific circumstances there are not a lot of clients that walk in to your office with hundreds and/or thousands in cash. I continue to accept checks, and I continue not to accept credit cards- but I think I understand a little better why people would do the opposite.

Should Lawyers Use: Blogs?

I think a blog is a hugely rewarding experience, and not because of the people who read it, or because of the potential business you can generate from it.

If you're writing a blog, you have to think about what you're writing, and try to convey those thoughts in such a way that they're useful both to you and your potential audience. It doesn't matter if no one reads the blog; the point is that you have thought about an issue, and have an understanding of it. Over time, you become more well-versed in your business, because you have taken the time to think about issues that face business owners and clients alike.

You don't have to write daily. I do, but I write short articles that could easily have been larger, weekly articles. As much as anything else, it's a lifestyle choice, because I can more easily handle the shorter posts, and I think potential readers want to spend two minutes or so reading, and then move on. If you write to a more serious audience, feel free to write weekly or twice a week, and write longer articles. Whatever you do, write regularly, and people will eventually establish a habit of returning to read what you have to say. Their attention will become a very valuable asset.

Should Lawyers Use: Email Lists and Advertising?

Email has become not just a useful convenience, but a preferred method of communications for millions of people. It stands to reason that marketing to email addresses would be a useful tool, especially because it is far cheaper to send emails than it is to send postal mail. However, far less reputable businesses have learned this lesson as well, and we all know about the hundreds of annoying "spam" messages we receive in our boxes each day.

Especially when you are looking to establish a relationship with a client, email lists are useful as long as you have the recipient's permission to receive such a message. Also, don't expect one particular message to yield tremendous results. It is usually necessary to "drip on" someone for a period of time so that you eventually come to mind when they need your product or service. If you can afford the time and patience that are needed to market in this way, you can be successful.

I recommend two mail services, both of which I have used, and neither of which I am currently using (I am building an email list): Constant Contact and Mailchimp.

Should Lawyers Use: Twitter?

Twitter is a popular choice among lawyers and other business owners, which allows for quick "micro-blog" posts that communicate basic ideas. Its usefulness is not limited to business- everyone from satirical figures (Obama's Teleprompter, anyone?) to celebrities.

Why use Twitter to promote your business? Well, people can follow your Twitter feed and will be exposed to your business each and every time you "tweet." If you can provide them with useful information, they will be likely to click on links in your posts, along with keeping you fresh in their mind. I recommend the use of Twitter for lawyers, because it does not require a lot of upkeep and it can help you improve your blogging skills if you should ever want to start a blog later on.

Should Lawyers Use: A Website?

Short answer: Yes.

Slightly longer answer: Websites are essential to a web presence nowadays. A website gives a business legitimacy and is a place where potential clients can get to see whatever carefully crafted image you want to present to them.

That said, you need to be careful in putting the site together. If your site looks sloppy and amateurish, people are bound to make that assumption about you. A well-presented and constructed website can mean the difference between losing clients at your door, and bringing them through.

Should Lawyers Use: Craigslist?

The "legal services" section of Craigslist is a very busy place in most regions of the site. [Craigslist, in case you've been spending the past few years under a rock, is a big classified ads site, split up into a lot of sections.]

That, I suppose, is both a good thing and a bad thing. It's good in that people must be clicking on the ads there if lawyers keep posting. The bad thing is that the site becomes very high maintenance. If you want to keep your ad toward the top of the page, you have to keep posting the ad on the site, often multiple times a day.

In addition, although the posting is free, I'm not sure how many people go looking for a lawyer, in whom they should be able to trust important and valuable secrets, on a site where people can find everything from "casual encounters" to VHS tapes. I suspect that unless your practice or business involves impulsive purchasing decisions, what you see is what you get on Craigslist (and you don't see your ads for long).

Should Lawyers Use: Facebook?

I don't need to introduce you to Facebook. What you might not know, though, is that a lot of businesses, including lawyers, are using Facebook to create fan sites for their businesses. You can tie in a bunch of other tools (like Twitter, blogs, and other media) into that site, and some people are even using it as their main business website. The question is whether you should hitch your wagon to that star.

Facebook undoubtedly has its benefits. There is a huge traffic draw to that site, and users who already have a personal presence on the site can be very successful in attracting followers, or "fans." The compatibility the site has with other platforms is also very helpful. However, just a few years ago Facebook was a distant second to MySpace (remember MySpace?), and Twitter barely existed. I worry that devoting all your resources to Facebook may be a problem if Facebook users abandon the site for the next big thing.

Should Lawyers Use: The Yellow Pages?

For most lawyers and professionals nowadays, the answer to this one is an easy "no."

The Yellow Pages were long a great source for advertising, because everyone went to the Yellow Pages when they needed to know who to call for certain things. Even now, I'm sure that in an emergency my first instinct might be to reach for the big yellow book, if I need to call somebody NOW. However, with the rise of the internet as a search and marketing tool, anyone who's anyone, seeking new business, is advertising there rather than in the Yellow Pages primarily because it is cheaper (or free) and provides practically unlimited opportunities to reach consumers.

Yellow Pages ads range from expensive to outrageously expensive, and their internet products are similarly expensive (even if they are a little more useful). I do not recommend the Yellow Pages unless your law practice is not built on referrals and relies on one-shot advertising for clients, and even then the clients must be looking at the book and not at the internet.

Should Lawyers Take Credit Cards?

Credit cards are all over the place today- it's not particularly profound of me to tell you that. However, people use their credit cards to buy fast food and milk at the local deli- should they also use a credit card to pay for legal services?

Law firms that support credit cards like them because they allow people to access funds that they don't normally have in a liquid form (i.e. in a bank account). Also, there are times when people who don't have a lot of liquid assets in any form need legal services, and that's the only way they can pay for them. People also budget their expenses out on a credit card nowadays, much like people used to use a check register.

It's convenient, but there is a cost. Getting set up with the supplies and the credit card machine can cost several hundred dollars. There are monthly fees associated with the service, and credit card companies take anywhere from 1.5% to 3.5% or more of each transaction. Also, credit card companies will allow a "chargeback" to their customers whereby they can pull the money directly from your account in the event that the customer lodges a grievance against you. If you don't have a high-volume practice, that money can come straight out of your checking account and can cause cash flow problems for you.

There are some businesses where it helps to know that the money is available, and that people can pay you. Those businesses would do well to accept credit cards. My practice is such that, at the present time, I do not accept credit cards and am not considering doing so in the near future. However, one never knows how the market would develop, and it is possible that it will become a staple of my business down the line.

"Should Lawyers Use:" Thoughts on Marketing, Advertising, and Business Development

In some ways, the legal industry isn't a whole lot different from any other industry, in that there are literally hundreds of ways you can utilize your dollars when trying to get your name out. Spending wisely on advertising, marketing, and business development can give you a substantial leg up on the competition, but it takes more than sheer financial wherewithal. The best marketers are shameless and relentless self-promoters, and offer a service that is helpful on its face to the target audience. Their audience knows (or they are educated to understand) immediately why the service makes sense for them.

The next two weeks or so will cover different ways that a lawyer, or most any small business, might go about broadening its exposure to the outside world, and bringing in clients.

To Come in the Weeks Ahead...

I have an approximately two-week series called "Should Lawyers Use?" which could easily translate to other small businesses. There are literally millions of different ways to use a small business's advertising dollar, and other services that require no money but lots of time. I try to address some of these different methods in the posts to come.

Happy April Fool's Day!

Don't believe anything anyone tells you today! Or, do believe them, but I hope you enjoy practical jokes. If you want to see examples of great jokes on the internet, check out this site, which is a list of Google hoaxes throughout the years (many of which have taken place on April 1).