American Journal of Family Law articles from March 2002

American Journal of Family Law archives from March 2002

Using QDROs to enforce spousal and child support.(Qualified Domestic Relations Orders)
March 22, 2002... Because Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDROs) are most often used to effectuate a division of a qualified pension, many practitioners forget that QDROs can effectively be used to enforce support obligations. The skilled practitioner...

"Settling" your client into settlement negotiations.(divorce)
March 22, 2002... The settlement process is one of those periods during a divorce when the lawyer may experience increased turmoil and emotionality in clients. Seeing the spouse's proposal in concrete, written language, four-way conferences, and even...

Family limited partnerships: valid estate planning or good divorce planning?
March 22, 2002... In 1993, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Revenue Ruling 93-12. This ruling allowed a taxpayer to transfer minority blocks of stock in a closely held corporation to family members and take a minority interest discount in valuing the...

Family law on the Internet: landmine or goldmine?
March 22, 2002... The American lawyer has been "unloved" since the 17th century, according to Lawrence Friedman's, A History of American Law. (1) According to Professor Friedman, in early colonial America, opposing parties were encouraged to conciliate or...

Jointly-retained business valuations in matrimonial disputes.
March 22, 2002... Family law attorney: Our business valuation expert came in at a value of $1 million for the business while their business valuation expert came in at a value of $10 million for the same company. We have no idea what the judge is going to...

Electronic eavesdropping and wiretapping in divorce cases.
March 22, 2002... In a day and age when everyone can go to Radio Shack and purchase their own miniaturized microphone, recording device, and spy camera, it has become abundantly clear that every spouse is a potential James Bond. It is not uncommon to be asked...

Effect of annulment of remarriage on prior support award.
March 22, 2002... Assume a divorce decree awards support to one of the parties. The support recipient remarries (which under the law of most states terminates the divorce decree's support obligation) but sometime later has the remarriage annulled. Is the...

Using the Goodwill Registry to value a medical practice: a case study. (Valuation Case Study).
March 22, 2002... In the last five years, the valuation community has seen tremendous growth in the quantity and quality of private company transaction databases. Pratt's Stats, Bizcomps, Done Deals, IBA, and The Goodwill Registry are among the leading...

"Bright line" rule for dividing pension benefits. (Fairshare cases: spotlight).(Kentucky)
March 22, 2002... Rejecting the time rule, the Kentucky Court of Appeals applied a "bright line" rule in which the husband's salary as of the time of the divorce would be used to measure the wife's interest in the husband's pension under the reserve...

Capital gains on sale of stock. (Fairshare cases: spotlight).
March 22, 2002... The husband (the golfer Tom Watson) and the wife were held, by the Court of Appeals of Kansas, to be equally responsible for capital gains tax on the sale of stock during the divorce by a trustee. Marriage of Watson [22 P.3d 1081 (Kan. App....

Employer penalty for not forwarding withheld support. (Fairshare cases: first impression).
March 22, 2002... A penalty of $20,700 imposed upon the father's employer for failing to forward in a timely manner to the mother support money from the father's paycheck was affirmed by an Illinois Appellate Court. Grams v. Autozone, Inc., [745 N.E.2d 687...

"Substantial inheritance" after divorce justified alimony. (Fairshare cases: drafting).(Massachusetts)
March 22, 2002... At issue in the Massachusetts Appellate Court decision of Dwight v. Dwight [756 N.E.2d 17 (Mass. App. 2001)] was the following clause in the parties' separation agreement. Based upon the present existing financial status and an equal...

Rescission agreement cancels prenuptial. (Fairshare cases: drafting).(Alabama)
March 22, 2002... A "Rescission Agreement" completely cancelled the parties' rights and obligations under an earlier prenuptial agreement, the Alabama Court of Appeals has decided. James v. James [764 So. 2d 549 (Ala. App. 1999)] cited the text of the...