Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%
Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.
Saving Agreements with Defective or Missing Temporary Maintenance Recitals
New York's interim maintenance statute (2010 N.Y. Laws Ch. 371, ' 1, codified at Domestic Relations Law (DRL) ' 236, Part B, subd. 5-a.), which the Legislature enacted in 2010, has been widely criticized as overly formulaic ' and, because it requires judges to consider many factors in each decision, unduly cumbersome. See, e.g., Joel Stashenko, Maintenance Bill's Formulaic Approach Drew Opposition, NY Law Journal, July 7, 2014 (quoting members of the bench and bar, though some defend the use of formulas); Lee Rosenberg, Multiple Flaws Abound in New Interim Spousal Support Statute, NY Law Journal, Feb. 25, 2011.
Less discussed, but also potentially troubling, are the requirements that the statute imposes on agreements. Those regarding temporary maintenance, to be enforceable, must include a calculation of what would have been the level of temporary maintenance under the formula; a recitation that said “presumptive award” is “correct”; and, if the parties agreed to some other amount, a recitation of the reasons why. DRL ' 236B subd. 5-a(f). Those requirements should be familiar to the matrimonial bar, as the Legislature took them almost verbatim from the requirements for agreements about child support. Compare id . with ' 240 subd. 1-b(h). The Child Support Standards Act inserted identical recital requirements in that paragraph and in Family Court Act ' 413 subd. 1(h). For simplicity, this article cites only to the DRL.
Why So Many Great Lawyers Stink at Business Development and What Law Firms Are Doing About It
Why is it that those who are best skilled at advocating for others are ill-equipped at advocating for their own skills and what to do about it?
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later
The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.
A Lawyer's System for Active Reading
Active reading comprises many daily tasks lawyers engage in, including highlighting, annotating, note taking, comparing and searching texts. It demands more than flipping or turning pages.
Protecting Innovation in the Cyber World from Patent Trolls
With trillions of dollars to keep watch over, the last thing we need is the distraction of costly litigation brought on by patent assertion entities (PAEs or "patent trolls"), companies that don't make any products but instead seek royalties by asserting their patents against those who do make products.