New York Family Law Blog
A New York Family Lawyer said the couple purchased their marital residence in 1999 and thereafter rented portions of the home to residential tenants while occupying its main floor. In February 2002 the wife commenced an action for a divorce and ancillary relief. In a pendente lite (pending in court) order, the Supreme Court awarded the defendant husband interim custody of their children and exclusive occupancy of the home, and directed him to pay the wife maintenance in the amount of $125 per week. Additionally, pursuant to that order, the husband was responsible for all the carrying charges on the home in light of his exclusive occupancy and his receipt of rental income from the home. As subsequently amended, the pendente lite order directed the wife to pay the husband $75 per week in child support but allowed her to credit her child support obligation against any unpaid maintenance. No child support or maintenance payments were made pursuant to the pendente lite order.
A New York Custody Lawyer said after a nonjury trial, the Supreme Court awarded physical custody of the children to the wife, directed the husband to pay the wife child support in the amount of $1,112 per month after imputing annual income to him in the amount of $50,000, denied the wife’s application for equitable distribution of fire insurance proceeds received for damages to the home and of rental income from the home generated during a 40-month period of time during which the husband had exclusive possession, and distributed the Haitian real property owned by the parties in kind.
However, a Queens Family Lawyer said the Supreme Court erred in calculating the husband’s child support obligation based on an imputed annual income of $50,000 per year. That imputation was based upon findings that the husband’s average annual reported income over the years 2000-2003 was $37,264 and that, in addition, he received $2,000 per month in rental income. Those findings alone demonstrate that the husband’s actual income exceeds $60,000 per year. Moreover, at one point during the trial, the husband testified that he actually received rental income in the amount of $2,200 per month and, in addition, earned a couple thousand dollars per year in unreported income from secondary employment.
A Queens Custody Lawyer said in light of the evidence in the record that the husband’s actual income exceeds $50,000 per year, the matter is remitted to the Supreme Court for a new determination of the amount of income to be imputed to the husband and, thereafter, a recalculation of his child support obligation. Moreover, since the husband’s share of all child care, unreimbursed, non-elective medical, psychiatric, and dental expenses for the children, as provided for in the judgment appealed from, is based on his pro rata share of the total child support obligation, the matter is also remitted to the Supreme Court for a recalculation of his share of those expenses.
Moreover, the matter is remitted to the Supreme Court for a new determination as to whether the wife is entitled to equitable distribution of the rental income generated by the home during the 40-month period when the husband had exclusive occupancy pursuant to the July 2002 pendente lite order. Real property conveyed to a husband and wife creates a tenancy by the entirety, and each cotenant to a tenancy by the entirety is entitled to one half of the rents and profits generated by the jointly owned real estate.
Here, the Supreme Court based its determination that the wife was not entitled to equitable distribution of the rental income generated during the relevant time period upon its finding that the husband had custody of the parties’ children and that the wife failed to pay child support during that time, and its finding that the expenses in maintaining the house are not limited to the mortgage and taxes, as the wife well knows. However, the pendente lite order, as amended, entitled the wife to offset her monthly child support obligation of $75 against the husband’s monthly maintenance obligation of $125. Since the husband failed to make any maintenance payments pursuant to that order, the wife’s failure to make child support payments did not entitle the husband to a credit against any rental income from the home to which the wife was otherwise entitled.
Moreover, although the Supreme Court appears to have concluded that the husband was entitled to a credit against the wife’s share of the rental income based upon his payment of certain carrying charges, it failed to make any findings as to what portions of those carrying charges, if any, were paid by the tenants at the home, set forth any calculations to demonstrate that the amount of those carrying charges paid by the husband completely offset the wife’s entitlement to rental income, or determine how much of the carrying charges should have been applied to the living expenses of the husband and the children, which should not be chargeable to the wife, as opposed to the amount attributable to the tenants. The parties’ remaining contentions are without merit.
Couples who separate would end up fighting who should provide more and who should receive more. If you want to make sure that you have a fair chance in your legal dispute, consult the Nassau County Family Lawyer or the Nassau County Divorce Attorney. You can also speak with the Nassau County Child Support Lawyer from Stephen Bilkis and Associates during business hours.