Legal Question in Family Law in New Jersey

Re: Compensation award - are you entitled?

Generally all assets or awards earned or acquired during the marriage are subject to equitable distribution - which means you would most likely be entitled to a portion of the compensation award. Either the court will decide at the final divoce hearing or you and your husband could agree between you. I would need to have more facts to advise you what percentage you might be able to expect.

With respect to child support - If you and your husband earn exactly the same salary and spend exactly the same amount of time with your daughter, then it's possible that neither of you would be entitled to child support. There are NJ Child Support Guidelines that are used to determine the amount of support taking into consideration the incomes of both parties and amount of parenting time spent with the child. Changed circumstances (such as your daughter spending five days a week with you once she begins school) is always a reason to re-determine child support. When that happens, you may petition the court to re-determine the child support award. If I can be of further assistance to you, you may contact my office at (201) 641-1605 and I would be happy to offer you a free intital telephone consultation.

Re: eligible to receive part of his comp award

As to your first question, the general rule is that anything that accrues during the term of the marriage is subject to equitable distribution; meaning that you would be entitled to some of that amount. How much is subject to an equitable distribution determination by the Court or may be decided by an agreement between the parties. Concerning your second question, child support is set in accordance with the NJ Child Support Guidelines, which take into consideration, among other things, the income of both parties and the amount of time that each party is spending with the children, based on overnights with each parent. You may or may not be entitled to child support. For instance, if your incomes are exactly equal and you are both spending an equal amount of overnight time with the children, there would probably be no child support amount paid by either party since each party would be theoretically paying the costs of the children while they had custodial time. Depending on the exact facts of your situation, my answer may change. Therefore, you should seek the advice of an attorney. If you want me to assist you, please call my office at 856-546-8010. Good luck!