Articles Tagged with palimony

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In modern society, it is common for unmarried couples to live together without being married.  When an unmarried cohabiting couple separates, however, the rights to equitable distribution and6a3146dbdf81597192112ac03d77c7e4-300x200 alimony does not exist.  No matter how long an unmarried couple has lived together, they do not have the legal rights and protection that divorcing couples enjoy.  Cohabitating, unmarried couples also do not enjoy the rights and protections that married couples having during their marriage, such as filing joint tax returns; receiving distributions from estates free of estate tax; receiving survivor’s benefits from retirement plans and Social Security; obtaining “family” health insurance, dental insurance, and other employment benefits; and automatically sharing in his/her partner’s property in the event he or she dies without a will. Continue reading ›

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For many years Palimony actions were proliferating. Spurned on by the original landmark palimony case filed against actor Lee Marvin by his former girlfriend in California. palimony actions gave e3bc10d77963468f2705f7119c049b73-300x199 hope that people (usually women) in long term relationships without marriage would have some financial rights when the romantic relationship went sour. Palimony served a useful social function to level the proverbial social playing field once the concept of “common law marriage” was eliminated. For Palimony created legal right of support in situations were there was no legal marriage but there was a promise of support. Continue reading ›

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Almost 2 years ago I wrote a series of blogs discussing the viability of palimony claims in the State of New Jersey in light of a January, 2010 Amendment to the Statute of Frauds (N.J.S.A. 25:1-5(h)), requiring that for any promise by one party in a non-marital personal relationship to provide support to the other person to be enforceable, that promise had to be both in writing and made with independent advice of counsel for each of the parties. In one of my previous blog posts: “TO MARRY OR NOT TO MARRY – IS THERE STILL A QUESTION?”, Continue reading ›

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In 2013 this firm addressed in this blog our State’s view on Palimony on three occasions. First, in “The State Of Palimony in the State of New Jersey“, Karen Willitts outlined the general law of palimony before and after the 2010 amendment to the “Statute of Frauds”, N.J.S.A. 25:1-5(h) which required palimony agreements to be in writing and the result of consultation with independent counsel to be binding agreements. Continue reading ›

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Only several months ago I wrote a blog discussing the then state-of-the-law in New Jersey in regards to palimony and the ability of unmarried cohabitants to enforce unwritten promises of support.  Continue reading ›

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coupleWe often hear about palimony when celebrities are involved.   One early notorious palimony case was the palimony litigation between actor Lee Marvin and his paramour, Michelle Triolla, which was in litigation for several years in California after Ms. Triolla (who adopted the surname Marvin) contended that she cohabited with Mr. Marvin for a number of years and that Mr. Marvin promised to support her for life. Continue reading ›