New Jersey Law Journal, July 21, 2009
A look at the concept of marital momentum that has routinely provided a dependent spouse with benefits beyond the filing date of the divorce complaint, on the theory that these benefits were the result of the parties’ marital efforts that created a potential or “momentum” beyond the filing date of the divorce.
Often a spouse’s lifetime dream of retiring early or changing careers at a certain age is shattered in divorce as a result of an award of alimony under the concept of the “marital momentum.” This concept has routinely provided a dependent spouse with benefits beyond the filing date of the divorce complaint, on the theory that these benefits were the result of the parties’ marital efforts that created a potential or “momentum” beyond the filing date of the divorce complaint. See Hanson, A-4492-00T1 (App. Div. 2002); Gugliemo v. Gugliemo, 253 N.J. Super. 531 (App. Div. 1992); and Gugliotta v. Gugliotta , 160 N.J. Super. 160 (App. Div. 1978).
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