You may find yourself going through a great financial toll with the attorney fees, court fees, and otherwise legal fees that you incur while dissolving your marriage from your former spouse. What’s worse, you may also be losing some of your hard-earned, high-value assets in the split. With this, you may be primarily worried about losing the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits that you worked so earnestly to obtain in the first place; and that you continue to require to sustain your lifestyle. Please continue reading to learn whether your SSDI benefits will be subject to division in your divorce proceedings and how an experienced New Jersey SSDI benefits lawyer at The Law Offices of Sheryl Gandel Mazur can work to protect them at all costs.
What will the division of assets in my divorce proceedings entail?
With the division of assets in your divorce proceedings, the New Jersey family court may categorize your and your former spouse’s assets as separate or marital assets. For one, separate assets are considered those only owned by one spouse; which was likely acquired by the one spouse before the marriage, after the separation, or as an individual gift or inheritance. Secondly, marital assets are those owned by both spouses; which were likely accumulated throughout the marriage.
Next, the judge may work under New Jersey’s equitable distribution law. This law holds that each spouse is to get a fair share of the marital assets. To emphasize, separate assets are not included in this split. Further, this “fair” split does not necessarily mean an equal, 50/50 split.
Will my SSDI benefits be subject to division in my divorce proceedings?
Now having this understanding, you may still wonder whether your SSDI benefits will be considered a marital asset that is thereby to be fairly divided in your divorce. Well, the short answer is that these monthly payments are generally not viewed as marital assets. However, this may get more complicated if you have been depositing your checks into a joint bank account under both your and your former spouse’s names. This is why we recommend that, if you have not done so already, to deposit your checks in a separate bank account established exclusively to hold your government benefits.
In addition, the New Jersey family court may consider your monthly SSDI benefits payments as one of your sources of income. Therefore, this may affect how much spousal support and child support you may be ordered to in your divorce decree.
The bright side to all this, however, is that you may rest assured knowing that the amount of SSDI benefits payments you receive every month will not alter in the aftermath of your divorce. This is because these payment amounts are based on your work record rather than being need-based.
All in all, you may be intimidated by the proceedings that lie ahead of you. But the best way to relieve some of this worry is to have a skilled New Jersey SSDI benefits lawyer stand by your side throughout. Contact The Law Offices of Sheryl Gandel Mazur at your earliest possible convenience.
