Mr. Manley should have sat down with a divorce lawyer BEFORE he decided to hire a private investigator to discuss what proofs his investigator needed to obtain information for purposes of completing the report, and the lawyer involved should have read the actual report by the investigator to confirm that, substantively, the proofs required are laid out properly (as opposed to merely asserting conclusions without any support). Similarly, Mr. Manley should have sat down with the divorce lawyer to review each of the 7 statutory requirements to figure out what information was needed for the application and how to obtain it (if possible). Simply put, Mr. Manley blew it. Mrs. Manley may have been living with her boyfriend and Mr. Manley may have had a legitimate basis for the termination of his alimony obligation but because he did not present it correctly or because he ignored the advice of the lawyer involved, his application failed. As a result, Mrs. Manley now knows exactly what she can do and what things she needs to avoid doing with her boyfriend to avoid termination of her alimony entitlement.
If you are planning to file an application to terminate or suspend your alimony obligation due to your ex’s cohabitation, you must address all 7 of the cohabitation factors set forth in N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23(n) with competent proofs. It is not enough to simply focus all of your (and the expert’s) attention on 1 or 2 of the 7 cohabitation factors.
Conversely, if you are the recipient of an alimony entitlement, you need to be equally conscious of the 7 statutory factors constituting cohabitation, so that you are comfortable that your dating relationship does not cost you your continued receipt of alimony
Regardless of whether you are the Payee or the Payor in an alimony setting, it is important to understand what constitutes cohabitation under N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23(n), and it is equally important to keep in mind the fact that cohabitation does not depend on whether the Payee is living with his/her new partner in the same household full time. A part-time setting can still give rise to a reexamination of an alimony entitlement.
At the end of the day, whether a relationship qualifies as a cohabitation relationship or merely a dating relationship will be determined by the court based on the 7 cohabitation factors set forth in N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23(n).
LAST TAKEAWAY: The number 1 reason for post-divorce applications seeking termination of alimony based on cohabitation are the payee’s social media posts detailing his / her travel; vacations; family gatherings; etc. with the new partner. If you are receiving alimony, you need to think about what you and your new partner post on social media (regardless of whether you are blocking your ex from viewing same). Over 75% of all post-divorce applications seeking termination of alimony based on a claim of cohabitation rely on their former spouse’s social media posts with her / his new partner.