SPOUSAL SUPPORT AWARD OVERTURNED BY APPELLATE DIVISION

May 18, 2010

FAMILY LAW — SPOUSAL SUPPORT
20-2-7816 Halaka v. Halaka, App. Div. (per curiam) (21 pp.) Defendant appeals from portions of a final judgment of divorce (FJD) awarding plaintiff $55,000 in annual permanent alimony and $40,000 in counsel fees, and obligating him to pay a greater share of the marital debt. Plaintiff cross-appeals from that portion of the FJD requiring her to pay fifty-percent of the parties' home equity line of credit/ Where it was neither reasonable nor plausible to infer that the couple's yearly expenses were met entirely by defendant's income, the appellate panel finds the trial court's calculation of defendant's gross income is erroneous, reverses the alimony award and remands for reconsideration. The panel affirms the FJD in all other respects.