divorce

I have seen your question. My name is David Salvaggio.  I have more than 35 years of legal experience and head a law firm that devotes its practice exclusively to selected New Jersey Divorce and Family Law matters.  Please feel free to take a look at our Firm Website (www.salvaggiolaw.com) for further information about my firm.  Retirement assets (which may include IRAs, 401(k)s, pensions, profit sharing plans or annuities) which are acquired during the marriage are subject to equitable distribution in a New Jersey divorce. Since you have been married for eight years, whatever portion of your 401(k) and pension you have acquired during the marriage are subject to equitable distribution. Of course, if your wife has any retirement assets through her work with the State of New Jersey-- and it is likely that she does-- those assets are also subject to equitable distribution. There is no hard and fast rule in New Jersey family law that states that one party is entitled to 50% of the marital portion of retirement assets of the other party. However, that is a fair starting point for negotiations.   Equitable distribution of retirement assets in a New Jersey divorce can be very complicated for various reasons, including: (1) the fact that some portion of a retirement asset was often acquired prior to the marriage; (2) the fact that retirement assets are "pretax" assets-- meaning that they must be distributed in the proper manner in order to avoid the distribution being a taxable event; and (3) there are various options for how to distribute retirement assets, depending on the specifics of each individual case.   You do not say whether you are in the middle of a divorce case or have not even become one. You may simply be asking this question to try to get an idea of what would happen if you did file for divorce. I would be happy to have a very brief telephone call with you, to get a few more facts. What you tell me remains confidential and there is no charge for the call. Your question does not specify the town in which you live.  My firm's offices are located in Morristown, NJ (Morris County).  We handle cases in all of the counties in northern and central New Jersey, including not only Morris County but also Somerset, Hunterdon, Sussex, Warren, Passaic, Bergen, Hudson, Middlesex and Monmouth counties. If you live in one of those counties and wish to schedule a brief, confidential telephone call with me, please call my office (973-455-1220) and speak to the firm’s Client Intake Coordinator Dara Vanderhoof.  She will be able to arrange a mutually convenient date and time for the call.