Mary Kathleen McGovern v. Joseph P. McGovern

Albany, New York divorce lawyers represented the parties in a marriage dissolution.

Plaintiff (hereinafter the wife) and defendant (hereinafter the husband) were married in 1997 and have two children (born in 1999 and 2002). In 2014, the husband abandoned the marital residence, but the parties reconciled until 2017, when the husband again left the marital residence, and the wife commenced this action for divorce. The wife thereafter moved for an order of temporary support (hereinafter the pendente lite order), requesting temporary maintenance, child support, counsel fees and a portion of the fee to hire a forensic accountant to review the husband's finances. Based on the parties' expenses, Supreme Court (Melkonian, J.) imputed an income of $300,000 to the husband and ordered that the husband pay the wife $2,000 a month in maintenance and $3,275.95 a month in child support. The court also ordered the husband to pay the wife $7,100 in counsel fees and $5,000 toward the retention of the wife's forensic accountant. Following a nonjury trial, Supreme Court (Ryba, J.) found that the pendente lite order was based on erroneous representations in the parties' respective statements of net worth, imputed an income of $85,000 to the husband and recalculated the child support and maintenance awards. The court awarded the wife the marital residence and ordered the husband to pay the wife a distributive award of $419,517.45 – equivalent to 45% of the value of his businesses, minus certain credits such as his overpayment of pendente lite child support and maintenance. The court also ordered him to pay child support for the youngest child until her emancipation. The wife appeals.



McGovern v. McGovern, 218 A.D.3d 1067, 193 N.Y.S.3d 729 (N.Y. App. Div. 2023)

Affirmed