When getting a divorce, one of the first items of business that comes up is "who gets what" in terms of martial assets. As with most issues in the wonderful world of law, it all depends.
Typically speaking, when a couple goes through a divorce, the assets, known as marital property, get divided as evenly as possible. The issue then becomes what assets are considered "marital."
A marital asset is any piece of property, including, real, personal or monetary that was acquired and cultivated throughout the course of the marriage. Examples include the marital home, vehicles, bank accounts, and other personal property such as furniture, electronics, etc.
When entering a divorce, the parties may elect to divide up the marital assets any way they so choose. If one spouse elects to let the other have everything, including the kitchen sink, they may do so. If, however, one spouse wants the other to get nothing based on allegations that one spouse earned most, if not all the money in the relationship or if they simply feel that the other spouse does not deserve a fair share of the marital assets, this is where equitable distribution comes into play. Simply because one spouse was the primary bread winner and also put forth the lion's share of effort in terms of making said assets prosper does not cut the other spouse out of his or her fair share of the martial property.
If a coupe cannot come to terms on how to adequately sort out the distribution of martial assets, the logical step would be meditation. If mediation does not lead to an agreeable solution, the parties then can file for divorce in New York Supreme Court. Here, the parties will contest their issues in front of a judge who will ultimately decide on who gets what through the trial process.
For additional articles and information on matrimonial matters, please visit www.carbonelawyer.com
Martin A. Carbone, Esq., Attorney at Law, Carbone & Carbone LLP
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Taking a Byte out of Apple
With all the heavy tech talk as of late concerning the third version of the already iconic iPad along with a 5th generation iPhone, it again looks like Apple has their work cut out for themselves, both creatively and legally.
As it stands now, electronic giant Samsung is in the midst of suing Apple over alleged patent infringement. Apple in turn threatens to counter sue over basically the same allegations.
As already discussed in one of my previous blogs, one cannot trademark an idea. They can only lay claim to their version, or unique interpretation of said idea. With the recent technological boom of smartphones and tablets, it would appear that all of said products share some similarities. In fact, many of Apple's products share components with other rival companies such as Sony and Samsung themselves.
When companies such as Apple and Samsung start engaging in legal battles over who stole from who first, it creates somewhat of a chilling effect among competitors. It also presents a "Who came first, the chicken or the egg" type scenario. Often times it is too hard to tell who originated what and more often than not, the true "originator" of an idea, such as the iPod, iPaD, Blackberry, Laptop PC, Atari 2600, etc. is a third party who is sadly left out in the cold.
With all the rapid innovation out there right now, the focus should be not on who thought of what first, but instead on how to perfect things and make them more universally proficient for world wide integration.
On a related note, I am still getting over the shock that the iPad I received for Christmas this past year is considered old and "obsolete." What will "they" think of next!
Martin A. Carbone, Esq., Attorney at Law, Carbone & Carbone LLP
www.carbonelawyer.com
As it stands now, electronic giant Samsung is in the midst of suing Apple over alleged patent infringement. Apple in turn threatens to counter sue over basically the same allegations.
As already discussed in one of my previous blogs, one cannot trademark an idea. They can only lay claim to their version, or unique interpretation of said idea. With the recent technological boom of smartphones and tablets, it would appear that all of said products share some similarities. In fact, many of Apple's products share components with other rival companies such as Sony and Samsung themselves.
When companies such as Apple and Samsung start engaging in legal battles over who stole from who first, it creates somewhat of a chilling effect among competitors. It also presents a "Who came first, the chicken or the egg" type scenario. Often times it is too hard to tell who originated what and more often than not, the true "originator" of an idea, such as the iPod, iPaD, Blackberry, Laptop PC, Atari 2600, etc. is a third party who is sadly left out in the cold.
With all the rapid innovation out there right now, the focus should be not on who thought of what first, but instead on how to perfect things and make them more universally proficient for world wide integration.
On a related note, I am still getting over the shock that the iPad I received for Christmas this past year is considered old and "obsolete." What will "they" think of next!
Martin A. Carbone, Esq., Attorney at Law, Carbone & Carbone LLP
www.carbonelawyer.com
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