What Is Pendente Lite & How Can It Affect New Jersey Divorce Litigation?

When a couple is getting divorced, the time between when they file the complaint and when they're actually divorced is like a no man's land. And during this time, the moneyed spouse will, a lot of times, move out of the house, leaving the non-moneyed spouse in the house, sometimes with children. And in order to provide support, what they do is, they have something called "pendente lite."

Pendente lite is the amount of money the moneyed spouse has to pay to keep the non-moneyed spouse in the house and functioning.

And this is very important, one, in order to calculate it, which we do a lot of, but the reason it's really important is because, a lot of times, this pendente lite will be used to determine alimony and things after the divorce is complete.

And the thing with pendente lite, I know, as we're doing this video, the tax rules are changing, but pendente lite is usually what's called unallocated and non-taxable.

And what non-allocated means is that it's not allocated between child support and alimony, right, because it's doing both. It's supporting the children and helping, you know, keep the non-moneyed spouse in the house, and that's very important.

So, if you do negotiate pendente lite, be very careful because this will affect what happens after the divorce, and also, it can affect child support. If you have any questions about pendente lite, feel free to give me an email.