CENTRAL ISLIP – While a federal statute may preclude the equalization of Social Security benefits during the distribution of marital assets, Supreme Court Justice Emily Pines has ruled that, once the check arrives in the mailbox, nothing prohibits a court from factoring it into the equation for permanent spousal maintenance.
Presiding over dissolution of a 52-year marriage in LaRosa v. LaRosa, 18380-01, Justice Pines balanced the $727 that Social Security sends each month to 71-year-old Giusto LaRosa with the $428 sent to his wife, 69-year-old Mary LaRosa. By also balancing Mr. LaRosa’s $20,000 annual salary as a part-time barber against his wife’s $7,000 salary as a part-time school cafeteria aide, Justice Pines concluded Mr. LaRosa should pay Mrs. LaRosa $400 per month in permanent maintenance. (The decision is published in today’s Law Journal.)
