BBM
In general, I imagine Remy would have been paying Jen what is known as Maintenance, think of as a temporary alimony, for a couple of years--guessing minimum of about 5 yrs, until she got on her feet so-to-speak--poss to further her education, secure more work hours, look for a full-time higher paying job, etc. In this case, Maintenance (temporary--remember, Jen was still relatively young) would have been due to the length of the marriage, which is greater than 10 years (more so, 15+ years) AND that she has been a "work" (stay) at-home-mother who has been primarily raising three children and responsible for the home, etc. for over 15 years. Even though she apparently began working part-time outside of the home, her earning ability plus length of marriage would not be substantial enough nor near his earning ability to let him off the hook for temporary Maintenance. All IMO
In NYS, for the most part, adultery has nothing to do with equitable distribution of property, amount of CS ordered and whether or not Maintenance is awarded...unless perhaps had he spent huge amounts of marital money on wining & dining her (mistress), on expensive hotel rooms, on vacations w/her and/or buying very expensive gifts for mistress--IOW, spending large chunks of the marital assets on the mistress. Doesn't appear to be the case here.
Where adultery may have come into play in this case is re custody (prob not visitation). And that might have been if her attorney would have been able to illustrate that the children were being exposed to the mistress, since she was Jen's very close friend and was in the home often With the Children. Not exactly sign of a good enough parent--having the kids "adjust" or exposing the children to Daddy's mistress IMO.
This would have been a high-conflict divorce IMO for all of the above reasons. He was not only going to fight for the house but of course for Sole Custody of the 3 children (children would be having visitation with Jen, if he had his way) so as to not only avoid paying CS, but to avoid paying temporary Maintenance and "losing" (his perception) the home to Jen and the children, etc.
No way. He would have done a version of what we have seen during the trial: She's a drug addict! She's mentally unstable! She's having an affair! She does no housework, no cleaning, nothing...addicted to her iPhone, those games and drugs! She's involved with men on the internet, sending them lewd photos, etc.
His solution was Murder imo. Not bc of adultery per se, but bc he wanted ES--to live with her, to marry her and ES, being a so-called friend of Jen--well, that was just a little bit more complicated than your typical case of adultery.
Of course, he was obviously finished with Jen, but had it not been for his obsession with ES, to be with her, to live with, to marry her>Jen would not have been murdered...just another high conflict ugly divorce.
All IMO
