The law is well established in New Jersey favoring parents’ fundamental custody and parenting rights of their child. However, that right is not absolute, and a parent’s presumptive right can be overcome by a showing of “gross misconduct, unfitness, neglect, or ‘exceptional circumstances’ affecting the welfare of the child.” K.A.F. v. D.L.M., 437 N.J. Super.…
The journey through the family courts is a long and arduous one which will almost always leave emotional and financial scars. If you are unable to settle your case, the journey ends with a Final Order or Judgment, which is rarely viewed with complete satisfaction by either party. For those that are truly dissatisfied with the trial…
Getting divorced is hard enough without any external factors. Add 10 months of a global pandemic, quarantining, home-schooling, and job changes, and it could be a true recipe for disaster. You can’t go blow off steam with your friends without considering a lot of logistics. You can’t run to the gym to clear your mind…
With all of us gladly kicking 2020 to the curb and welcoming 2021 with open arms (from a six-foot distance, of course), how has the Covid-19 pandemic impacted how we think about divorce as a potential new year’s resolution? I have written before about how people often wait until after the holiday season concludes to…
While we anxiously await the outcome of a tight Presidential race, you may have missed that voters in New Jersey overwhelmingly voted in favor of an amendment to the State Constitution that will essentially and at long last legalize marijuana in this State. We can now put aside the arguments that shaped the debate about…
Oftentimes I am asked how divorcing or divorced parents in New Jersey divide the bills that they once might have paid from pooled income in a joint bank account. For instance, how is work-related childcare going to be paid for in the future when the divorce is long in the rearview mirror? There are many…
When the world essentially shut down in March and schools were closed, parents throughout New Jersey held onto hope that schools would eventually reopen before the end of the school year. With every passing school holiday and milestone, parents muttered under their sleep deprived breaths that homeschooling and virtual learning could possibly continue for another…
Those of us that practice in the child abuse sector of Family Law waited with baited breath to see what the NJ Supreme Court would do with S.C. v N.J. Department of Children and Families, the first case to go before the Court to take on the murky Not Established finding. From oral argument, it…
One of the most complicated aspects of divorce litigation is the valuation and distribution of a business in the context of equitable distribution. This is an issue that has doubled in complexity since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. Imagine an ongoing divorce proceeding in which one of the parties is a business owner. The…
Do Sperm Donors Have Parental Rights? Fact or Fiction: Whoever’s name is on the birth certificate is the legal parent of that child, regardless if that person is genetically related to the child or not. FICTION. While parentage laws vary from state to state, in New Jersey, biology is the strongest determinate of legal parentage.…
How does overtime pay factor into child support? The Appellate Division just answered this decision in Ferrer v. Colon; a child support matter where both parents were police officers that typically earned a base salary, overtime pay, and income from second jobs. The case was approved for publication on June 9, 2020, meaning that it…
A common issue that arises when calculating child support is when a party has a child from a different relationship and how that factors into a given child support award. Within this basic scenario, there are three general avenues to which child support would potentially be adjusted (this list is not exhaustive): 1. One party…
On May 5, 2020, the Appellate Division in Gormley v. Gormley concluded that when the Social Security Administration (“SSA”) has determined that if a party is permanently disabled, a presumption of disability is established and the burden shifts to the opposing party to refute that presumption. In other words, when the SSA declares you an…
In a case of first impression, the Appellate Division recently addressed how to define a “dating relationship” under the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act (the Act) in today’s day and age. While it may not be surprising to those currently on the dating scene, the Appellate Division held that the exchange of countless (nearly 1300)…
On April 28, 2020, the Appellate Division issued a publish opinion that can only be described as a cautionary tale for any counsel seeking to represent a client on a matter to which that counsel does not have sufficient experience or expertise. The Appellate Division addressed this issue in the contested adoption case: In the…
Now that we are six weeks or so into this quarantine, there is no question that as the days blend from one to the next we have figured out our own ways to break up the monotony and get through this. As many video calls with friends and family as possible (oftentimes with drinks in…
