Articles Posted in Divorce

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In a recently published trial court decision, Marsico-v-Marsico, the Honorable Lawrence R. Jones, J.S.C., dealt with the novel question of law as to whether or not a designated power of attorney could appear and testify on behalf of or in lieu of a divorce litigant.  After addressing this issue, Judge Jones ultimately decided that a power of attorney could not in fact appear and testify on behalf of a divorce litigant.  Judge Jones was able to delineate and distinguish the factual circumstances of prior case law wherein similar situations were allowed to proceed. Continue reading ›

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Legislation has recently been introduced in the New Jersey Legislature that would allow for the issuance of Restraining Orders in Non-Domestic Violence situations. While its passage and/or application to family law matters is problematic, this led me to think about a question frequently posed by many of my divorce clients – short of someone being found guilty of committing an act of Domestic Violence, “Is there any way of forcing my (bleep) spouse out of the marital residence until such time we are divorced?”. Most of the time my answer would be, “Unfortunately, no” . Would this proposed legislation change that answer, or is it time for the courts to revisit how they address these situations? Continue reading ›

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A bill has passed the New Jersey Senate and Assembly and which is now before the governor that intends to amend the current alimony statute, N.J.S.A. 2A34-23.   At present, the alimony statute allows a court to consider (1) permanent alimony; (2) limited duration alimony; (3) rehabilitative alimony; and (4) reimbursement alimony.   Under permanent alimony, there is technically no end to alimony until the payor or payee spouse dies or the payee spouse remarries.   The new proposed alimony statute would replace “permanent alimony” with “open durational” alimony. Continue reading ›

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TableMost of us have watched the opening scene of the 2005 summer comedy, “Wedding Crashers”, where John Beckwith, played by Owen Wilson, and Jeremy Grey, played Vince Vaughn, serve as mediators in an acrimonious divorce between the equally recalcitrant  Mrs. Kroeger, played by Rebecca De Mornay, and Mr. Kroeger, played by Dwight Yoakam. Nine years after moviegoers were treated to one of the funniest incidents of  alternative dispute resolution ever depicted in film, last week the New Jersey Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee unanimously passed The Family Collaborative Law Act, S1224, which will now go to the full Senate. Continue reading ›

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When it comes to questions regarding equitable distribution, the one that seemingly gets overlooked or underappreciated the most often is the question revolving around how to divide or distribute the marital liabilities or debts of the marriage.  It is so much easier to comprehend and make distributions of the assets of a particular marriage, but clients often do not necessarily understand or conceptualize that the marital liabilities and debts need to be “distributed” too.   Continue reading ›

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When a prospective client in a divorce matter comes in, often they have already been served with a Complaint for Divorce that has been filed by their spouse.  Beyond discussing the substantive issues of their case, they will inquire about the Complaint itself, what it means, and the need to respond to it.  Back in the “good old days”, unless the parties had already been separated for 18 months, a Complaint for Divorce had to allege some sort of “fault” as the grounds for the divorce, i.e. extreme cruelty, adultery or desertion being among the most common. Continue reading ›

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In the landmark case of Merenoff v. Merenoff, 76 N.J. 535 (1978), the New Jersey Supreme Court overturned the doctrine of interspousal immunity, which prevented one from suing one’s spouse for injuries proximately caused by the conduct of that spouse.  Later, in the case of  Tevis v. Tevis, 79 N.J. 422,(1979), the Supreme Court held that “that the abolition of the doctrine [of interspousal immunity] pertained to tortious conduct generally encompassing not only conventional negligence but also intentional acts, as well as other forms of intentional behavior such as gross negligence, recklessness, wantonness, and the like.”  The law on interspousal torts further was developed in the case of  Giovine v. Giovine, 284 N.J.Super. 3, 13 (App.Div. 1995), where the Appellate Division recognized the right of a spouse to sue the other spouse under the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress where the measure of damages was not dependent upon physical injury to the plaintiff, but could be established through competent evidence showing the perpetrator’s’s outrageous or otherwise actionable conduct.  Continue reading ›

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In any and all cases where a pension is to be equitably distributed between the parties, there are two questions that a family law practitioner must always consider: (1) How is the pension going to be valued and istributed;  and (2) Are survivor benefits going to be elected for the non-pensioner spouse?  The recently published decision in Evans-Donahue v. Donahue, which was drafted by the Honorable Steven J. Polansky, J.S.C., provides much needed insight into the answering of each of those questions when it comes to the equitable distribution of pensions. Continue reading ›

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883985_business_lawRecently trial Judge L.R. Jones, J.S.C., an effective and prolific writer, explored the procedures to be followed when pursuing a default judgment.  If a defendant does not file an answer or appearance within the thirty-five days after a divorce complaint is filed and lawfully served upon him or her, the plaintiff may file a request to enter default. Continue reading ›

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The vast majority of divorce cases settle by way of an agreement reached between the parties.  Only a small fraction of divorce cases are actually tried and decided by the court.  Continue reading ›