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In representing a divorce client, one’s inquiry and representation is primarily focused in the major issues in controversy such as the custody of minor children, alimony and child support, the equitable distribution property, and payment of professional fees. Indeed, these are important and crucial issues. However, in the heat of battle, smaller side issues could have a tendency to get lost. The recently published case of Leggio v. Leggio served as a reminder of one of those issues, namely a spouse’s ability to effectuate a change of name incident to a divorce. Continue reading ›

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On August 6, 2014, the Appellate Division published the decision in KAF v. DLM., in which the Court clarified the standard that family courts are to apply when considering applications by a third party seeking custody and/or visitation and claims that he or she is a “psychological parent” to a child who already has fit and involved legal parent(s). Continue reading ›

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On July 28, 2014, the New Jersey Appellate Division approved for publication the case of R.K. v. F.K. (Docket No. A-4165-11T4), which further clarified the issue of how courts in New Jersey are to determine applications to modify existing custody and parenting time arrangements.   In August, 2007 the wife obtained a temporary restraining order (TRO) against her husband, citing harassment. The parties had been married since 2001 and had three young children together.  That month, the family court issued a Final Restraining Order (FRO) and gave the wife temporary custody of the children.  The husband was ordered to attend anger management classes, and he was given parenting time on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.  Continue reading ›

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Pursuant to New Jersey statutes, and a common term in lawyers’ retainer agreements, is often a provision for the attorney to retain what is referred to as a charging lien in the assets of the marital estate to allow an attorney to be paid for legal services. Usually the existence of attorney’s right to a charging lien is merely academic as matters glide through the system. Occasionally, however, issues arise regarding an attorney’s fee which require court intervention. Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2A:13-15, an attorney is entitled to a lien against a marital assets in controversy for the purpose of the payment of legal fees. The attorney’s lien is an inchoate right that attaches to the assets of the marital estate upon the completion of the ttorney’s involvement in the matter. 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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New Jersey has since the Divorce Reform Act of 1971 stood in the forefront in developing the law as it relates to Marriage and Divorce. We have over the years defined the law, and the Nation has followed and adopted some of our theories as to the distribution of property and the valuation of assets. It has been my pleasure to have been a divorce lawyer during this period of development, and to be recognized as a primary commentator on Family Law though my New Jersey Institute for Legal Education multi-volume treatise The Yudes Family Law Citator. Continue reading ›

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The First Amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees certain freedoms, including the “freedom of speech”. Treatises have been written and a multitude of cases have been decided addressing what types of speech or expression are encompassed thereby, and the nature and scope of governmental or private action is subjected to it. This blog not intending to provide a detailed analysis of this First Amendment right. Continue reading ›

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For more than three decades a debate has been waged in New Jersey on the adoption front over the extent to which adoptees can access their birth records and uncover information about their biological parents. In 1940, New Jersey began sealing adoption records.   In 1977, New Jersey allowed the records to be accessible by court order. N.J.S.A. 9:3-51.   Anti-abortion/pro-life activists advocated for birth records to be sealed because birth mothers who wished for anonymity might be more inclined to have an abortion if her privacy were not protected, or birth mothers might be more inclined to use New Jersey’s Safe Haven Infant Protection  law that allows a newborn who is less than thirty days old to be left legally and anonymously at a police station or hospital emergency room without having to give any identifying or health information about the birth mother.  Continue reading ›

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With the proliferation of ways to communicate via social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube and blogging sites, it has become more common in legal settings for such postings to be used as evidence in court.  Mainstream media outlets have been reporting recently about an unpublished May, 2014 Appellate Division decision in the matter of  State v. H.L.M.,  which addressed the extent to which a court’s limit on the subject matter of a litigant’s online blogging was an infringement on her Constitutional Right to free speech.  Continue reading ›