Although I can recall having heard about similar stories in the past, a recent news story caught my eye in which a Lakewood, New Jersey couple had been sentenced in a plot to extort a divorce. They, along with others, were accused of involvement in a scheme involving the kidnap and/or assault of husbands in an effort to force them to agree to give their wives a Jewish divorce, or Get. Although in our practice, we deal with “civil” as opposed to “religious” divorces, the inter-relationship of the two occasionally comes up. The subject of this blog post is to briefly address how the family courts of this State have dealt with these sorts of issues, and some practical considerations of how to deal with them so as to avoid the extreme situation noted above. Continue reading ›
Articles Tagged with annulment
What Does Visiting Pope Francis Think About Family Law Issues?
Recent matters in the news this month have had me thinking about the intersection of religion and law. Earlier this month, Rowan County Kentucky clerk, Kim Davis, was jailed for contempt because she refused to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples despite the June, 2015 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court which decided that states cannot ban same sex couples from marrying. Ms. Davis, an elected official, indicated that she could not sign marriages licenses in which her name appeared without violating her conscience and her Christian religion. Continue reading ›