When you sleep on your rights, you may not get all that you were entitled to ..read more

Court's cannot adopt an court appointed expert's report without affording the parties discovery and the ability to cross examine the expert ..read more

Parties can waive the change of circumstances requirement for custody and parenting time modification ..read more

a trial court may not draw an adverse inference in an FRO proceeding based solely upon defendant's decision to invoke his Fifth Amendment right to not testify ..read more

Many clients believe that if they file for divorce, the road to resolution is litigation and a trial.  While naturally, that is the final step if a settlement is not reached, divorce trials are reasonably uncommon in New Jersey.  In fact, in most years, only 2% – 3% of cases are tried. Of those, many settle during trial or at the proverbial courthouse steps.  The system is designed with many steps to push matters toward settlement. One family court judge has expressed pride that she has never had a trial. That’s not great either, because some cases need a judicial decision, but ..read more

Since the Child Support Guidelines were amended in the late 90s, the number of overnights with each parent factored in to the child support calculus for cases within the Guidelines. In general, the more overnights meant less child support and when custody got to 50-50, support quite often was nominal under the Guidelines. Because of that, it is not uncommon for there to be an agreement that neither party pays any direct child support when there is a 50-50 arrangement and the parties’ Marital Settlement Agreement (MSA) reflects that. But what happens when the arrangement changes from 50-50 to ..read more

Since the US Supreme Court decided Troxel v. Granville in 2000, grandparents have had an uphill battle obtaining grandparent visitation. While the New Jersey standard was set in Moriarty v. Bradt a few years later (a case that I was involved in), given that parents’ constitutional rights to raise their children are in play, the hill remains steep as grandparents have to prove harm. What they don’t have to prove is that they were the children’s “psychological parents” to get grandparent visitation, if they could prove that, it sure makes it easier to prove harm. However, if grandparents are se ..read more

Wise or not, parties have a right to waive discovery from the other party and settle their matter. Sometimes, both parties have access to and/or knowledge of all of the finances. Sometimes, the rely on the parties sworn Case Information Statements that disclose income, assets, liabilities and budgets and also have tax returns, W-2s and paystubs, as well as other documents attached. Sometimes, there just isn’t anything to fight about. What happens when parties settle without conducting formal discovery? Can a court simply throw out their agreement for that reason? Given the plethora of cases i ..read more

One of the universal themes in divorce matters is that the court is supposed to try to maintain the status quo while the case is pending. In many cases where there is barely enough money to go around to support an intact family, after the parties separate and the money has to be spread amongst two households, the financial squeeze gets even worse. Often that means bad news for the supported spouse because she/he has less money to live while the case is pending. It often means worse news for the supporting spouse who may have to shoulder a much higher burden then he/she will have to pay after ..read more

Parental alienation cases are heart breaking, both because of the damage to the children and the fact that the alienated parent is often robbed of large parts of the children’s childhood – and worse. For years I have said that childhood is fleeting and it is really over in a blink of an eye. Parents who lose time with their children or are precluded from events due to alienation, never get that time or experience back. Worse yet, courts are often slow to take action, if they take any action at all, which only exacerbates the problem. Warnings seldom work and often it takes motion after motion ..read more