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An annulment is a legal process that severs a marital relationship by voiding it. An annulment is different from a divorce in that a divorce ends a marriage, whereas an annulment deems that the marriage never happened. While New Jersey allows for a no-fault divorce, annulment requires the marriage to meet certain criteria in order to qualify for an annulment.

GROUNDS FOR ANNULMENT

The reasons for obtaining an annulment are very limited, and as such most married couples do not qualify for an annulment and must use divorce to end the marriage. This is because annulments are only granted in cases in which the marriage should not have been valid in the first place. The following are considered grounds for annulment in the State of New Jersey:

  • either spouse was under age at the time of the marriage, and once attaining age 18 have not had sexual relations
  • incapacity by mental illness or intoxication
  • fraud, or lies, by you or your spouse
  • duress
  • incurable impotence at the time of the marriage
  • incest
  • bigamy

A common misconception of annulment is that it is an available option in marriages that only last a short time. A marriage that lasts only a matter of months but does meet one of the grounds above will not qualify for an annulment. Continue Reading →

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How to Get Along During a Divorce

 Animosity between parents going through a divorce can be emotionally damaging to a child. For this reason, it is critical for parents not to show their frustration toward each other in front of the children. Here are three ways to ensure that you and your former partner can remain civil while going through a divorce.

Deal with Your Emotions First

With all the paperwork that needs your attention, and your need to adjust to your new life, the last thing you want to dwell on are your emotions. Unfortunately, negative emotions are a part of divorce, and bottling them up can lead to anger and resentment. Deal with your feelings first, even if this means seeking professional counseling. The more consistently you address your emotional health, the less animosity there will be between you and your former partner.

Think Before You Act

I was once told by a colleagues that criminal lawyers often represent bad people acting their best in a criminal case and divorce lawyers often represent good people acting their worst during a divorce. Do not go down this path. Acting poorly towards your spouse and involving your children can hurt own case and damage your children. Therefore, think before you act. Your actions can have a short and long term affect on your life and the lives of your children. Continue Reading →

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Lawyers aren’t one-size-fits-all. They don’t all excel at the same things, so asking a bankruptcy attorney to handle your divorce is a little like asking a plumber to rewire your house. If your marriage is headed for the brink and you feel that you’re going to need the help of an attorney, giving some thought to the interview process before you meet with him for the first time can benefit both of you. You’re entrusting him with your family and finances – things that are really important to you — so you’ll want the right fit.

When you meet with prospective attorneys, you won’t be the only one who has questions.Let the lawyer ask questions first. He won’t know if and how he can help you until he understands the intimate details of your problem — your finances, your family and your marriage. He’ll be able to give you more accurate answers to your own questions when he understands the finer points of what you’re facing.

Find out how his office operates so you’ll know what to expect if you hire him. He’s ethically obligated to act in your best interests, but this doesn’t mean he’ll be able to return every one of your phone calls within five minutes. In fact, you probably won’t want him to. If he has that kind of free time on his hands, he may not be busy with a thriving practice. If you retain him, you’re bound to call at a time when he’s with another client, in court or prepping for trial, so he can’t drop everything to get on the phone with you.  Ask how his office handles these situations. Divorce litigation is rife with unexpected emergencies, but what seems like an emergency to you is often something his staff has handled numerous times before. Continue Reading →

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A major consideration in determinations of child support obligations is the time with each parent in a true joint custody arrangement. When one considers this situation, there are obligations to both parents for the children that would not be shared expenses but for the equal time arrangement, so the court makes an effort to compensate for those expenses by varying from the standard child support guidelines.

New Jersey child support includes various types of expenses for the child, including fixed expenses such as housing, utilities and other expenses incurred whether or not the children is present; variable expenses such as the costs while the child is each parents’ care such as food and transportation; and controlled expenses such as clothing, personal hygiene items, entertainment and various other expenses while the child is in a parent’s care. Controlled expenses are those that can be challenged as the expenses required in the household of each parent. If a parent is ordered to pay full guidelines child support in a situation where the child is with them fifty percent of the time, they would be paying these controlled expenses twice, once in their own home, and again when the child was with the other parent. Obviously, one parent paying for the same expenses twice is unfair and unreasonable.

The child support guidelines set controlled expenses to be 25% of the entire child support obligations. There is a case, Wunsch-Deffler v. Deffler, that found, in a 50/50 sharing of the parents’ time with the child or children, this 25% controlled expense amount should not be included in the payor’s child support obligation. Wunsch-Deffler v. Deffler, 406 N.J. Super. 505 (Ch.Div. 2009). Therefore, pursuant to this court, the guidelines child support amount for the payor should be reduced by 25%. Continue Reading →

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When a Grandparent Visitation case arises it is often following a significant family crisis, such as a divorce, change in child custody, argument between parent and child, or a death in the family. No matter what the cause is, often one or both parents decides that it is not a good idea for the grandparent to spend time with his or her grandchild. This lack of visitation may be difficult for all of the parties involved in the family dispute, which is when the courts become involved. As is the case with most legal issues, if the parties can come to a visitation agreement on their own, the process is much simpler. However, in some cases strained relationships between the child’s parents and the grandparent can make it impossible for the parties to come to their own agreement. In those cases, the New Jersey law may allow the grandparent the ability to obtain a court order allowing them time to visit with their grandchild.

VISITATION RIGHTS FOR GRANDPARENTS 

Overview Of N.J.S.A. 9:2-7.1

New Jersey Law codifies the rights of a grandparent to child visitation in N.J.S.A. 9:2-7.1, titled “Visitation Rights for Grandparents, Siblings.” The grandparent may apply to the New Jersey Court for visitation with a grandchild if he or she can show that it is in the “best interest of the child” to do so. The law outlines eight factors that the court will take into account in determining whether to award grandparent visitation. The statute also makes it clear that if the grandparent was ever the primary caretaker of the grandchild, it will assume that it is in the best interest of the child to have visitation with the grandparent. Continue Reading →

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ISSUES CONSIDERED FOR TEMPORARY RELIEF IN NEW JERSEY

Regular Bills and Expenses

Child support, spousal support (alimony), payment of specific bills such as a mortgage or rent, additional housing costs such as insurance and utilities; health insurance, car payments, and school costs are the most common finances accounted for in pendente lite support. These are the regular costs that the parties incurred before the divorce and that should continue while it proceeds.

Divorce-Specific Considerations

In addition to the financial support that can be awarded, certain pending divorce issues can be temporarily decided upon while the divorce is ongoing. The questions of child custody, who gets to stay in the marital home, and who gets to use other assets such as cars, may be handled by the temporary relief process. The court may also prohibit the spouses from selling or otherwise disposing of marital assets during the divorce.

MOTION FOR TEMPORARY RELIEF

There are two ways in which temporary relief can be accomplished. The first method is by the divorcing spouses coming to an agreement. The second is by judicial order. Continue Reading →

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A New Jersey Divorce from Bed and Board, also referred to as a ‘limited divorce’, is a legal process that is similar to the better-known concept of a legal separation. Though there is no such thing has a legal separation in the state of New Jersey, a Divorce from Bed and Board allows a married couple to legally separate themselves from one another financially and live separately without undergoing a full divorce.

What is a Divorce from Bed and Board?

The ‘divorce’ part of the term ‘Divorce from Bed and Board’ is somewhat misleading. A Divorce from Bed and Board is not an absolute ‘divorce’ as we typically think of the term. An absolute divorce is called a ‘Divorce from the Bonds of Matrimony’ in New Jersey. Instead, a Divorce from Bed and Board is a limited form of divorce that is better thought of as a legal status somewhere between married and divorced. The spouses remain technically married and are therefore not free to remarry, but for some financial purposes they are treated as separate. Often, as the name suggests, the couple will live separately.

Why Consider a Divorce from Bed and Board?

There are several reasons a married couple may consider a Divorce from Bed and Board. Religious or moral reasons are very common. Since a Divorce from Bed and Board does not completely sever the marital relationship, it is a better option for those who either cannot or wish to not be fully divorced. The possibility of reconciliation is another popular reason. Continue Reading →

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Many partners divorce with children having come of the marriage. A divorce can be a confusing and emotionally detrimental experience for children, especially when the issue of custody comes into play. Let’s examine five ways you can help your child cope with divorce, and avoid causing them unnecessary harm.

  1. Encourage Regular Communication

It is important to communicate with your child on a regular basis. Take a few minutes out of your day when your child comes home from school to focus specifically on them. Dinner can wait, work can wait. Your priority is making sure your child knows that you are not only approachable, but available in their times of need.

  1. Keep Things Amicable

Few things are more emotionally taxing to a child than being forced to side with one parent over the other. In fact, studies suggest that animosity between parents causes children to suffer the most emotional or psychological damage during a divorce. Stay in regular contact with your ex and meet with them publicly so both of you avoid displaying animosity toward one another in front of your child. The more civil you both are, the less damage you will inflict on your child’s emotional foundation. Continue Reading →

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Health insurance costs are a significant financial obligation for most Americans, but couples going through a divorce tend to feel the financial strain more acutely. Employer-provided health insurance plans only cover family members, such as the employee’s spouse or children. That means that once a couple is divorced, the ex-spouse can no longer be covered under the employee’s family insurance plan, since they are no longer considered family members. Several options exist for either maintaining or obtaining new health insurance coverage; some of them are discussed below.

Obtaining New Health Insurance Coverage After Divorce

After a divorce, an ex-spouse who was covered by the other spouse’s insurance plan will need to obtain his or her own health insurance coverage. Separate health insurance plans are typically more expensive than family plans, so it is important to keep in mind that health insurance costs are likely to rise after divorce and plan for it accordingly throughout the divorce process.

COBRA, the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, is a federal program that allows people in certain situations to maintain health insurance coverage once it has been lost. You may be more familiar with COBRA as a health insurance option for people who have lost a job, but it also allows former spouses to keep their insurance coverage after the divorce. COBRA coverage is temporary, usually a maximum of 36 months, and the premiums are often significantly higher than they were under the family plan. Continue Reading →

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New Jersey law requires that parents of children who are divorced or separated from the other parent receive permission before removing a child from the state. The reason for the law is that one parent removing a child from the state often makes it difficult for the other parent to spend time with the child. The state is charged with making decisions in the best interest of the child, and it finds that parenting time with both parents in usually in the child’s best interest.

Non-Custodial Parent Consents

New Jersey law depends on whether the parent wishing to move the child is the custodial or non-custodial parent. A non-custodial parent may move out of the state, without the child, without permission. The custodial parent, however, must obtain permission to move. If the other parent consents to the move, the child can be removed from the state without going through a legal proceeding, though it can be helpful to have written permission signed by each parent.

Court Order Required

If, on the other hand, the other parent does not give permission for the child to move out of state, the parent requesting to move will need to go to the court for permission. In order to obtain a court order permitting a child to leave New Jersey, the custodial parent must show a good faith reason for the move and show that the move will not be against the best interest of the child. Continue Reading →

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Peter Van Aulen is certified by the New Jersey Supreme Court as a Matrimonial Attorney.

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