Regardless of your faith, or lack thereof, the American holiday season is upon us. Few would disagree that Halloween is the preseason opener and Thanksgiving the actual kick-off to the holiday season. It really doesn’t matter what you believe; you recognize these holidays and have a manner of dealing with them. Over time,…
Frequently, clients come to me complaining that their spouse or partner is exposing their children to dating relationships or conversely ask what should be their response to a spouses objection. Generally I advise that one should follow a common sense approach, meaning one should look at the effect on the children…
On January 12th 2015, the Appellate Division published its opinion in the case of Costa v. Costa. In Costa, the parties were married in 1994 and divorced in 2006. They had two children together, one being born in 1997 and the other in 2000. By way of settlement agreement entered into…
The Appellate Division recently handed down a clear and unambiguous message to triall courts and litigators alike regarding custody disputes and how they should be handled procedurally, regardless of whether the case is pre- or post-judgment. The case, entitled D.A. v. R.C., involved the biological parents of a fourteen (14) year…
We all look forward to the holiday season. Traditions developed around holidays build a collective family memory that binds us together uniquely and permanently. We bring the traditions we learn in our childhoods into our marriages and incorporate them with our spouse’s traditions into a new hybrid tradition. We do…
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…
In a November, 2013 decision published on March 10th of this year, in what appears to be the first decision of its kind not only in New Jersey but in the United States, a Superior Court judge in the matter of Plotnick v. Delucca held that an expectant mother is not required to notify…
In a recently published opinion, dated February 19, 2014, the Appellate Division analyzed and reversed a trial court’s decision declining to exercise jurisdiction pursuant to New Jersey’s version of the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (commonly referred to as UCCJEA). In this particular case, designated S.B. v. G.M.B.,…
Way back in May of this year, I wrote the initial post for this blog concerning the protection of an unborn child of the victim of domestic violence based upon the published decision, B.C. v. T.G., penned by the Honorable Lawrence R. Jones, J.S.C., from the Chancery Division – Family Part in…
Custody disputes can sometimes remind me of the Biblical story of King Solomon (1 Kings 3:16-28). In this story, King Solomon is tasked with resolving an argument between two women in the same household, each of whom claimed to be the mother of an infant son. King Solomon fetches a sword…