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In a New Jersey divorce action, the court has the discretion to impose various sanctions when one party refuses to comply with legitimate pretrial discovery requests. Here, the defendant did not appear for her deposition and the plaintiff moved to strike her answer and suppress her defenses. Instead, the court imposes a less drastic remedy and orders that defendant’s testimony will be barred at the time of trial. Dafejimue v. Jones, New Jersey Law Div., January 25, 2005.
Some states emancipate a child at age 18. But under New Jersey family law decisions, a child is not automatically emancipated at any particular age. Further, New Jersey parents can be obliged not only to pay for their child's college education, but also for graduate school. Here, the court found that the parties’ 23-year-old daughter was not emancipated merely because she had graduated from college, because she was continuing her post-graduate education in a 6 to 8 year Ph.D. program. Burg, etc. v. Burg, New Jersey App. Div., January 25, 2005.
Is marital "dirty linen" only laundered in divorce court? As jury selection got under way this week in the criminal prosecution against ex-WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers, the defense won an initial round when the trial judge granted a motion to allow inquiry into the "marital infidelity" of Scott Sullivan, who used to be WorldCom's CFO and is now the prosecution's star witness. The judge agreed with the theory that Sullivan's credibility is now in issue and that allowing "adultery" testimony is relevant to test that credibility. January 24, 2005
In New Jersey divorce law, both alimony and child support can be changed, up or down, based on changed circumstances. Because both forms of payment involve cash flow from the payor spouse to the payee spouse, they are said to be "inextricably intertwined". In this case, the defendant ex-husband was unsuccessful in trying to reduce his child support payments. A compelling reason why was that the plaintiff ex-wife had waived alimony [after a 12 year marriage] in exchange for child support in excess of that provided for in the guidelines. Spencer v. Spencer, New Jersey App. Div., January 21, 2005.
When unmarried partners split up in New Jersey, various theories of legal liability can be asserted. These include palimony, breach of contract [implied or express], the partition of jointly-held assets and/or promissory estoppel. This case involved a fight over which branch of the Superior Court had jurisdiction : Law Division [where civil/commercial cases are usually brought and where you have the right to a jury trial] or Chancery Division [where the Family Part presides over divorces and other similar cases and there is no jury]. Here, the case will be sent back to the Law Division because the plaintiff did not seek support or other "marital-like" relief. Redeker v. Lutz, New Jersey App. Div., January 19, 2005
There are 8 grounds for a New Jersey divorce. One of those grounds is adultery. In this case, the husband pleaded and proved a cause of action for divorce against the wife based on adultery. Moreover, she admitted it. Nevertheless, the trial court granted the divorce on an alternate ground for divorce, based on the parties' 18 months of continuous separation ["no fault"]. At the same time, the husband also lost his claims for (a) child support (b) alimony and (c) equitable distribution, in receiving only 20% of the wife's business. Other than getting divorced, it's difficult to see what else he achieved. Brooks, Jr. v. Brooks, New Jersey App. Div., January 19, 2005
In a New Jersey divorce action, the Court has the power to order the parents to pay for their child's college [and sometimes graduate school] expenses. A complex set of variables is considered in deciding which parent pays how much, originally outlined in Newburgh v. Arrigo. In the present case, the father had been ordered to pay 50% of his daughter's tuition loans which she incurred while obtaining a college degree. The father had appealed and the trial court's decision was reversed [Gac. v. Gac, 351 N.J.Super. 54 (App. Div. 2002)] for failure to properly address the Newburgh factors. These included the father not having communicated with the daughter since age 5 and his not having been consulted on the choice of college, including whether or not a cheaper State college could have been chosen. On remand, the father is ordered to reimburse his daughter 40% of the $70,000 she incurred in undergraduate tuition loans while attending college, plus interest. Gac v. Gac, New Jersey App. Div, January 19, 2005
Alimony arrears must be satisfied. If not, assets will be seized and sold, even if those assets are or were otherwise immune from equitable distribution in a New Jersey divorce. That's the lesson to be learned from this case, in which the trial court [1] ordered the defendant ex-husband to sell his guitar collection to satisfy the alimony arrears and [2] granted attorney's fees in favor of the plaintiff ex-wife . Tiberio v. Johnson, New Jersey Appellate Division, A-1658-03T3, January 14, 2005.
