SHORT HILLS NEW JERSEY DIVORCE CHILD EMANCIPATION

After the parties' New Jersey divorce, the father wanted to declare the youngest child emancipated and to terminate child support. Although the child turned 18 before the father filed his motion, the parties expected their children to pursue higher education after turning 18 and the child graduated from high school, took the SAT, and entered college. These facts "certainly" inured against emancipation and, at the very least, precluded granting the father’s motion without a hearing. The New Jersey divorce judge mistakenly based the decision solely on the absence of a loving relationship between father and child. Instead, whether the child was emancipated depended on the extent to which he had moved outside the "sphere of parental influence" and developed his independence. Remand was required to analyze that issue.   Eibling v. Eibling, New Jersey App. Div., May 24, 2007