New Jersey Family Law

NEW JERSEY DIVORCE : ANNULMENT & THE 5th AMENDMENT

In husband's appeal of the New Jersey divorce judge's order granting a dual New Jersey judgment of divorce and dismissing his claim for an annulment, the judge erred in suggesting and then allowing wife to assert her 5th Amendment privilege against self-incrimination because her testimony was also being given in support of her counterclaim for divorce. By testifying, wife waived any protection afforded by the privilege. Additionally, she improperly asserted the privilege because she failed to show she faced potential criminal prosecution based on her testimony. By doing so, the judge permitted her to avoid meaningful cross-examination by husband on the issue of the validity of the marriage, the ultimate issue in the case.        Attor v. Attor, ___ N.J. Super. ___(App. Div. 2006); New Jersey App. Div.; April 6, 2006

NEW JERSEY ANNULMENT

A judge has granted a New Jersey annulment to a woman who unwittingly "married" a serial fraud artist. Joyce Reynolds was legally freed from what she thought was her 2001 marriage to William Michael Barber, a purported doctor who turned out to be a convicted con man and liar. Reynolds met Barber over the Internet, and he claimed to be a cardiovascular pediatric surgeon taking a sabbatical. They married a few weeks after he showed up in New Jersey to meet her. This summer, she learned that he tricked other women with lies of being a former NFL player, a cancer survivor, an Army hero and former POW. Judge Robert E. McCarthy, sitting in Morristown, granted the 49-year-old Wharton woman's request for an annulment from Barber, who married her on January 19, 2001, under the name James Michael Barber and added 6 years to his real birth date.      Morristown Daily Record, October 13, 2005

Posthumous Annulment

She was 46. She married him when he was 81 and terminally ill. He died 2 weeks later and she tried to become his personal representative. His sister objected and sought to have the marriage annulled. The court held that it can annul a marriage after the death of one party, in view of (1) the court's inherent equity jurisdiction (2) the clear statutory grant to the court to use its equitable powers to annul an illicit marriage (3) the language of the applicable statute [which does not bar a posthumous application for annulment] and (4) the facts alleged in this case. The sister was allowed to pursue her claim for a post-death annulment.  In Re Estate of Santolino, New Jersey Ch. Div., Union Cty., July 14, 2005

Annulment

He didn't tell her he couldn't have children. So the marriage was annulled. This means that the parties were never legally married and there was no right to equitable distribution of one-half of the proceeds from the sale of the former marital home. Each party is only entitled to reimbursement for monies spent on refurbishing. Thompson v. Thompson, New Jersey App. Div., June 14, 2005