New Jersey Family Law

EDGEWATER NEW JERSEY BERGEN COUNTY DIVORCE LAWYER DISCOVERY

Because he was guilty of flagrant and repeated violations of the New Jersey divorce court's discovery orders, the ex-husband's answer to the New Jersey divorce complaint was properly stricken. The court’s attribution of income to the ex-wife is reasonable in light of her inability to resume a prior job that required frequent absences from their child. The award of limited duration alimony is sustained given the duration of the marriage, the parties’ ages, their education, health, and work experience. The determination of assets subject to equitable distribution, the allocation of the amount of each party’s distribution at 50%, and the credits against equity to enable the distribution award conformed with case law and was based on substantial evidence. There was no abuse of discretion in the court granting defendant’s request for parenting time in Israel, subject to plaintiff accompanying the child on the trips.      Granate v. Sharav, New Jersey App. Div., August 28, 2007

NEW JERSEY DIVORCE : DRUG TESTING

Plaintiff seemed under the influence of something at his New Jersey deposition. Two calls were placed to the judge, who ordered him to answer questions about his criminal drug convictions and to undergo blood/urine testing in the middle of the deposition. Plaintiff, who had taken both prescription and illegal substances in the prior 24-hour period, left when he realized he would have to place his drug history on the record. Defendants sought dismissal of the complaint, arguing that plaintiff's failure to submit to the drug tests was tantamount to spoliation of evidence. The prior order requiring plaintiff to submit to the immediate testing was proper. The complaint is dismissed without prejudice and plaintiff is ordered to pay counsel fees and transcription costs for defendants' attendance at the aborted deposition. Any reinstatement motion shall not be filed until the sanctions are paid and plaintiff's deposition conducted anew. Plaintiff shall answer all questions relating to his two drug convictions.      Freeman v. Milric, et al., etc., New Jersey Law Div., Middlesex Cy. (LeBlon, J.S.C.) ; March 14, 2006

NEW JERSEY DIVORCE DISCOVERY

The mother's New Jersey matrimonial motion to compel the father to provide her with his relevant medical and/or psychiatric records was properly denied. The application was for the future medical care of the parties' children. Although he objected on privacy grounds, he agreed to cooperate with any doctor treating his children. Therefore, the judge equitably tailored the order to deny the motion for release of the records to her, but provided for their future release to physicians. Absent expert opinion that current release of the records is necessary, her claims that he might flee the jurisdiction or might be disabled and unable to cooperate or might refuse to cooperate in the future are all rejected.    Massaro v. Massaro, New Jersey App. Div., February 16, 2006

NEW JERSEY ADULTERY

His widow [his second wife, 28 years younger] sued his Estate, claiming that his sons from his prior marriage used "undue influence" to induce their father to make a new will in their favor, depriving her thereby. She sought to set aside the new will and admit a prior will in her favor. The children counterclaimed, alleging misappropriation through her misuse of a power of attorney and improper transfer of his assets. The children wanted discovery of her prior divorce and a purported adulterous affair. The court holds that her cell phone records must be produced, specifically with respect to an individual with whom plaintiff allegedly had an affair. Evidence of decedent's knowledge of his wife's infidelity may be evidential as it relates to his wishes to change his will.   In Re Estate of Fenton,  New Jersey Chancery Div., September 13, 2005

Private School Expenses

Was the father's obligation to pay for the children's private school tuition, extracurricular activity costs and vacation expenses terminated under the parties' New Jersey divorce agreement because his income fell below $500,000 for the year?  He claimed this was an automatic "trigger". But the mother argued his year-end income was tentative and unverified. His application was denied without prejudice. On remand, he must must provide and prove his actual income.    Cherepakhov v. Cherepakhov, New Jersey App. Div., August 19, 2005

Cohabitation Termination

The trial court was wrong when it refused to terminate the ex-husband's alimony. The ex-wife was cohabiting with her paramour as man and wife with all but the marriage certificate. Her failure to provide her paramour’s financial information intentionally prevented the motion to terminate alimony from being properly evaluated. If she wants to reinstate the alimony, the missing information must be provided, and she will have the burden of proving her alleged financial dependence on her ex-husband. Lande v. Lande, New Jersey App. Div., May 26, 2005

Digital Digging

Claiming her husband had a history of "past fraudulent conduct", the wife wanted her computer forensic experts to "impound, clone and inspect" her husband's "computer servers, hard drives, individual workstation PC, laptop and other items containing digital data". She asked that he pay her attorney fees and computer forensic expert costs. He defended by claiming the request was overbroad, intrusive and burdensome. He also questioned his wife's counsel's ability to safeguard his data based on an alleged history of reckless and careless data handling. The court ordered both parties' forensic experts to meet at the data collection center, along with a court-appointed referee; wife's expert will copy the hard drives and immediately turn them over to the referee; after all drives are copied, the experts and referee will examine them; both parties will receive hard copies of relevant business records; the referee will retain custody of the drive images until termination of litigation; wife will pay for all production costs; and each party will advance their own counsel fees and expert costs, subject to reallocation at trial.  Etzion v. Etzion, 2005 WL 689468 (N.Y.Sup. Ct.), May 10, 2005

Electronic Wiretap

A wife illegally intercepted her husband's communications with another woman via email and instant messaging when she installed a spyware program on his computer. This software simultaneously  (1) copied his communications in real time as they were being transmitted (2)took screen shots and (3) stored them to a new file. O'Brien v. O'Brien, Florida 5th District Court of Appeals, March 1, 2005.  http://www.5dca.org/Opinions/Opin2005/020705/5D03-3484.pdf

Deposition No Show

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.

Marital Infidelity

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

http://money.cnn.com/2005/01/18/news/newsmakers/ebbers_trial.reut/