NEW JERSEY DIVORCE MEDIATION

This case involves competing claims to a decedent's life insurance proceeds by his adopted daughter from his first marriage -- for whom he was to maintain life insurance under his New Jersey divorce judgment -- and his second ex-wife and her son, who he named as beneficiaries of the same policy during his second marriage. The threshold issue is which document governs: the New Jersey divorce judgment or the life insurance enrollment form? The appellate panel agrees with the motion judge's grant of summary judgment to the adopted daughter. She is entitled to prevail because she was not emancipated at the time of decedent's death, and his child support obligations to her continued to that time.  Prudential Ins. Co. of America v. Caputo, et al., New Jersey App. Div., August 15, 2006