Here in New Jersey, divorced parents are generally obligated to contribute to the college education expenses for their un-emancipated children. In virtually every marital settlement agreement where there are un-emancipated children (the agreement the parties to a divorce enter into in resolution of all of their financial and/or parenting time issues), there is some sort
Child Support and College Contributions: How Are These Obligations Affected by a Strained Parent-Child Relationship?
In a recent decision, the appellate division has addressed the proper procedure for adjudicating a parent’s request to eliminate his obligation to pay child support and for college, when there is a question of whether the relationship with his child has been compromised.
In Zapata, v. Zapata, a father appealed the trial court orders
Moving Child Support from Place to Place
I have previously written about the custody and parenting time issues that may be presented when a child is moved from state to state within the country. But what of child support?
In an interesting recent unpublished decision, Flynn v. Flynn, the New Jersey Appellate Division examined the question: in a case where multiple
Judge Jones Provides Some New Clarity Just Ahead of the NJ Emancipation Statute
Signed into law on January 19, 2016, New Jersey’s emancipation law is set to take effect on February 1, 2017 and will apply to all child support orders issued prior to or after its effective date.
One of the highlights of the new law is that it will dramatically impact when and how child support
APPELLATE DIVISION ADDRESSES ENFORCEABILITY OF SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT AS TO COLLEGE IN NEW PUBLISHED DECISION
The Appellate Division’s newly published (precedential) decision in Avelino-Catabran v. Catabran provides another lesson to practitioners and litigants about the language used in settlement agreements and how such language, if unambiguous and without basis to modify, will likely be upheld in matrimonial matters. The specific dispute involved college payments for the parties’ older child and
Baby, Now You Really Can Drive My Car: Questions About Child Support & Driving Expenses, Answered
Ah, the moment you have been waiting for – nay, dreaming of – has arrived: your child has gotten his or her driver’s license! It was a long time coming, after 17 long, hard years of carpooling to school, arguing with the other parents about who is going to pick the kids up from their
NEW JERSEY EMANCIPATION STATUTE SIGNED BY GOVERNOR CHRISTIE
On Tuesday, January 19th, Governor Christie took a break from his busy presidential campaign to sign several new pieces of pending legislation, one of which was New Jersey’s pending emancipation statute that impacts upon child support and when/how it terminates. The new law, which takes effect 180 days after its signing, is applicable to all
“Conscious Uncoupling”: An Ode to a Mediated Divorce
As a lover of all things Coldplay, I was sad to hear that lead singer Chris Martin and his wife of more than 10 years, Gwyneth Paltrow, were divorcing. Gwyneth Paltrow announced the separation on her website Goop.com and used the term “conscious uncoupling” to describe their approach to divorce. Although the term had been
When Should Child Support Start?
Last week, the prolific Judge Lawrence R. Jones, J.S.C. shed some much-needed light on an essential question; namely: can the court retroactively set an obligor’s child support obligation to a date earlier than the filing date of an actual motion to establish child support in the reported case of Kakstys v. Stevens? According to
J is for Justifying a Deviation from the Child Support Guidelines
Your lawyer has just told you what you are likely to receive for child support and your jaw has dropped because you know the amount comes nowhere near the actual cost of supporting the children. How then, do you get your soon-to-be ex-spouse to pay what you consider to be a fair amount for the