Family

Depends. If you are still married, emancipation occurs when you and your spouse decide that it is time for your child to stand on his / her own. But, if you are divorced, even if a settlement agreement says that emancipation occurs at 18 or upon graduation from high school, a judge still has the right to override the terms of that agreement and continue an obligation for support upon parents for that child. 

In New Jersey, the legal standard for emancipation is "[w]hen a... Read More

I have worked with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on child abduction cases and am outraged by the actions of the Brazilian court in refusing to honor its obligations under the Hague Convention on rules governing Child Abductions. Essentially, Brazil has signed off on the Convention to ensure that its children are returned to its borders and at the same time, is refusing to honor its obligation to ensure the "prompt" return of children abducted elsewhere and... Read More

While other states are still debating whether to recognize gay marriages, at a hearing in Trenton last week, New Jersey Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson issued a divorce instead of a dissolution of a civil union to a lesbian couple who had been married in Canada.

The Attorney General’s office had argued that the couple should receive a dissolution of a civil union, rather than a divorce. However, the Judge disagreed, advancing the view that a divorce was necessary to allow... Read More

Currently on appeal are two cases making their way through the New Jersey court system; each taking very different positions on the issue.  In both cases, mothers have allegedly engaged in intentional behavior to cause the breakdown of the relationship between their children and their fathers, who are seeking monetary damages as a result.

In Segal vs Lynch, Judge Rand in Morris County, relying on the 1935 Heart Balm Act (N.J.S.A. 2A:23-1)  dismissed the claim,... Read More

30 years ago, the New Jersey Supreme Court held that a promise (oral or in writing) made by unmarried cohabitants in a marital-style relationship can be enforced, under the concept of "Palimony". Kozlowski v. Kozlowski, 80 N.J. 378 (1979).  This concept has been upheld and expanded upon by subsequent decisions. See e.g. Devaney v. L'Esperance, 195 N.J. 247 (2008), In re Estate of Roccamonte, 174 N.J. 381 (2002).

In its simplest... Read More