Divorce Without the Drama
A Family Law Blog

New laws change the past, present, and future in New Jersey After years of talk, it has finally happened: marijuana is legal in New Jersey. On February 22, 2021, Governor Phil Murphy signed three different bills that, together, both legalized ...

What if parents disagree on whether or not to give their children the vaccine? A few of our clients have begun to reach out to ask the question: What happens if my ex and I disagree about whether our child(ren) should receive the COVID-19 ...

Once discovery has been completed, or in some cases, largely completed, the court will schedule your case for an Early Settlement Panel (ESP). The panelists are experienced family lawyers who have no involvement in the case, but serve in counties ...

If you have minor children and custody is at issue in your divorce (or in cases where the parties were not married), the court has a number of services available to parents to attempt to help them determine a custody and parenting time plan that ...

The Parent Education Program is a mandatory program for litigants with children to attend. Both litigants are required, by statute, to attend the program, but are scheduled for different dates. It takes place at the courthouse, or via Zoom or ...

First, the other party is served with the Complaint for Divorce or Acknowledges the Complaint for Divorce and files a responsive pleading; an Answer, an Appearance, or an Answer and Counterclaim for Divorce.  If they don’t answer, a default can ...

The job of a Custody Evaluator is to make a determination regarding the best interests of the child. Depending on the facts of your case, an evaluator’s determination regarding the “best interests” may include whether a party should have sole ...

Since the pandemic began, the backlog of cases in the New Jersey court system has more than doubled. Case backlogs are growing fastest in the Family Part. According to the Administrative Office of the Courts, which monitors this data, the backlog in ...

Do you have a “sexting” partner? If so, the Appellate Division says you could be in a “Dating Relationship” under the NJ Prevention of Domestic Violence Act Want to obtain a restraining order in New Jersey? The appellate division made that ...

With the onset of COVID-19 and Governor Murphy’s stay-at-home order, the court system has had to implement a number of procedures and protocols in order to allow courts to continue functioning while we all continue to social distance. Although ...