Inside NJ’s Festering Judicial Crisis: Divorces and Civil Trials Stalled for Years

By: Jeff Pillets

New Jersey Monthly spoke with the chair of Family Law Group, Carolyn Daly, regarding the delays in the New Jersey courts and their impacts on families. Carolyn explained that the backlog is caused by “political gamesmanship in Trenton” and that “the state Senate sits on nominations for months at a time.’’ Carolyn also explained the negative impact it has had on her client, stating, “it’s just chaos.’’

Thousands of New Jersey families are in limbo amid a critical shortage of judges.

A 72-year-old woman caught in a nasty divorce case waits six years for a judge to end her marriage. A man seeking to wrest custody of his son from an abusive mother has to wait seven years for a court decision.

A kindergartener who splits her time between divorcing parents can’t enroll in a nearby school because no judge has decided her living arrangements.

All of these people are real victims of a New Jersey civil-case backlog that has kept some 9,000 divorce cases and thousands of other civil trials in limbo as the state’s courts—now four years into a critical shortage of judges—slog through a slow-motion crisis that has forestalled justice for thousands.