Can New Jersey Parents Legally Spank Their Children?

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In New York State, the headline-making court case this week was one apparently giving parents the legal green light to spank their kids. Issued Wednesday, the state Appellate Division found that a father’s spanking of an 8-year-old boy “was a reasonable use of force.” This reversed a Family Court judge’s ruling last year that had found the father’s spanking qualified as child abuse on the grounds of“inflicting excessive corporal punishment.” Read more

What Is a Jewish Divorce “Get”?

Jewish divorce laws are in the news again as one woman brings her fight to obtain a Jewish “get” from her husband to social media in hopes of publicly pressuring him to hand over the only document that, under the rules of Orthodox Jewish law, makes a divorce between a Jewish man and wife final.

What exactly is a Jewish divorce “get”? Read more

Can An Adult Child With Power Of Attorney Handle An Elderly Parent’s Divorce?

iStock_000006889407Small Many grown ups in their 40s and 50s are part of the so-called “sandwich generation,” a growing group of adults who find themselves stuck in the middle caring for their own children and for the needs of their aging parents. These adult children might find themselves tasked with duties ranging from bringing their elderly parent to doctor’s appointments to serving as Power of Attorney over their parent’s financial affairs. But what happens in the event an older parent decides to divorce? A recent Ocean County NJ Superior Court ruling helps to clarify just how involved adult children can be in divorce proceedings, regardless of whether the adult child holds Power of Attorney (POA).    Read more

Money, Cheating or Something Else? Survey Shows Why People Get Divorced

Broken heartCiting the grounds of “irreconcilable differences” in divorce papers is often viewed as the easiest and most direct way in New Jersey to legally establish that a marriage is irretrievably broken down. But what exactly leads to the irretrievable marital break down in the first place? In a recent report, researchers from Austin Institute for the Study of Family and Culture reveal what they found when they tried to answer the question, why do people get divorced? Read more

Judge Delays Adds to Essex County Court Backlog

Governor Christie’s decision last week to withdraw eight New Jersey Superior Court nominees in Essex County has created another delay in filling the 22 vacancies in New Jersey’s busiest vicinage. It is unclear as to what will happen now in terms of whether the governor will resubmit the judicial nominations at some later point or if he will decide to submit all new recommendations for the jobs in time for the Legislature’s fall session. Read more

Will New Jersey Alimony Reform Be the Death of the Stay-At-Home Spouse?

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If you’ve kept up with the headlines in New Jersey this past week, you may be aware that a long-awaited alimony reform bill concerning permanent “lifetime” alimony has been passed by both the New Jersey State Assembly and Senate and sent to Governor Christie, who is expected to approve the measure sometime this summer. With alimony reform in New Jersey so close at hand, it’s almost certain that those going through the process of divorce right now (or contemplating divorce) have questions and concerns about how reform laws will affect their spousal support arrangements. This may be especially true for stay-at-home spouses and stay-at-home parents, the two groups most likely to request lifetime alimony. Read more