If this year marks the first time you are filing your taxes as a divorced parent, you may have questions about how issues such as child custody arrangements affect your ability to claim your children as dependents. Can you claim the kids even you don’t have primary custody? What about if you and your former spouse split custody 182 days each during the year — who gets to “write off” your child when the year is shared equally? Read more
We blogged not too long ago about how not to let social media sabotage your divorce. But it looks like at least one mom still hasn’t gotten this one very basic message: What you post on Facebook, Twitter, or your social media site of choice can come back to haunt you in a big way when it’s your day in court. Read more
As we discuss at greater length in our Guide to Military Divorce, child custody arrangements and parenting plans require special flexibility when one or both parents are in the service of the U.S. military. Deployments can be unpredictable and sometimes involve short notice. Families are called on to make difficult adjustments. No parent should have to worry that serving the country carries a risk of losing custody or parenting time. In recent years, many states have addressed these challenges by enacting specific laws addressing custody arrangements for children with a parent in the military. New Jersey has now joined this growing group of states. Read more
Whether or not the relationship began during your marriage, or it’s one that didn’t start until after you were separated, when and how you introduce your child to your new romantic partner can set the tone for how your child views and relates to this person for years to come. Read more
As 2012 ended, so did New Jersey’s 5-year-old Parenting Coordinator Pilot Program. According to a notice sent from Acting Administrative Director of the Courts Glenn Grant, the decision to shut down the program as of Nov. 26, 2012 came at the request of the Conference of Presiding Family Judges and the Supreme Court’s Family Practice Committee. All approved placement forms for the program — which had been in place for local counties in Bergen, Middlesex, Morris, Sussex and Union vicinages — are now terminated. Likewise, the roster of parenting coordinators once found on the New Jersey Judiciary’s website is also gone. Read more
You may have seen one of our recent ads that, tongue-in-cheek, touts divorce as the diet that can help you get rid of 180 pounds of dead weight. Yes, we’re trying to inject some levity into a situation where there is usually very little to laugh about. But there is another reason why comparing divorce to diets seems apt. Read more
It’s the thick of the holiday shopping season, a time when most of us are hitting up sale after sale in order to cross a few more names off this year’s gift buying list. However, when it comes to buying a gift for a friend or loved one going through the heartache of divorce, finding the perfect present may be a bit more difficult than picking out a new sweater or buying the latest tech gadget. Read more
Thanksgiving is here and the December holidays of Christmas, Chanukah, and New Year’s are right around the corner. We’ve shared tips before on how to survive the holidays when you are separated or going through a divorce. But another year has passed, and we’re back with some all new and updated ways on how to enjoy this special season, no matter what your marital status. Read more
The devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy has significantly disrupted the lives of families throughout New Jersey. But for divorced families, there may an extra layer of concern right now involving co-parenting issues. Have impassable roads impacted your child custody arrangements and parenting time? Have you not been in contact with your child since the storm? Have power outages throughout New Jersey closed your place of work and now you are concerned about making this month’s child support payment? Read more
Tom Cruise has taken a lot of heat for not seeing daughter Suri in the flesh over the past two months, though the two talk on the phone and video chat “at least once a day,” Cruise’s lawyer confirms. This has led some to speculate that perhaps Tom’s visitation with Suri may be extremely limited. Or is it? Following the lead of other states, a new bill before the New Jersey Assembly (Bill No. 2388), will allow telephone, email, texting, video conferencing and other communications technologies, to count as parenting time in some child custody agreements. Read more
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