New Jersey Recent Legal Answers from Lawyers

An order of the court terminating your legal relationship to the child (and permitting the stepfather to formally adopt him) ends your future legal obligation for the payment of child support. An order of the court terminating your legal relationship to the child does not terminate any child support arrearage obligation outstanding as of the date of the termination order. So, if you owed 10,000 in outstanding child support as of the date of the order for termination of your legal relationship to the child, you do not get to avoid payment of that 10,000 obligation but from the date of the termination of your legal relationship to the child into the future, any order outstanding for the payment of child support from you ends and the probation department would need to correct its records to reflect that effective XXX date, they should not have been collecting any new child support from you. If a probation department officer ( the hearing officer) tells you that you are wrong and you are the father and you have to pay the child support - tell her that she is wrong and that you want to appear before the court to address it. Understand that this is a unique setting and 95% of hearing officers have not seen this type of setting before and may not understand the legal significance of the order for termination of parenting rights and therefore you need to insist on appearing before the judge so that you can address it to him / her. Make sure that you bring with you a copy of the order requiring the payment of child support, the order terminating your legal relationship to the child ( the order permitting the step father to adopt the child) and a print out of your probation department account statement showing that the probation department has continued to collect child support from you after the date of the order for termination. Make sure that you keep each of those documents in separate file folders so that they are easy to locate during the proceeding and make sure that you have copies to give the hearing officer and the judge ( instead of bringing 1 of each and expecting them to copy everything for you. Make it easy for everyone to review the records you want them to see. If you have any communication with your ex confirming the adoption or communications from an agency involved in the adoption matter, bring copies of those documents as well. If you have text messages between you and your ex or you and the stepfather confirming the adoption, take screen shots of those text messages and then print them out - otherwise the court cannot consider them. You cannot hand your phone to the court for its use in your proceeding since the material on the phone is not evidence that the court can retain in its file.   ... Read More

Your starting point is the language of your divorce settlement agreement or final judgement of divorce. If the agreement or court order required your husband to transfer title to the properties from joint name into his name alone and that same was to be accomplished by a specific date, you need to follow up with the lawyer who represented you in the divorce to find out if those things were accomplished. If your ex-husband was obligated to transfer the titles to those properties into his name alone under the terms of your divorce agreement or court order and he failed to do so, then you may need to take action in the NJ family court system to compel him to do so or to be responsible for the tax liability incurred by you as a result of his failure to transfer the titles as required. If the agreement or court order required him to transfer the titles into his name alone and he failed to do so, a judge has the authority to hold him liable for the financial consequences of his inaction by making him pay for your tax liabilities and the legal fees for the necessity of the application). A very different issue is presented if you and he never had a writing in place requiring him to transfer title to the properties into his name alone after the divorce. In that setting, it is tougher for a judge to require him to pay for your tax liabilities on those properties when there is nothing in writing to require him to do so. If the "agreement" to transfer title from joint name into his name alone is not in the settlement agreement or court order, then you need to check your emails and your text messages to see if you have anything from him confirming his agreement to transfer title into his name alone.  If you have that in a text message or email, bring that material to a family law specialist so that he can figure out whether he has sufficient information to file an application with the court for relief on your behalf. ... Read More

I am going to guess that you represented yourself at a domestic violence final restraining order hearing and during the course of that hearing, the other side sought to introduce what she claimed were text message material from communications between the 2 of you. There is a reported trial division decision on the admissibilty of the text message material writting by retired Judge Jones. In that decision, he lays out how text message material should be presented to the court for authentication purposes. The problem is that you represented yourself and  I dont know if the judge hearing your matter, afforded you the opportunity to review and object to the courts consideration of that material. I also dont know if you properly objected to the courts consideration of that material when presented or whether you objected after your ex had already testified as to the contents of same.  If you would like, contact my office to schedule a consultation for us to review the materials presented and the court order entered against you. You have a very limited window of time available for purposes of filing an appeal so whether you contact our office or another family law firm, you need to move quickly. If you are planning to contact my office, call my paralegal Angela at 973-379-9292 or email the office at NJDivorcelawyer@aol.com to schedule it. ... Read More

Domestic violence complaints are serious matters and if you cannot personally attend the hearing, call the court (in the paperwork provided to you, there is a telephone number and email address information for you to use to contact the court) and arrange to participate by phone or by zoom videoconferencing. For videoconferencing, the court will send you an email with a zoom link that you will click open at the designated time so as to be able to participate.  For trial purposes, he is the plaintiff and he goes first at the trial, presenting his information as to what he claims supports his complaint for a final restraining order against you for harassment. You or your lawyer then have the right to cross examine him and present documents to use for cross examination purposes and then after he finishes with his testimony and any witnesses he claims supports his position, you then have the right to testify and present your proofs in opposition. Again, I not only suggest that you immediately contact the court to ensure that you can participate but you need to sit down with a family law attorney experienced in the handling of domestic violence matters to educate yourself on the law and the consequences of a future violation and its impact on the current custody plan in place. Too many times, our office sees people for consultation purposes after the fact, who did not take it serious enough and thought that they could simply represent themselves and then they lost and now want to know if we can file an appeal on their behalf to undo the consequences of their actions or seek to set aside the court’s decision so as to permit us to retry the matter for them. ... Read More

The terms of your written contract should direct any reporting the gallery is supposed to provide to you on any sales.  To the extent you are not getting the information you are entitled to under the agreement, you might consider hiring a lawyer to review the agreement, assess options, and potentially contact the gallery on your own behalf.  Consider hiring a lawyer who would do that on a reaosnable flat fee basis.... Read More

You can leave whatever you want to whomever you want in a Will.  If your husband's Will leaves everything to you and he dies first, your Will governs.  If you die first, your property goes to the people you name.  It then becomes their property and goes to whomever you name.  Heirship and intestacy rules only apply if there is no Will.... Read More

While most people will say that they "fought" for specific things as part of a divorce, it does not mean that their matter proceeded to trial & resulted in the court rendering a decision on the issues presented. So, your starting point is whether there is a settlement agreement. If there is a settlement agreement, then the matter was settled and presumably, the court never made rulings of the issues contained in the agreement. I can tell you that over the course of a 34 year career handling divorce & family law matters exclusively, I have had clients want specific things as part of a divorce, which the other side would not agree to or which realistically were not practical and we  had to have "heart to heart" discussions on whether it made dollars and sense to pursue.  Its not healthy for your father to repeatedly tell you that he fought for a particular parenting time plan as part of the divorce and that your mother opposed it. I have no idea if that is true or not and I have no idea whether your mother had a legitimate reason to oppose it ( if she did oppose it). The best advice I can give your dad and you is that he stop the discussion on the divorce and focus his energies on how he can be involved more in your life today. Tell your dad to stop it since all he is really doing is disparaging your mother. If he wants a better relationship with you, tell him to let go of the anger and focus on being in your life constructively today and for tomorrow. Telling him that you love him and want him to be in your life more today, will also help him move forward with his life as well. If he refuses and continued to bash your mom, then it should also become clear that he cannot let go of the past and wants to blame her for his unhappiness and there is nothing in the court's file that will change that setting. And, lastly, if their matter was tried to conclusion before the court and you really wanted to get the transcripts, you can fill out the form from the family part, identifying the docket number, dates of testimony, etc and the transcriber will then let you know if they still have the tapes available for transcription and what the cost will be per transcript. Presume that each transcript ( if full day) will cost you about 1,000.00 per day of testimony with the payment made up front.  ... Read More

Right off the bat, my sense is that you are misunderstanding the actual terms of your divorce agreement or someone explained the terms to you incorrectly. Believe it or not, in New Jersey family law, there is no such legal term as "joint custody". 85% of all divorce agreements in New Jersey say that the parties shall maintain a "joint legal custody" arrangement for the benefit of their child[ren], which term actually has nothing to do with the parenting time plan in place for you with your child. "Joint legal custody" means that when there is a major decision affecting your child's health, education or general welfare, you and the primary custodial parent must discuss it.  When you have a joint legal custodial plan, it also means that one parent is the parent of primary residence and has the child[ren] living with him / her more than 50% of the overnight time. The other parent is identified as the “parent of alternate residence”, which means that the child[ren] live with him / her less than 50% of the time.  Alternatively, some people have a "joint physical custodial plan", where the child[ren] live with both parents approximately equal amount of overnight time and in this limited setting, neither parent is designated as the parent of primary custody and the agreement would specifically spell out a shared equal custodial plan where the child[ren] live in each parents home approximately equal amounts of time during the year.  So, presumably you have a joint legal custodial plan and in that setting, the agreement should spell out your entitlement to a specific parenting time plan. If things have changed since the agreement was put in place, that can constitute a "change in circumstance" and give you the ability to renegotiate your parenting time with the child[ren] or file an application with the court seeking to modify the plan. If you are planning to seek modification of the existing plan because of a change in circumstance setting, my suggestion is to do it right and hire an experienced family law attorney to file it. If you screw it up, filing it on your own or through a lawyer who is not a family law specialist, you will not then be able to simply refile that application with a different lawyer. You have 1 shot to do it correctly, so hire the specialist to work with you on that application.     ... Read More

You might consider looking for an immigration attorney to help with the visa question. Otherwise, would be happy to help create an entity (if you choose not to use a legal service like LegalZoom or through an accountant which some client find being more economical to conduct the filing with the state entity) and draft any necessary service or licensing agreements. Feel free to reach out.... Read More

You can apply for Social Security income via www.ssa.gov or call a law office that handles all of the paper work along with answering any  questions you may have.    Sincerely,   Attorney Scott F. Bocchio President Legal Rights Advocates P 855-254-7841 www.yourlegalrightsadvocates.com     ... Read More

Im sure that this is a very stressful and potentially overwhelming setting for you. At the end of the day though, if this issue is presented to a court, the judge handling the matter is required to focus on what is best for the child. What is best for the child though is not a simple inquiry when he is a baby. The issue will involve his breast-feeding schedule, how long he will be breast feeding, his sleep schedule, etc.  My suggestion is that you talk with your ex about meeting with a mediator or an arbitrator to address this issue. A mediator listens and makes recommendations to both of you on the issues outstanding. If either of you disagree with the recommendations, then either of you are free to file an application with the court thereafter for the court to rule on it. Conversely, an arbitrator is akin to a judge, where he listens and reviews all of the materials similar to a judge and rules and his ruling has the same type of finality as of a judge had rendered a decision. Alternatively, either of you can file an application with the court (once the baby is born) asking the court for a ruling on the parenting time schedule. Presume, that a judge will require both of you to submit your issues to mediation to try and resolve the issue and if not resolved in mediation, then the court will rule on it. The best advice at this point would be to suggest to your ex that instead of the 2 of you fighting over what parenting time plan is best for the child, agree to meet with a lawyer who is an accredited family law mediator to discuss the issues and see if the 2 of you can find a path forward that is reasonable and one that each of you are comfortable with.  If you and your ex would like to meet with one of the partners in Diamond & Diamond to act as a mediator, please contact Angela 973-379-9292 to schedule a joint meeting. ... Read More

We utilize your wonderful background, which we document in writing, to open the door for mitigation. We use the police reports to provide a 'procedural' reason for mitigation. We work within the system to either have you receive no points or a downgrade to no motor vehicle violation. Please call immediately to discuss. Ed Dimon, Esq. 732-797-1600 ext 235... Read More

Thank you for your question. Based on your question it appears that there is some disagreement over the custody and parenting time of a child. Furthermore, it does not appear that there is any agreement or Court Order addressing the topic. It would be best to see if an agreement can be reached as it relates to custody and parenting time. In the event the parties cannot agree on a custody arrangement, the Court will likely need to conduct a trial to determine custody. Custody is based on a number of factors that take into consideration what is in the child’s best interest. Based on your circumstances, it may be best to best to contact an experienced family law attorney to address your specific concerns.... Read More

We just finished a similar case and were able to have the guns returned to a family member. We had two other cases where we were able to have the weapons sold and have our clients receive the monies. We need to know all the circumstances of the charges and the person. Please call immediately to discuss. Ed Dimon, Esq. 732-797-1600 ext 235... Read More

The expungement laws are being significantly changed in June 2020. They will be more liberal and more forgiving. We will need your exact conviction and sentence. We can determine if we can expunge same or seek clemency. We have had good fortune pursing both paths. Please call immediately to discuss. Ed Dimon, Esq. 732-797-1600 ext 235... Read More

Thank you for your question. I am sorry that you are going through this right now and cannot imagine the stress you are under. There is no requirement under the law that you agree to a parenting time schedule in advance of the child’s birth, nor are you required to agree to a plan that you are not comfortable with. It is, however, advisable that you begin to consider what you would be comfortable agreeing to with the expectation that the other party will file an application with the Court if you and he cannot come to a resolution. The Court, however, does not have the ability to enter a custody or parenting time Order for an unborn child, so that application would not be heard until the baby is born. I highly recommend that you consult with an attorney who can discuss various parenting time plans and proposals that may work well for your situation and assist you in resolving the matter, with or without the Court’s intervention.... Read More

If you loaned the money to the husband, with no loan to or guaranty from the wife, you have no claim against the wife ond the debt.  However, if you believe that assets titled in her name are really the husband's in whole or part, or if you believe that he made a fraudulent conveyance (see below) to her, you can go after those assets once you obtain a judgment against the husband.   A fraudulent conveyance is when a debtor transfers assets to someone else with the intent to keep those assets away from his creditors OR when a debtor who is involvent, or is rendered insolvent by the transfer, transfers assets to someone else for less than fair consideration (i.e. selling a car worth $20,000 for $12,000 would be an $8,000 fraudulent conveyance) and then can't pay his debts.... Read More

Thank you for your question. It may automatically if paid via wage execution and/or through a probation department. Additional information is necessary to be able to guide you in this matter. Please schedule an appointment with an attorney so that he/she can obtain additional facts and guide you appropriately.... Read More

I presume you tore up your wife’s clothing because you felt justified, after concluding that she was cheating on you. The simple answer is that tearing up someone else’s clothing is not acceptable and could give rise to that person filing a domestic violence complaint against you or asking a divorce court to impose sanctions against you for the cost of the damaged clothing in a divorce matter. Hopefully, you are concluding that it is unacceptable to destroy her clothing because of your anger ( or for any other reason). If she has cheated on you, then you need to decide if you and she still want to work through this infidelity to try and save the marriage. Not every act of infidelity requires a marriage to end. It means that you and she are at a crossroad and both of you need to decide how much the marriage means to the 2 of you and whether its worth trying to save. As to your spouse cheating on you, I have no idea as to why it occurred, but in most cases, its because something went wrong between the 2 of you. Simple example is where you are working long hours and she is lonely and when you come home, you are angry, frustrated with issues from work and distant. After tme, that loneliness can become overwhelming and maybe she felt that you simply did not care about her sexually any longer. Sorry.... but I dont know your life or what occurred to cause your spouse to cheat but most often, its not a simple. If you cannot forgive her for her actions or if the 2 of you are not equally committed to working on rebuilding the relationship and the trust, then the solution is to divorce.  ... Read More