New Jersey Family Legal Questions

Sometimes part of a personal injury lawsuit will involve something called "loss of consortium" which means really loss of your wife.  So if the injury to your wife affected you, you would be entitled to a portio of the claim, but you are not automatically entitled to take the proceeds of your wife's claim.  The money she receives in a lawsuit is supposed to compensate her for damages and her pain and suffering. ... Read More

In NY, as the custodial parent, you can deny visitation to the grandmother unless and until a court orders you to give visitation. Grandparents can file for visitation but it is legally difficult for them to get visitation. The presumption is that a parent should make such decisions about visitation. In order to get visitation, a grandparent must show both that a parent has passed away or that the grandparent has been very involved in the grandchild's life; and extraordinary circumstances exist showing that the grandparent should have visitation. Special  circumstances like surrender, neglect, abandonment, unfitness are reasons for granting grandparent visitation. The best interests of the child are also a factor. ... Read More

I'm sorry, but that's not enough information to be able to answer a question.  If there is a DYFS case in which DYFS is alleging abuse, and you have proof that the incident was an accident, then you need to present that to the court.  You can do that without an attorney.  Good luck.... Read More

Once a lease expires, and the landlord does not require you to move, the lease is now converted to a month-by-month lease.  So if your lease expired, and you have continued living there, his right to have you move has nothing to do with the air conditioning, at the end of the month, you can be asked to leave.    ... Read More

You should look at both the Federal Family Leave Act and NJ.  you can find a lot of answers to your questions here.   http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/pensions/epbam/additional/fmla-qa.htm It appears that the Act applies to both genders for a variety of reasons, not just maternity leave.    ... Read More

If he threatens you - get away from him !  you need to force him to leave whatever hotel or place you are staying.  Go to the local police department and get a restraining order.  then go to the county court house in the county in which you live and ask for a "pro se packet" for a divorce.  you can complete the paperwork and file on your own.  You will need to file an application with the court to get pendente lite relief, that means you will ask for support to be paid to you before the divorce is finalized.  Good luck.... Read More

Your husband should sign a HIPAA release form at the hospital.  Get the social worker or patient advocate involved to have this form brought to him so that you can get information about his care and treatment, and have a better idea what to do.  You don't have to worry about custody now, unless you are planning to file for divorce. ... Read More

This is obviously as horrible situation and I would strongly suggest you meet with an attorney ASAP to help protect your grandson.  As far as the law is concerned, you currently have custody of your grandson, which means you have the final say with regard to his well-being.  I would suggest filing an Order to Show Cause (through counsel) under the same Docket Number as the case you and daughter started in 2005.  Your Certification will explain the situation and include all of your daughter’s and her boyfriend’s inappropriate conduct/behavior.  You will essentially request that your grandson be returned to you because you have custody and because you are worried about his safety in the presence of his biological parents.  The judge may ultimately decide that a hearing is necessary in order to decide what your grandson’s best interests are. This is obviously as horrible situation and I would strongly suggest you call my office at 888-888-0919 to schedule a free consultation. As a firm that exclusively practices family law in New Jersey, we can definitely help you.... Read More

I this was not part of your original divorce decree, no, she cannot.  The idea of an insurance policy is to provide for the children's support if something has happened to you.  At this point you cannot still be paying child, support, your children have been emancipated, and there is no further requirement that can be made for you to buy insurance.... Read More

If your fiance is going to adopt your son, the child's father will have to be notified, and has the chance to object to the adoption.  It is hard to answer your question with out knowing more about the custody arrangement between you and the child's father.  Whether he has visitation, and is not keeping up with that, or whether he has any custody rights, will affect the ability to do an adoption.  Also, custody, visitation and child support do not all go together.  Even though the child's father does not see him, he still has child support obligations that can be enforced.  Until the child is 18, anything to do with the name change or adoption will have to involved at least serving notice on the child's father. ... Read More

You didn't mention what state you are in, but there are very few that still allow for common law marriages.  So, you may have few rights to division of what would otherwise be called marital property.  But, if you are both on the deed and mortgage to the house, you can ask the court to grant you partition of the property, so that you can get your share out of it.  Depending on how much you put into the house, you may be able to refinance it in your own name or get your mortgage company to take him off the mortgage, but you would need an agreement or court order to do it.... Read More

That is kind of strange, because usually a TRO is given only when the parties are living together or have some type of relationship, and clearly you don't if you are living in NY.  I would not be concerned about the TRO, I would simply have absolutely no contact with her.  I mean none.  Do not call her to ask about the TRO, text, e-mail, voicemail, regular mail - NOTHING.  If all she has is an old address and you are not living there, then you haven't been served with any paperwork and you shouldn't worry.  A Certified Mail letter was probably sent there but because you don't live there it could not be delivered.  You say she's an ex-girlfriend, but she threatened you with a TRO last week.  Why?  what contact did you have with her?  Whatever it is or was, you have to stop, because if there is a valid TRO in place, then she can claim you violated it.  Even if later you can prove the TRO wasn't valid, or you didn't get a copy, it can still take time to straighten out so don't do anything that might be interpreted as a violation. ... Read More

He can't just say he did detox - he has to prove it.  If he went through some kind of program, then he needs to bring documentation.  Also, if he lost visitation, the court is not just going to give it back.  You should ask for no visitation, but if the court is going to give something, say that he needs to have supervised visitation until he can prove he's through detox, and to also have parenting classes so that he can learn how to be better to his kids.  Ask that your husband be tested, some courts will do the drug test right there in court with either the hair sample or cheek swab.  Make some kind of provision that he has to go for periodic tests, and if he fails a test, then no visitation even if its supervised, and all further visitation is suspended.  Good luck !... Read More

Your question is not clear from what you have written.  You have to be served with a complaint and be given a chance to answer the complaint before your rights pertaining to the marriage are taken away by the court.  Before your marriage is dissolved, and property and assets divided you will have a chance to argue your case.  If you are just separated, I am not sure what rights you are concerned about. ... Read More

It is my experience that life insurance is not part of the estate so nothing can "attach" from your unpaid debts.  If any of the beneficiaries of your estate had unpaid child support judgments, their share of your estate could be attached, but it has not been my experience that your unpaid child support would affect life insurance. ... Read More

Its hard to answer because you have indicated "I was still married".  This seems to indicate that there was something happening, whether you had filed for divorce, or were separated, or something else.  As his wife, you were entitled to his pension account.  however, if he had previously been divorced, he might have named his daughter on that account between the time he was divorced, and when he married you and then the daughter was named as a beneficiary.  the pension administrator may not have had any information about a new marriage, saw that her name was on the account as beneficiary, and released the money to her.  You need to contact the pension administrator and find out what happened. ... Read More