What happens if your spouse wants to permanently move your child to a state other than New Jersey?

New clients regularly tell me that they want an "uncontested divorce."

What exactly is an uncontested divorce in NJ?

To me, the phrase means two separate things:

First of all, it means that the GROUNDS FOR DIVORCE are not being contested.

Second, it means that there is no disagreement as to any of the financial issues, child related issues, or any other issues, and in fact these issues have been resolved.

When you have settled all of the issues in your divorce case, the next step is to go to court for what is called an uncontested divorce hearing, the goal of which is to divorce you and your spouse and end the divorce process.  

The uncontested divorce hearing usually lasts 10 to 15 minutes.

Whether you are entitled to a legal annulment or not has nothing at all to do with the length of your marriage.

I've have many people call and say, "We've only been married a short time, it didn't work out, so I want an annulment."

It doesn't work that way.

Unless there was a substantial fraud perpetrated upon you, or another legal ground...as discussed below...even if you were only married for 10 days and you want out, you'll need a divorce...you don't qualify for an annulment without the fraud.

People ask me regularly "Steve, what is the difference between an annulment and a divorce?"

Here's the easy answer:

A divorce ends a marriage.

An annulment says that the marriage was never valid from the beginning, often because of some type of a fraud.

"Fraud?" they say.

"Do you mean that she lied about her age?"

Well, lying about one's age is not nice when you are planning to marry that person, but such a fraud would not likely be sufficiently offensive to support an application to a Court for an annulment (unless a party to a marriage was under age 18, in which case the right to an annulment does exist.)

If the annulment is based upon fraud, then in order to qualify for an annulment, the fraud must go to the heart of marriage agreement.

Here's how Professor Fabian Palomino, Esq. taught me about one of the more common grounds for a person to seek an annulment in law school in 1983, namely fraud:

As a New Jersey divorce expert, people frequently ask me how long they must be separated before they can file for divorce.

The problem is that they often backfire, as a well-written article by Mississippi divorce attorney Mark Chinn proves: https://www.womansdivorce.com/dirty-divorce-tricks.html

I've created a list of 101 hot tips for helping you get a divorce in New Jersey.

These hot tips will help you maximize your chances of ending up with a favorable divorce settlement.

I want to tell you about 4 of the most significant divorce laws in New Jersey.

There are many laws affecting divorcing people in NJ, but I think that these four are especially important because they directly affect your relationship with your kids, your money, and your property.

Are you married to a narcissist, controller, alcoholic, drug abuser, spouse abuser, bipolar, or narcissistic person?

You are divorced.

Parenting time (or "visitation") issues can be emotionally difficult for all concerned.