New Jersey has many laws that may affect your divorce. But four areas will usually have the greatest impact on your children, income and property:
- Child custody
- Child support
- Alimony
- Equitable distribution
These are different from the legal grounds used to obtain a divorce, such as irreconcilable differences or adultery. These laws determine what may happen after the divorce begins.
1. Child Custody
New Jersey law makes the physical and emotional welfare of children the court’s highest priority. The law encourages children to maintain frequent and continuing contact with both parents when doing so is safe and in their best interests. It also provides that mothers and fathers have equal custody rights.
Custody has two parts:
- Legal custody determines who makes major decisions involving the child’s health, education and general welfare.
- Physical custody determines where the child lives and how parenting time is divided.
A court may order joint custody, sole custody with appropriate parenting time for the other parent, or another arrangement serving the child’s best interests.
Judges consider factors including:
- The parents’ ability to communicate and cooperate
- Each parent’s relationship with the child
- The child’s needs and safety
- The stability of each home
- Any history of domestic violence
- Each parent’s prior involvement
- The distance between the parents’ homes
- Employment responsibilities
- The child’s education
- The child’s preference when sufficiently mature
New Jersey does not currently require judges to award 50/50 parenting time. Equal parenting time may be appropriate in some families, but there is no automatic schedule. The result must be based on the individual child’s best interests.
2. Child Support
Unlike alimony, New Jersey does have formal Child Support Guidelines. The guidelines use financial and parenting information to estimate how much each parent should contribute toward the child’s needs.
The calculation may consider:
- Each parent’s income
- The number and ages of the children
- The parenting-time schedule
- Healthcare expenses
- Work-related childcare
- Certain taxes and deductions
- Support obligations involving other families
The parent with more parenting time does not necessarily pay all the child’s expenses. Both parents remain responsible for supporting their children.
The guideline calculation is an important starting point, but it may not resolve every expense. Parents may also need to address activities, unreimbursed medical expenses, college costs and other needs. A judge may approve a different amount when the guidelines would be inappropriate, but the reason for the deviation must be explained.
3. Alimony
New Jersey does not have an official alimony calculator. A judge must evaluate the circumstances of the marriage using the factors contained in the alimony statute.
Those factors include:
- The actual need and ability to pay
- The length of the marriage
- The marital standard of living
- Each spouse’s income and earning capacity
- Age and health
- Parental responsibilities
- Contributions made during the marriage
- The time needed to obtain education or employment
- Property received in the divorce
- Investment income and other financial resources
- Tax consequences
New Jersey recognizes four types of alimony:
- Open durational alimony
- Limited duration alimony
- Rehabilitative alimony
- Reimbursement alimony
For marriages lasting less than 20 years, alimony generally cannot continue longer than the marriage unless exceptional circumstances exist.
That does not mean alimony will automatically last as long as the marriage. The amount and duration depend on the facts. Informal calculations may be used during negotiations, but they are not New Jersey law.
4. Equitable Distribution
New Jersey divides marital property through a process called equitable distribution.
“Equitable” means fair. It does not necessarily mean that every asset and debt must be divided exactly 50/50.
The court generally follows three steps:
- Determine whether an asset or debt is marital
- Establish its value
- Decide how it should be distributed fairly
Marital property may include:
- The family home
- Bank and investment accounts
- Retirement accounts
- Businesses or professional practices
- Vehicles and personal property
- Stock options or deferred compensation
- Debts accumulated during the marriage
Property does not automatically belong only to the spouse whose name appears on the account, title or deed.
Assets owned before the marriage and certain gifts or inheritances may be excluded from distribution. However, tracing, commingling and increases in value can make the analysis more complicated.
Judges consider factors such as the length of the marriage, each spouse’s economic circumstances, contributions to the marriage, income and earning capacity, tax consequences and the need of a parent to occupy the marital home.
These Four Areas Affect One Another
Custody, support, alimony and property division should not be negotiated in isolation.
A parenting schedule may affect child support. Keeping the marital home may affect the amount of cash available to divide. Receiving substantial assets may affect each spouse’s financial position during an alimony negotiation. A settlement that appears favorable in one area may create a problem somewhere else.
That is why you need to understand the complete financial and parenting picture before accepting a deal.
The Bottom Line
You do not need to memorize every New Jersey divorce statute. But you should understand the basic rules governing:
- Your children
- Child support
- Spousal support
- Your property and debts
After 38 years of practicing New Jersey divorce law, I can tell you that informed clients are usually better prepared to recognize a reasonable agreement and avoid expensive mistakes.
My free Divorce Smarter Course explains these issues and the rest of the New Jersey divorce process in plain English.
Steve