Fee shifting is permitted when a statute or contractual provision provides for the loser of a lawsuit to pay the winner’s legal costs. Generally in the United States, we follow the “American Rule” where each party in a lawsuit pays for their own legal costs. There are some public policy issues where the legislature wants
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NJ Supreme Court Clarifies Cohabitation and Alimony Termination
I’ve written before about NJ law around cohabitation and ending alimony. Basically, if a recipient of alimony enters into a relationship that looks like marriage but isn’t formalized into a marriage — cohabitation — alimony can be terminated. The court laid out factors it would look at in a case called Konzelman v. Konzelman,…
ChatGPT is Not Your Lawyer
ChatGPT is all the rage these days. Ask it a question and it gives you an answer. But use it at your own risk, as some New York attorneys recently discovered.
If you are unfamiliar, ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence that is largely free to use. It is still a work in progress. Many people…
Are Divorces in Arranged Marriages Different?
Most marriages in the U.S. are “for love.” meaning that the couple has chosen each other to marry. Presumably, they met, dated, fell in love, and then decided to marry. In contrast, many cultures have arranged marriages where the parents of the children think their kids would be compatible as spouses. Sometimes the children have…
What is a Get in a Jewish Divorce?
Gotta get a get? What exactly is a get? In a divorce involving a Jewish couple, a get is the document that grants the Jewish part of the divorce. Marriages can be both civil and religious even though we tend to conflate them by having a religious official perform the ceremony. A civil marriage means…
Divorce, Houses and Higher Interest Rates
The Federal Reserve has been raising interest rates recently to counter the higher inflation the economy has seen over the past few years. How does this impact divorcing couples? The impact that most comes to mind is refinancing the marital home.
One of the options couples have when divorcing is to “sell” the marital home…
Get Your Mediated Agreement in Writing and Signed! (Or it didn’t happen)
In 2013, the NJ Supreme Court ruled in Willingboro Mall, LTD. v. 240/242 Franklin Avenue, L.L.C. that in order for an agreement coming out of mediation to be enforceable by the courts, it must be in writing and signed by all parties. I wrote extensively about that case.
Fast forward ten years and…
No Court Appearance for NJ Divorces*
*in some cases and now statewide
The New Jersey Courts issued Directive 18-20 and updated in July 2021 and further updated in December 2022. While some counties or judges had been granting divorces without a personal appearance by the parties or their lawyers — also known as a hearing on the papers — it…
What is Summary Judgment?
Perhaps you’ve heard the term summary judgment and always wondered about it. If so, read on.
What is Summary Judgment?
Generally speaking, trials in civil cases are about determining facts. The finder of fact, whether it is a jury or a judge (in bench trials), picks whose story they believe more. The judge’s job is…
Pets are Still Property: NJ Supreme Court
I’ve written extensively about how the law looks as pets — basically as property. The NJ Supreme Court had another opportunity to revisit this concept. The outcome: pets are still property.
The case is Samolyk v. Berthe III. Defendant’s dog fell into a body of water and the owner yelled for help to rescue…