The Importance of “Stay Put” Provisions If you have a child in a special education program in a public school system, the “stay put” provision is among your family's key rights. These rights apply in the event you choose to dispute a change a school or school board wants to make to your child's ...

On February 22, 2021, New Jersey became the 14th state to decriminalize marijuana for recreational use. Though this new law alleviated concerns about the consequences of marijuana use on a criminal level, parents were left questioning how the law might affect their custody arrangements if they de...

Recently, the New Jersey legislature passed a bill allowing judges (both current and former) to request emergency protective orders when they are being threatened. The bill passed unanimously in both the Senate and the House. According to the New Jersey Globe, the emergency protective order would...

If you share custody with your ex, you may be wondering how your custody arrangement will be affected by the Child Tax Credit, a credit included as part of the federal government's American Rescue Plan of 2021. The credit is a tax benefit that lowers taxpayers' liability. It increased the annual ...

After a divorce, parents often disagree on some of the big issues facing their children as they grow. Some of the biggest disputes can happen over medical decisions, including whether to vaccinate. Now, with COVID vaccines approved for children 12 and over, parents all over New Jersey are facing ...

For those of you who are not regular readers of Page Six, you may not be aware that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have just been back in court. Again. Although they are believed to have combined assets of $500 million, the biggest issue throughout their dispute—they were divorced in 2019—is the ...

Child support — money paid from one parent to the other for the purpose of providing financially for a child — is one of the most hotly contested topics connected with divorce and co-parenting. While the calculation of the amount of child support rests upon a formula and objective factors, issues...

If you're co-parenting in New Jersey and don't have primary physical custody, you're undoubtedly paying child support. While most parents are happy to ensure their kids have the support they need, you're probably also wondering when does support end? What happens if your child is over 18 but in c...

Most Americans are breathing a sigh of relief as the availability of adult coronavirus vaccines becomes more and more widespread. However, the question of whether children should receive the COVID-19 vaccines is a stickier issue. Trends against childhood vaccinations are on the rise, and parents ...

NJ family courts take restraining orders and accusations of domestic violence very seriously when it comes to custody matters. However, a restraining order doesn't have to be a death knell in your parent-child relationship. There are still ways to parent well during this time as long as you are m...

Families have been formed by adoption for centuries. Still, we are just starting to understand the psychological effects that the process has on all parties — including birth mothers.  Pop culture often portrays birth mothers as women with unfortunate circumstances who made decisions of their ow...

Caseworkers assigned by child protection agencies undergo background checks to detect former abuse cases. While the majority genuinely desire to help families and remove minors from harmful situations, others take advantage of their position to access and abuse vulnerable children. That's the st...

The COVID-19 pandemic has been hard on everyone. With the world shutting down, closing schools, job losses, and layoffs, the pandemic has hit almost every family in New Jersey financially, even if no one in the home has gotten the virus. We've had more than 682,000 cases as of mid-February 2021 a...

After a separation or divorce, it's not uncommon – or unexpected, even - to experience strain in your relationships with family and friends. You may not have expected that this strain would spread to relationships other than the central one that you have, recently, systematically severed. This ...

Losing custody of your child is devastating, no matter the reason. However, losing custody of your child during a questionable traffic stop in another state adds insult to injury. Unfortunately, that's what happened to a couple from Manchester, New Jersey, in early December. Raymond Cheley Sykes...

The holiday season can be a real struggle for families, both in New Jersey and all across the country. In any normal year, the weighty expectations of a Hallmark holiday coupled with financial pressures, alcohol consumption, and break from routine can create a pressure cooker. Arguments and famil...

The holidays can be difficult for families at the best of times. With the time confined at home, the financial strain, and all the pressures of the festive season, more family law issues crop up than any other time of year. This year not only has the coronavirus pandemic created fresh problems in...

In October, a high-profile custody dispute between TV personality Michael Strahan and his ex-wife, Jean Muggli, was settled, prompting Strahan to dismiss the allegations he had made against her regarding their twin teenage daughters. Strahan had previously accused Muggli of “a pattern of abusive...

As 2020 draws to a close, COVID-19 numbers are beginning to increase again, and schools are changing their reopening plans. In NJ, as is the case in many states, local school districts are making different decisions based on the percent of positive COVID-19 cases in their area. The unpredictable ...

The coronavirus has had America on its toes for nearly nine full months now, and family law is riding on waves of its repercussions. As individuals contract the novel virus and pass away from its complications, many families are left wondering what who takes over as head of the household? Who beg...

Public figures like celebrities and politicians are all-too-familiar with the stressors of being in the spotlight. Whether it's celebrating achievements or sharing heartbreaking news, the trade-off for the luxuries of fame is managing people's expectations – and often, their harsh opinions. Yet n...

What does the COVID-19 pandemic look like for thousands of unhappy couples in the US? According to legal specialists, the 31% spike in divorce cases is merely the tip of the iceberg. As COVID-19 continues to disrupt the legal landscape, congested family courts now have longer processes, canceled...

The COVID crisis has limited court proceedings for months,while also precipitating a need to modify parental agreements due to new health concerns. The courts in New Jersey are facing unprecedented backlogs, and Family Courts have been hit particularly hard.Co-parents with shared custody issues r...

Learning how to co-parent successfully during a pandemic is unquestionably challenging. A new Washington Post profile of different East Coast families who share co-parenting duties reports that most of them agree that the two biggest challenges in custody arrangements are: facing uncertainty when...

Many different factors may play into the unraveling of a marriage, not the least of which is the physical health of one or more of the partners. We don't generally like to think of illness or injury as being a deciding factor in divorce; after all, the marriage vows include the phrase, “In sickne...