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...

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, New Jersey has one of the lowest rates of divorce in the country. People in New Jersey tend to marry later and have higher education rates—both factors that lead to more successful marriages. About 9-10% of adults in New Jersey are divorced, making divorce rea...

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused countless disruptions in the daily lives of many people, but for parents who share custody of their children, there may also be additional issues. In some instances, parents have refused to send their children to the other parent, citing concerns over coronavirus ...

Life during a pandemic is anxiety-inducing for everyone. For parents trying to balance work, school closures, and social distancing, life is stressful. But parents navigating custody agreements and visitations during quarantine may face what seems like an impossible task. It's the rare custody ag...

Recent stay-at-home and social distancing orders, intended to keep people safe, are causing new challenges for a growing number of families in recovery. Reports coming in from agencies across the country show that many parents are being denied supervised visits with their children in foster care ...

So many aspects of our lives have been pushed into uncharted territory during the pandemic, from how we interact with loved ones, to how we shop, work, and perform other commonplace actions. The COVID-19 crisis has seemed to upend the all usual workings. Courtrooms, including those in New Jersey,...

With the economy in shatters because of the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, many New Jersey families are having to adjust their routines, schedules, and priorities. Some divorced couples may even be dealing with the fact that one or both parents have lost their job or have had to accept a tra...

Here in New Jersey, the courts take child support very seriously. When parents of a child are no longer together as a couple, either because they have divorced or because they were never married and are no longer in a relationship together, both parents have a financial responsibility to provide ...

If you have been able to hang on to your employment during the COVID-19 pandemic while also trying to care for your children as part of your custody agreement, you have probably been struggling to find child care or alternative measures for watching the children while you try to do your job. Ther...

Coronavirus has led to 38 states to put stay-at-home mandates in place, which means restaurants, bars, fitness centers, theaters, and many more businesses have had to close their doors. Employers are having to cut or furlough staff during this pandemic. And the economic prognosis is bleak: for t...