State officials in Kansas recently held that a sperm donor is required to pay child support for his biological child, despite the fact that he waived his parental rights. William Marotta found a Craigslist advertisement from a lesbian couple seeking a sperm donation. Marotta responded to the advertisement and made the donation. The insemination was […]

During a divorce one of the items to consider when negotiating an all-inclusive settlement is which parent will claim the child or children as a tax exemption. The general rule to claim a dependency exemption is that the parent must provide more than half of the child’s support for that year and the child must […]

In the seminal case of MacKinnon v. MacKinnon, the Supreme Court of New Jersey unanimously held that the legal standard for relocation established in case law by the 12-factor Baures test should also be utilized to adjudicate applications for international removal.  The Court held that both the interstate and international removal contexts involve the “same […]

Are you concerned that your spouse may be having an affair? Do you want to find out your spouse’s location when he or she is not with you? While you may have the foregoing concerns, you should definitely think twice before using a GPS system or tracking device to ascertain your spouse’s whereabouts. While the […]

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie conditionally vetoed Lisa’s Law, a measure passed by the state legislature that would require electronic monitoring of some people placed under restraining orders or jailed in domestic abuse cases. The delay was aimed at making sure the technology existed to fully implement the new domestic violence rules, as well as […]

Parents should be cautioned that leaving a child unattended for even short periods of time could be deemed abuse and/or neglect by the Department of Children and Families, Division of Child Protection and Permanency (also known as DCPP, and formerly known as DYFS). In a recent Appellate Division decision, the Court held that a 19 […]

New Jersey couples who are considering divorce may be interested to hear the recommendations of a debt advisor from a recent online advice column. A reader of the advice column was recently interested to learn about the current rules regarding home debt liens after divorce. The scenario described a situation in which a lien had […]

Raising children is very expensive. It is well settled that non-custodial parents have an obligation to support their minor children until their emancipation though the payment of child support. However, what responsibility, if any, does a parent have towards their children’s college education? In the absence of a prior agreement between the parenting New Jersey […]

When finalizing a divorce, it is imperative that the parties address the issue of contributions towards their children’s college expenses. The standard approach is to structure the parties’ Property Settlement Agreement to divide each party’s contribution in proportion to their respective income at the time the child enters college. This approach was established by the […]

In the reported matter of R.K. and A.K. v. D.L., Jr., A-2338-12T1, the subject matter concerned an appeal by the maternal grandparents relating to a request for visitation with the child (Olga) born of their recently deceased daughter. The parents were separated by divorce. The grandparents in that matter, while having an extensive relationship with […]