The length of time it takes to get a divorce in New Jersey depends upon multiple factors, such as the issues, areas of disagreement, and the reasonableness of the parties and attorneys in your matter. For example, if your case involves child custody issues, there is a higher likelihood that your case will take longer to settle than a case that does not involve child custody issues. If your case involves a business, then a forensic expert or accountant may need to determine the value of the business for equitable distribution purposes, which can prolong the time it takes to reach a resolution. The Best Practices in the State of New Jersey indicates that it should not exceed one year from the date of the filing of a Complaint for Divorce until the issuance of a Final Judgment of Divorce. However, practitioners and judges recognize that this will not always be the case. If you and your spouse have definable issues and you are both able to come to the table and make compromises, the divorce can conclude in a few months. Therefore, although most cases should not take more than one year from start to finish, some matters resolve in only a few months while others can exceed the one year cap if there are complex issues.

We can never precisely quote a final price for a divorce or family law case. Divorce attorneys bill the client based on an hourly rate. Therefore, what the divorce costs ultimately depends on the number of hours the attorney works on your case. There are some factors that can help you determine your final cost. The cost of your case will be primarily determined by you and your spouse. If all parties can communicate in a civil manner, exchange necessary documents without delay, and can negotiate in good faith, it will be easier to reach a reasonable agreement. This will help lower costs to both you and your spouse. The cost of your divorce case can also be proportionate to the number of issues and the degree of complexity of those issues. Our goal is to work with you towards reaching an amicable resolution because we understand that this will be most beneficial to you and your family in the long term.

An uncontested divorce occurs when you and your spouse can work together and agree to the key terms of the divorce. In many cases, the process for an uncontested divorce is shorter than for a contested divorce.

An uncontested divorce means that both spouses agree on all the key terms of the divorce, including:

• Child custody and visitation
• Child support
• Tax deductions and exemptions
• Division of the marital assets and debts
• Alimony, and
• Any other dispute involving your marriage

If you and your spouse are unable to come to an agreement on the key terms of your divorce, your divorce is considered “contested” and may require litigation to terminate the marriage. Even in a contested divorce, it is possible to resolve all issues and reach an agreement without going to trial. These additional options are generally called “Alternative Dispute Resolution” and discussed in a question below.

Although New Jersey does provide for a fault-based divorce, New Jersey does not assess blame for the divorce to either party when making its determinations. Therefore, New Jersey does not punish either party for ending the marriage.

Under N.J.S.A. 2A:34-2, New Jersey permits divorce based on the following legal grounds:

• Adultery,
• Willful and continued desertion
• Extreme cruelty
• Separation
• Voluntarily induced addiction
• Institutionalization for mental illness
• Imprisonment
• Habitual drunkenness
• Deviant sexual conduct, or
• Irreconcilable differences

The New Jersey rules of professional ethics govern the conduct of attorneys. Under the rules of ethics, one lawyer is prohibited from representing multiple parties when those parties are adversaries. In New Jersey, a divorce is an adversary proceeding since the proceedings are set up as one party against the other. An attorney must assure loyalty to the party he or she represents. Therefore, representing both spouses is not permitted under the rules of professional ethics.

Most divorces in NJ are filed as “irreconcilable differences”. Under irreconcilable differences, the requirement is only 6 months of “not wanting to be married anymore”.

Yes, there are options available for getting a divorce or settling other family disputes in ways that are low-conflict, known generally as Alternative Dispute Resolution. Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) is a process of settling disputes outside the courtroom. There are multiple types of ADR available in New Jersey; however, the most common are:

• Negotiations – negotiations allow you and your spouse to remain in control of the process and decide the issues to reach an amicable agreement
• Mediation – the goal of mediation is to resolve conflicts in a peaceful manner with the help of a qualified mediator. A mediator can use skillful negotiation methods to help work through disagreements and reach an amicable resolution. Despite the use of a mediator, the final decisions are decided by the spouses
• Collaborative Divorce – when using collaborative divorce, a collaborative “team” works together to reach a settlement. The collaborative team includes the spouses, their attorneys trained in collaborative law, and other professionals such as financial advisors and/or child custody specialists. Although collaborative attorneys advocate for their client’s best interest like other attorneys, this advocacy is approached with a mind-set of cooperation and compromise
• Arbitration – If spouses choose to enter into arbitration, the spouses will agree upon an arbitrator. Unlike mediation, arbitration limits the control of the spouses and the final decision is made by the arbitrator. Despite having less control during the divorce, arbitration can be a less expensive method of reaching a resolution when the spouses are unable to reach an agreement through negotiation

Asset distribution is the process of dividing the martial assets and debts.

The group of assets treated as marital assets is known as the “marital estate”. It might be easier to consider what is not marital property. There are three exclusions from the marital assets. These assets are not a part of the assets distributed during a divorce. 

• Property owned prior to the marriage or as asset that can be traced to a premarital contributions. There is also a growing number of cases in which property acquired by own party prior to marriage but purchased in contemplation of marriage had been treated as a marital asset
• Inheritances received by one party during the marriage
• Gifts from third parties

New Jersey does not automatically split marital assets and debts 50/50 in a divorce. Instead, New Jersey is an equitable distribution state. This means that marital assets and debts must be divided fairly and equitably. “Equitably” does not always mean equally. New Jersey courts follow a three-step process to divide and to distribute assets.

First, the court will identify which assets are marital and, therefore, subject to distribution. 

Second, the court will value the marital property. This step may be as simple as reviewing some bank statements or a complicated process that requires determining the value of a business or other assets.

Third, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23.1(4), in making an equitable distribution of property, the court will consider multiple factors, including but not limited to:

• The duration of the marriage or civil union
• The age and physical and emotional health of the parties
• The income or property brought to the marriage or civil union by each party
• The standard of living established during the marriage or civil union
• Any written agreement made by the parties before or during the marriage or civil union concerning an arrangement of property distribution
• The economic circumstances of each party at the time the division of property becomes effective
• The income and earning capacity of each party, including educational background, training, employment skills, work experience, length of absence from the job market, custodial responsibilities for children, and the time and expense necessary to acquire sufficient education or training to enable the party to become self-supporting at a standard of living reasonably comparable to that enjoyed during the marriage or civil union
• The contribution by each party to the education, training or earning power of the other
• The contribution of each party to the acquisition, dissipation, preservation, depreciation or appreciation in the amount or value of the marital property, or the property acquired during the civil union as well as the contribution of a party as a homemaker
• The tax consequences of the proposed distribution to each party
• The present value of the property
• The need of a parent who has physical custody of a child to own or occupy the marital residence or residence shared by the partners in a civil union couple and to use or own the household effects;
• The debts and liabilities of the parties
• The need for creation, now or in the future, of a trust fund to secure reasonably foreseeable medical or educational costs for a spouse, partner in a civil union couple or children
• The extent to which a party deferred achieving their career goals, and
• Any other factors which the court may deem relevant

If the student loan debt is incurred prior to the marriage, then the student debt will remain separate property and therefore the responsibility of the spouse who acquired the debt. However, if the school loan debt was incurred during the marriage, then the debt is treated as marital debt.