New Jersey Family Law Blog

One of the biggest problems around the holidays for divorced parents is custody agreements. Even if grandma is flying in for the first time in years or if dad is making his famous holiday chili, if your custody agreement says your little one will be with their other parent on the day of your family get together, then that’s how it will be. Or is it?

Modifying your child custody agreement is possible in New Jersey. Depending on what changes you and the other parent choose to make, it could mean bringing your child to share in the holiday festivities. We will get into the ways custody can be modified, but let’s start by saying that you should not expect an informal agreement between you and your ex to do the job.

If you and your child's mother are married and you are at the hospital when your baby is born, you are automatically recognized as your child's father under New Jersey law. If, however, you and your child's mother are not married and the two of you do not sign a Certificate of Parentage at the time of birth, you will have to take some extra steps to be legally acknowledged as the father of your son or daughter. 

As explained by the New Jersey Department of Human Services, the state has established what it calls the Paternity Opportunity Program to facilitate the legal establishment of parental rights for dads. This may be done by genetic testing but that is not always required. If you and the mother both sign a Certificate of Parentage even once the baby has been taken home, you can be seen as the legal father. However, this form may be disputed within 60 days of being signed.

With back-to-school season in New Jersey preparations in full swing now that the latter half of August has arrived, your children may be bemoaning the loss of sleeping in and lazy days while you may be nervous about other things. If you and your spouse have separated or divorced since the prior school year ended, this year's back-to-school experience is likely to be quite different from past ones. Fortunately, there are some things you can do to prepare yourself and your children's other parent as well.

As explained by The Washington Post, school systems still seem very setup to accommodate the traditional nuclear family first and foremost. That leaves divorced families left trying to fit into something that does not always work for them. If you have been through the back-to-school time before, think about what you know you will need to provide the school and what events will be coming up. Then, make a plan with your former spouse.

If you are one of the many people in New Jersey who owns a business with your spouse and is considering getting a divorce, you will no doubt be concerned about what to do with your business. Some couples are able to successfully continue running a company together even after their marriage has ended. Other couples find this is not possible for them and may therefore opt to sell the business outright to a third party or to allow one of the spouses to buy the other one out and run it alone. 

If you choose one of these latter two options, knowing and agreeing on the value of your business will be essential to you as it may likely play into your overall divorce settlement agreement and how you split any other assets or debts. This is a time when you may benefit from using a forensic accountant. As explained by the Forensic CPA Society, this special type of accountant not only understands how to conduct audits and perform other accounting functions but they also know how to investigate matters and provide data that is up to the level of scrutiny required by a court of law.