Bergen County Divorce Lawyer
Representing Clients Throughout New Jersey
Have you come to the conclusion that your marriage is broken beyond repair? If so, it may be a good time to consult with a divorce attorney. The Erlina Perez Law Firm is committed to helping individuals and families in Hackensack and throughout Bergen County navigate the painful process of divorce.
We understand how difficult it can be to reveal intimate details about your personal life, so you can expect us to treat your case with the utmost respect and sensitivity. Firm Founder and Senior Divorce Attorney Erlina Perez believes in a compassionate and supportive approach to family law matters. She will listen carefully to your goals and concerns and work with you to develop solutions that fit your immediate and long-term needs.
Ms. Perez recognizes that divorce is an emotionally charged event, especially when children are involved, but she strives to help her clients reach an amicable and reasonable settlement as quickly as possible. Her breadth of knowledge and experience has prepared her to handle all aspects of divorce. Additionally, her familiarity with the local courts in Hackensack and throughout Bergen County allows her to help you navigate the system with ease.
For a consultation to learn more about your divorce legal options, call our office located in Hackensack at (201) 880-7070.
As a resident of Bergen County, your divorce case will be filed and heard in the Family Division of the Superior Court at the Bergen County Courthouse:
Family Division Main Office
10 Main Street, Room 163
Hackensack, NJ 07601
Financial Matters in a Divorce:
The end of a marriage also means the end of a financial partnership. Divorce attorney Erlina Pérez will make sure to protect her financial interests and advocate on her behalf for a property settlement agreement that is fair and reasonable.
Division of assets and debts:
Property division laws in New Jersey are based on an equitable distribution model, meaning if you and your spouse cannot agree on how to divide your property, then the court will step in and it will be divided equally.
Spousal support or alimony:
New Jersey courts may award a financially dependent spouse a certain type of alimony based on their financial needs and earning capacity.
Problems Related to Children in a Divorce:
If you have children, they are undoubtedly your first and foremost priority in a divorce. There is no doubt that you want to protect them from any additional or unnecessary trauma during this transition period. The most critical issues that will need to be addressed in a divorce involving children are custody, parenting time, and child support.
Child custody and visits:
Reaching consensus with your husband on dividing time with your children may not be easy but there are alternative dispute resolution measures such as mediation that can help you and your spouse find common ground. Ms. Perez will do everything possible to ensure that her parental rights remain intact and that you remain fully present in the lives of her children.
Child support:
All parents in New Jersey are required to contribute financially to support their children. The amount of child support provided is based on a formula known as the New Jersey Child Support guidelines. Ms. Perez can help you negotiate an amount of child support that is financially reasonable and in the best interest of your children.
Contested vs. Uncontested Divorce:
Depending on the nature of your relationship with your soon-to-be-ex-spouse, your divorce will be uncontested or contested. If you both agree on how to resolve all the key issues in your divorce, you can proceed with an uncontested divorce. In an uncontested divorce, Mrs. Smith can incorporate all of her decisions into a binding marital settlement agreement.
An uncontested divorce in New Jersey takes approximately 3-6 months to be finalized.
Benefits of uncontested divorce:
Saves you time and money
Avoid judgment and judge interference
You maintain control over the process
Stress reduction for you and the children.
Divorce I answer:
Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, compromise cannot be achieved. If your spouse is not willing to meet you halfway, he will be headed for a contested divorce. This means that a judge will be involved in making important decisions about your future and the future of your children. Ms. Perez would not hesitate to litigate her case in the Bergen County family court system and fight to ensure that you and your children are protected for the future.
Bergen County Divorce Residency Requirement:
Bergen County is one of the busiest counties in the state of New Jersey for divorce. In fact, 7,000 cases are on the divorce docket each year.
In order for a New Jersey court to hear your divorce case, they must have jurisdiction or legal authority to do so. To establish jurisdiction, the following residency requirement must be met
You or your spouse must have lived in New Jersey for at least one year before filing
The only exception to the one-year residency requirement is when the grounds for divorce are adultery.
Starting the Divorce Process: Document Checklist
Gathering key documents is a good first step in preparing for divorce. The following is a description of some of the necessary documents you will need
Personal: social security cards, your driver’s license, and/or birth certificates for your children
Finances: Recent check stubs for you and your spouse, state and federal tax returns, bank statements, credit card statements, loan documents
Mortgage titles, appraisals/appraisals, utility bills, rental agreements, vacation homes, investments and commercial properties
Insurance Policies: Life Insurance, Health Insurance, Homeowner’s Insurance, and Auto Insurance.
File divorce documents:
Divorce involves a ton of complex paperwork. One of the values of having a divorce attorney is that you never have to worry about filling out a form incorrectly or missing a deadline.
Every divorce filing in New Jersey must contain the following essential documents:
Divorce Complaint – Lists the grounds for divorce usually based on one of four common reasons: Extreme cruelty, irreconcilable differences, eighteen (18) month separation, or adultery.
Confidential Litigant Information Sheet: Lists specific personal information such as date and place of birth, social security number, driver’s license number, auto license plate number, mother’s maiden name, children’s social security numbers and medical information
Certificate of Insurance Coverage – Includes health and medical benefits coverage, life insurance, homeowner or renter policy, automobile, disability, and any other active insurance policies
Certification of Supplemental Dispute Resolution (CDR) – certifies to the court that you are aware that options exist.
Divorce Complaint in Bergen County:
To formally begin the divorce process, Ms. Perez will file a complaint on your behalf at the Bergen County Courthouse, located in Hackensack, New Jersey. The fee to file the application is $300 plus an extra $25 if she has children. Once she files the complaint, the court assigns her a docket number.
Within the complaint will be the reasons why you decide to dissolve your marriage. Since New Jersey is a no-fault state, the most common reasons for divorce are irreconcilable differences. To file a claim based on these grounds, the marriage must have been broken up for a period of six months.
Although rarely used, there are guilt reasons to choose from, including:
Adultery
Extreme cruelty
Desertion
Substance abuse
Prison
Institutionalization
Deviant sexual behavior
Your complaint should also include details about what you are asking for in the divorce regarding alimony, property division, custody of your children, child support, etc. Ms. Perez will ensure that her wishes are explicitly articulated and documented.
After the petition is filed with the court, it must be served on your spouse. This is called service of process and means that your spouse must receive and sign a copy of the divorce petition. Your spouse has 35 days to file a response with the court, which may include their own counterclaim stating why they want a divorce from you and what issues they want the court to resolve in their favor in the divorce case.
If your spouse does not respond to the initial complaint, you can file a default with the court and proceed without your spouse to obtain a Divorce Decree. If he/she responds, you can file an answer to the counterclaim. If you have children, the court will send you information about a parenting program workshop.
Case Management Conference:
Within 20 days of filing an answer, the court will schedule a Case Management Conference (CMC). This conference is intended to provide the court with a list of all the things that
Court establishes a track for your case:
Expedited: uncontested cases
Priority: custody or parenting time cases
Complex: cases that are likely to require a large amount of judicial resources in preparation for trial
Standard: cases that are not expedited, priority or complex
If you have children and you and your spouse have not reached a custody agreement or a parenting time or visitation schedule, the court will order you to meet with a mediator to resolve these issues.
The court will set the deadline for discovery, which is when you and your spouse will reveal and exchange key financial documents
The court will ask if you and your spouse plan to retain experts for settlement or trial purposes (accountants, property appraisers, mental health specialists to conduct psychological or custody evaluations, etc.)
Request for temporary orders:
If there are certain issues that you need to resolve before your divorce is finalized, Ms. Perez can file a temporary or pendente lite (“pending litigation”) order to obtain compensation from the court. These orders can maintain the status quo or create some stability while your case is pending.
Temporary orders are often granted for:
Child support.
Spouse support.
Temporary custody of the child.
Establish a parenting schedule.
Temporary award of exclusive possession of the marital residence.
Ordering payment of certain bills such as mortgage, utilities, car insurance, marital liabilities, school and private tuition.
Order payment of health insurance.
Allocation of certain vehicles.
Restraining or protective order
Temporary orders end when the final divorce is granted. However, if the current arrangements have worked well, you can incorporate them into the Final Divorce Judgment or Marital Settlement Agreement and they will become permanent.
Discovery:
Discovery is the information-gathering phase of a divorce in which you and your spouse will exchange key financial documents. This exchange of information helps identify income, assets and debts so there are no surprises in the future.
Discovery may also include:
Interrogatories – questions you send to your spouse
Document request
Depositions – sworn testimony of parties and witnesses
Property Appraisals
Custody evaluations
Expert retention
Case Information Statement
The court requires divorced couples to file a case information statement (CIS), which is a comprehensive 10-page document that sets out the financial details in a divorce case. The CIS is arguably the most important document in a divorce and should be filled out as completely and accurately as possible. The information provided is used to draft a property settlement agreement as well as alimony and child support
The document includes information such as:
Income of both you and your spouse
Health insurance coverage, life insurance coverage
A budget for your living expenses
Breakdown of the amounts you are paying to support your spouse or children (if you are contributing to their support)
A summary of your assets and a listing of your debts
Anticipated Solutions Panel:
At the conclusion of discovery, which is usually 5-6 months after you file the complaint, the court will schedule you for an early resolution panel in court. This is to assist you in the settlement process. Before the panel, you and your spouse will submit proposals to each other and to a panel of volunteer family attorneys specifying how you would like to resolve key issues.
On the day of the settlement panel, the panelists will offer their recommendation on how they think your divorce should be resolved. Their feedback also helps give you an idea of how a judge would rule if you went to trial. You are not obligated to take their advice or implement their suggestions. If, however, you and your spouse find the panel useful and can work, you can obtain a divorce that same day.
Failure to reach an agreement at the ESP panel means that you will have to attend court ordered economic mediation.
Economic Mediation:
Financial mediation offers another opportunity to resolve your case without going to trial. You and your spouse will submit proposals again, this time to a neutral mediator in the hopes of reaching a compromise on the disputed issues. If you cannot find common ground, you will have one more opportunity to resolve your case at an All-Day Intensive Settlement Conference at the Courthouse. If this also fails, the court will schedule a date to begin the trial.
The good news is that most cases end up settling before trial.
At trial, a family judge will review the evidence, hear testimony from you, your spouse and other witnesses, and make decisions on all key issues.
What are the different types of custody in New Jersey?
If you and your spouse can negotiate a child custody agreement in good faith, then the court will not interfere. However, if you cannot reach an agreement, the court will intervene and set orders.
The Bergen County Family Court makes child custody determinations based on what is in the best interest of the child(ren). The court’s general view is that the child(ren) in a divorce should maintain frequent and meaningful contact with both parents and that each parent should share the rights and responsibilities of raising the child(ren).
In New Jersey, custody is divided into two parts: legal and physical custody
Legal custody refers to who will make important decisions regarding the child(ren)’s education, health care, religion, and general well-being. Unless one parent is unhealthy or mentally unstable, the court will typically award joint legal custody.
As for physical custody, this dictates where your child(ren) will live. Physical custody arrangements vary widely. If your child ends up spending the most time with you during a given week, you will be designated as the primary residence parent and your spouse will be the alternate residence parent and receive visitation or parenting time. This type of arrangement is generally known as joint physical custody. You and your spouse will need to work together to develop the following schedules
Residential schedule
Holiday calendar
Holiday program
Sole physical and legal custody may be awarded to one parent if the other parent is deemed inappropriate or is considered a danger to them.
Factors the Court considers when deciding custody:
Determining appropriate custody requires consideration of several factors including but not limited to:
The willingness of you and your spouse to communicate and cooperate with each other in matters related to your children.
Bonds and relationships between children and parents and/or siblings
Whether or not there is a history of domestic violence
Employment hours
Safety, security and stability of the home environment
Distance between your residence and your spouse’s residence
If you are considering a divorce, call divorce attorney Erlina Perez today at (201) 880-7070 to learn your legal options.
