New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency v. D.H., ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2021). This case comprised two related appeals. Two biological parents saw their parental rights to their five-year old son terminated by the Family Part under Title 30. The parents had admitted to the recreational use of marijuana. They appealed, contending that the Family Part had improperly held that use of marijuana use against them. Speaking through Judge Sabatino, the Appellate Division held that “a parent’s status as a recreational marijuana user cannot suffice as the sole or...

Temple v. Temple, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2021). When plaintiff Jeffrey Temple and defendant Cynthia Temple divorced, they entered into a marital settlement agreement, incorporated into their 2004 dual judgment of divorce, under which Jeffery was to pay Cynthia $5,200 per month in permanent alimony. In July 2020, Jeffrey moved to terminate that alimony obligation, asserting that Cynthia had either remarried or had been cohabiting with a man with whom she had a fourteen-year relationship. By statute, N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23(n) and 25, caselaw, e.g., Gayet v. Gayet, 92 N.J. 149 (1983), and...

Steele v. McDonnell Steele, ___ N.J. Super. ___ (App. Div. 2021). Judge Enright’s decision for the Appellate Division in this case today involved an appeal of the Family Part’s enforcement of a martial agreement (“MA”) between the plaintiff husband and the defendant wife. Judge Enright rightly laid out the facts in great detail. But the bottom line was that though plaintiff contemplated the MA before the parties were married, and even had a draft MA prepared, along with financial information connected to that draft, plaintiff did not ask defendant to enter into an MA...