Child support is usually determined through a formal court order. Child support orders, wage withholding, and other Court Orders usually continue forever until a Superior Court Judge signs a Formal Court Order modifying the prior Order. For example, in child support issues, even if a divorce decree states support ends when the child ends full time school, child support does not automatically end. A new Motion must be filed in the Superior Court. It is not sufficient for you to simply wait for a child to finish school. Motions are required to terminate alimony or change any prior court order or divorce decree. Many Divorce decrees and Property Settlement Agreements state that child support will end upon emancipation. For example, the term "emancipation" is sometimes defined as follows: (i) The completion of the child's formal education on a matriculated basis, whether it be graduation from a four year undergraduate school or high school, it being understood that so long as the child is diligently pursuing his formal education through a four year undergraduate college education and obtaining passing grades the child shall not be considered emancipated. (ii) Upon the completion of any of the aforesaid segments of the child's education, and upon the failure to commence the next segment of his education, or upon leaving school, the child shall be deemed emancipated unless failure to continue on with his education has resulted from injury or illness or some other cause beyond the child's control. (iii) The marriage of the child. (iv) Entry into the military or armed forces by the child.
Your attorney can draft the appropriate Motion to terminate child support if the child is emancipated. You will need to provide your attorney with relevant papers including a copy of the Final Judgment for Divorce, any other Child Support Orders, copy of birth certificate if available, proof of graduation from school or working full time, etc. Sometimes the child support recipient, usually the mother, will sign a Consent Order which your attorney can file without the need for a detailed hearing. However, generally a Formal written Notice of Motion must be filed in the County Superior Court where the child support Order was entered. The requirements of the Motion are detailed and must include the correct filing fees. Child support does not end merely if the child reaches 18 and graduates high school. Most child support Orders continue child support if the child is in college full time. However, don't give up. In the unreported Appellate Division decision of Kozak v Kozak __ NJ Super. __ (App. Div. decided January 9, 2003) the court reduced child support during the period of time the child resided at the college campus. The judge determined it was appropriate to calculate child support only for the period of time the child was not residing at college.
The following is a portion of the NJ Court Rules which apply to all family motions.
5:5-4. Motions in Family Actions
(a) Motions. Motions in family actions shall be governed by R. 1:6-2(b) except that, in exercising its discretion as to the mode and scheduling of disposition of motions, the court shall ordinarily grant requests for oral argument on substantive and non-routine discovery motions and ordinarily deny requests for oral argument on calendar and routine discovery motions. When a motion is brought for enforcement or modification of a prior order or judgment, a copy of the order or judgment sought to be enforced or modified shall be appended to the pleading filed in support of the motion. When a motion is brought for the modification of an order or judgment for alimony or child support, the pleading filed in support of the motion shall have appended to it a copy of the prior Case Information Statement or Statements filed before entry of the order or judgment sought to be modified and a copy of a current Case Information Statement.
(b) Page Limits. Unless the court otherwise permits for good cause shown and except for the certification required by R. 4:42-9(b) (affidavit of service), a certification in support of a motion shall not exceed fifteen pages. A certification in opposition to a motion or in support of a cross-motion or both shall not exceed twenty-five pages. A reply certification to opposing pleadings shall not exceed ten pages.
(c) Time for Service and Filing. A notice of motion, except for motions brought pursuant to R. 1:10-3 and motions involving the status of a child, filed more than 45 days after the entry of the written judgment of divorce or annulment, other than an ex parte motion, shall be served and filed, together with supporting affidavits and briefs, when necessary, not later than 29 days before the time specified for the return date. For example, a motion must be served and filed on the Thursday for a motion date falling on a Friday 29 days later. Any opposing affidavits, cross-motions or objections shall be served and filed not later than 15 days before the return date. For example, a response must be served and filed on a Thursday for a motion date falling on a Friday 15 days later. Answers or responses to any opposing affidavits and cross-motions shall be served and filed not later than 8 days before the return date. For example, such papers would have to be served and filed on a Thursday for a motion date falling on the Friday of the following week. If service is made by mail, 3 days shall be added to the above time periods.
(d) Advance Notice. Every motion shall include the following language: NOTICE TO LITIGANTS: IF YOU WANT TO RESPOND TO THIS MOTION YOU MUST DO SO IN WRITING. This written response shall be by affidavit or certification. (Affidavits and certifications are documents filed with the court. In either document the person signing it swears to its truth and acknowledges that they are aware that they can be punished for not filing a true statement with the court. Affidavits are notarized and certifications are not.) If you would also like to submit your own separate requests in a motion to the judge you can do so by filing a cross-motion. Your response and/or cross-motion may ask for oral argument. That means you can ask to appear before the court to explain your position. However, you must submit a written response even if you request oral argument. Any papers you send to the court must be sent to the opposing side, either to the attorney if the opposing party is represented by one, or to the other party if they represent themselves.
The response and/or cross-motion must be submitted to the court by a certain date. All pre-divorce motions, all enforcement motions (also known as motions for enforcement of litigants' rights, R. 1:10-3), or motions that deal with the status of children must be filed 16 days before the return date. (Since most motion days are on a Friday, motion papers must be filed on the Wednesday 16 days before.) Therefore, a response and/or cross motion must be filed eight days (Thursday) before the return date. All post-judgment motions, including all motions for modification of alimony, child support, custody, or parenting time/visitation must be filed 29 days (Thursday) before the (Friday) return date. Therefore, a response and/or cross-motion must be filed 15 days (Thursday) before the return date. If you mail in your papers you must add three days to the above time periods.
Response to motion papers sent to the court are to be sent to the following address: ______________. Call the Family Division Manager's office (_______) if you have any questions on how to file a motion, cross-motion or any response papers. Please note that the Family Division Manager's office cannot give you legal advice.
(e) Tentative Decisions. In any Family Part motion scheduled for oral argument pursuant to this rule, the motion judge prior to the motion date may tentatively decide the matter on the basis of the motion papers, posting the tentative decision and making it available to the parties. After such tentative decision has been made, unless either party renews the request for oral argument, that request shall be deemed withdrawn and the tentative decision shall become final and shall be set forth in an appropriate order. If, however, either party renews the request for oral argument, the motion shall be argued as scheduled. This tentative motion decision process shall be subject to the general supervision of the Family Presiding Judge of the vicinage.
(f) Orders on Family Part Motions. Absent good cause to the contrary, a written order shall be entered at the conclusion of each motion hearing.
Hire an experienced attorney when you have important legal needs. Typical fees for the Motion range between $1,500- $4,500 depending on work involved and experience level of the attorney.
The following is a portion of the additional information your attorney will need to draft a Motion: 1. Your Full Name:
___________________________________________________ First Last
2 Your Street Address: ________________________________ City ________________ State __ Zip Code ___________ 3. Telephone Number:
Day: ____________________
Cell: ____________________
Night: _________________
4. E-mail address: ______________________________________
5.(a)Referred by: _____________________________________
6. Your Date of Birth: ________________ SS # ____________ Month Day Year
7 Date of Marriage, if any _____________________________
8 Other parent
____________________________________________________ First Last name
9 Street Address _________________________
City ______________ State/Zip ______________
10 Name, Address, & Birthdate of all Child(ren); Person with whom Child(ren) Child's Full Name Address Birthdate Resides with
_________________
___________________
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION:
1. Name and Address of Your Employer (Provide Name and Address of Company if Self- Employed) Name of Employer _______________________________ Address ___________________________
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC PROBLEMS OR CONCERN? ______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________
The above information is a brief outline of work an experienced attorney can do for you. Always schedule an in- office consultation whenever an important legal matter arises.
