April 15, 2020
Alexandra Rigden, Esq.
According to Bloomberg.com and a variety of other sources, divorce rates in China spiked after the COVID-19 quarantine. And in New Jersey, quarantine will no doubt be a death knell for some marriages which were already on the rocks even before we began to “shelter in place” and “social distance”. Some couples may have even learned, through this seemingly never-ending process, that life is too short to ever have to quarantine together again! But, with so many businesses and institutions affected, can you even get a divorce now? The answer is yes, although the process is a little different and it may take a bit longer.
According to NJCourts.gov, until further notice, there are no in-person Superior Court proceedings. That includes divorce trials. The only in-person proceedings are for “extremely limited emergent matters” and certain ongoing trials. The Court is handling many proceedings, which would otherwise have almost always been done in person, via telephone or video conference, including Motions. It remains to be seen how Judges will handle trials, which are difficult, if not impossible, to conduct via telephone or video.
Discovery deadlines have also been extended and relaxed, and some mandatory proceedings, such as Matrimonial Early Settlement Panels, have been postponed to undetermined dates.
The good news is that if parties have settled their divorce case without a Judge needing to decide any issues, the Court can do a telephonic “uncontested hearing” to grant the divorce. But for contested trial issues, parties may be waiting a while for a resolution.
If a divorce complaint is filed in the midst of the pandemic, the process will hopefully proceed in a more normal fashion. If a divorce complaint were filed now, the trial date (if parties could not settle their issues) would not be for many months, and hopefully by then, the Courts will be open for regular business.
Click through the video below to listen to what Alexandra Rigden and Cynthia Grob have to say about family law issues in these Covid-19 times.