What are the requirements to become divorced in New Jersey?
Full Question:
Answer:
It is possible for a couple to get a no-fault divorce in NJ without being separated. The answer will depend on what grounds were stated in the divorce complaint as the basis for the divorce. I suggest contacting a local attorney who can review all the facts and documents involved.
New Jersey law allows for no fault divorces based upon the parties having lived separate and apart without cohabitation for an uninterrupted period of eighteen (18) months or irreconcilable differences which have caused the breakdown of the marriage for a period of six months and which make it appear that the marriage should be dissolved and that there is no reasonable prospect of reconciliation. There are other grounds for divorce which may apply to a fault divorce.
Please see the following NJ statute to determine appliability:
2A:34-2. Causes for divorce from bond of matrimony
Divorce from the bond of matrimony may be adjudged for
the following causes heretofore or hereafter arising:
a. Adultery;
b. Willful and continued desertion for the term of 12 or more
months, which may be established by satisfactory proof that the
parties have ceased to cohabit as man and wife;
c. Extreme cruelty, which is defined as including any physical or
mental cruelty which endangers the safety or health of the
plaintiff or makes it improper or unreasonable to expect the
plaintiff to continue to cohabit with the defendant; provided that
no complaint for divorce shall be filed until after 3 months from
the date of the last act of cruelty complained of in the
complaint, but this provision shall not be held to apply to any
counterclaim;
d. Separation, provided that the husband and wife have lived
separate and apart in different habitations for a period of at
least 18 or more consecutive months and there is no reasonable
prospect of reconciliation; provided, further that after the
18-month period there shall be a presumption that there is no
reasonable prospect of reconciliation;
e. Voluntarily induced addiction or habituation to any narcotic
drug as defined in the New Jersey Controlled Dangerous Substances
Act, P.L. 1970, c. 226 or habitual drunkenness for a period of 12
or more consecutive months subsequent to marriage and next
preceding the filing of the complaint;
f. Institutionalization for mental illness for a period of 24 or
more consecutive months subsequent to marriage and next preceding
the filing of the complaint;
g. Imprisonment of the defendant for 18 or more consecutive
months after marriage, provided that where the action is not
commenced until after the defendant's release, the parties have
not resumed cohabitation following such imprisonment;
h. Deviant sexual conduct voluntarily performed by the defendant
without the consent of the plaintiff;
i. Irreconcilable differences which have caused the breakdown of
the marriage for a period of six months and which make it appear
that the marriage should be dissolved and that there is no
reasonable prospect of reconciliation.