In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, shelter-in-place and stay-at-home orders, many businesses have been forced to close their doors and millions of employees are being laid off or furloughed. As people are being let go, with no source of income in sight, the economic security of many Americans hangs in the balance. However, while work may have stopped for many, their child support and alimony obligations have not. For those with support obligations, the general economic strain of this crisis also comes with the added anxiety of not knowing how they will be able to pay child support and/or alimony while they remain unemployed. Those unable to meet their support obligations due to the sudden loss of employment face accumulating support arrears, court proceedings and the possibility of incarceration for non-payment. In the coming months, the New Jersey courts will likely face an unprecedented influx of alimony and child support modification motions for those who are seeking relief based on COVID-19 related unemployment, reduced earnings or the complete closure of their business.
In New Jersey, our courts have the authority to modify alimony and child support obligations upon a showing of a substantial change in circumstances. The party seeking the modification has the burden of proving that the changed circumstances have substantially impaired their ability to support themselves and continue to pay the support obligations at the same level. These “changed circumstances” are generally established by comparing the parties’ financial circumstances at the time the motion for relief is made, with their financial circumstances as they existed when the alimony and/or child support obligations were last order or agreed upon. New Jersey case law further holds that a change in circumstances must be found to be permanent and continuing, not merely temporary, before a court can consider a modification of the support obligation. Furthermore, courts have routinely rejected requests for modification based on circumstances that are expected, but have not yet occurred. While both alimony and child support modification applications require a showing of a change in circumstances, the analysis for each is somewhat different. Moreover, there are different procedures and analyses for alimony modifications depending upon whether the alimony obligor is a W-2 employee or is self-employed.
