The court term of 2010-11 was a busy one for the Supreme Court in the family law arena. The four cases reported here are varied, with the Court revisiting custody arbitration and inter-state removal, while exploring new areas of equitable distribution and domestic violence. In addition to the controversy between the litigants, the controversy between some of the justices stood out and was of interest to many members of the bar. This controversy, the genesis of which was the political wrangling between the governor and the legislature, spilled over to the Court with Justice Rivera-Soto’s abstentions in several cases, one of which was a family law matter, Johnson v. Johnson, 204 N.J. 529 (2010).

In Johnson, Justice Long identified an exception to the Fawzy requirement of a verbatim record of arbitration proceedings involving issues of custody and parenting time. In Fawzy v. Fawzy, 199 N.J. 456 (2009), the Court determined that such a verbatim record was necessary for the purpose of judicial review if required. Accordingly, in Johnson, the Appellate Division reversed the trial court’s conformance of the arbitration award, because of the lack of a verbatim record. However, the Supreme Court reversed the Appellate Division, holding that there is no per se strict requirement of a verbatim record. All that is necessary is a complete record, and the arbitrator’s “painstakingly” detailed findings in Johnson met that burden.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]