Tag: New Jersey Law

As John S. Eory, Esquire previously blogged, Governor Chris Christie signed into law changes to our alimony statute on September 10, 2014.

Prior to the new alimony statute, the law of the State of New Jersey surrounding the issue of an alimony recipient’s cohabitation was defined by our Courts.  Under the previous case law, if a recipient of alimony was cohabitating with a paramour, the payor of alimony could file an application with the Court to modify or terminate their alimony obligation.  Modification or termination of alimony depended on a two prong burden-shifting test, the first of which required a finding of “cohabitation” of the dependent spouse by the Court.  Such a finding gave rise to the rebuttable presumption that the financial needs of the dependent spouse have been reduced.  The burden of proof shifted to the dependent spouse to show that his or her economic circumstances were not improved as a result of the cohabitation.  This second prong consisted of a fact-specific evaluation of the reduced financial need of the dependent spouse based upon the economic effect of his or her cohabitation. Read More about Recent Changes to the Alimony Statute and Cohabitation