NJ Family Law Attorneys

It was scandalous in 2005 when Demi Moore married Ashton Kutcher. Moore had married action flick star Bruce Willis in 1978, and the two had three daughters together. That relationship ended in 2000, when Moore was a mature mother of 38 years. In 2003, Moore started dating the young heartthrob Ashton Kutcher, who was born the year that Moore married Bruce. At the time they started dating, Kutcher was just 24 years old. Moore was already 41. The age difference raised a lot of eyebrows at the time, and Moore was definitely accused of being a cradle-robber or a Mrs. Robinson. Criticism notwithstanding, the two continued to date and married in 2005. Their recently announced divorce has some people saying, “I told you so,” but other people shocked that the fairy tale romance could have ever ended. According to sources close to the couple, both Moore and Kutcher contributed evenly to the divorce. Perhaps a little more of the balance of blame lies with Kutcher, who is strongly suspected of cheating on his wife more than once. Kutcher has a different perspective, although whether or not it's really believable is questionable. According to friends of Kutcher, Moore was constantly made insecure by the younger man. Always worried that he was cheating or soon would cheat, friends say he just couldn't take it any more. There is a third factor in their divorce, of course. Unlike normal couples, Hollywood couples – especially couples as well-known and controversial as Kutcher and Moore – have their nearly every move photographed, written about, and analyzed. Marriage is hard enough without the added pressures of the paparazzi and tabloid headlines.

Well, that didn't last long. After less than three months of marriage, reality TV star Kim Kardashian made the decision to file for divorce from hubbie and New Jersey Nets star, Kris Humphries. Friends and family members are split over whether or not Kardashian made the right decision in the right way. According to Kris Humphries' father, the basketball player was totally surprised by the divorce. Kardashian apparently filed without any discussion on the matter. Since then, friends of Humphries say, she's sent him multiple text messages but he has refused to reply because he was so hurt by the sudden move. Meanwhile, Kris Jenner, Kardashian's mother, says that her daughter's decision was a brave one. Although Humphries' friends and family say he's hurting from the surprise divorce, Jenner also says her own daughter is hurting. She's throwing herself into her work, her mother says, in an attempt to put the painful ordeal behind her. There's some speculation that Kardashian had second thoughts about the marriage before it had even happened. The couple married surprisingly fast; they started dating last October, then became engaged last May. Their marriage became the subject of a two-part television special on E!. Under such circumstances, pulling out of the decision to marry might have had more than consequences for her love life; it also might have impacted her career. It is feasible that Kardashian knew the marriage was wrong for her but went through with it anyway because of the pressure from her reality TV show. This theory, of course, is merely speculation. As Kardashian's mother said to Jay Leno, the rest of us are not inside Kardashian's head, so any guesses about her emotional state remain just guesses.

Some people just don't seem to be very good at staying married. This seems to especially be the case with celebrities. Getting married and divorced at rates so fast that even their fast-talking lawyers can't keep up with them, it seems that every day another celebrity couple is calling it quits. Jennifer Lopez, AKA J. Lo, is one of the celebrities who never seems to “stand by her man” for all that long. Her first marriage was to a Cuban waiter she met at a Miami restaurant in February 1997. The two had a whirlwind romance, getting married and divorced by January 1998. She had a high-profile relationship, though it never resulted in marriage, to rapper Puff Daddy / P. Diddy / Sean Combs for two and a half years. In 2000, the couple broke up, leading to a sad “why don't you like me anymore?” song from Mr. Combs. In 2001, she married her back-up dancer, Cris Judd. In 2002, still officially married, she started dating Ben Affleck publicly. By 2003, Lopez and Judd had divorced. Affleck and Lopez later got engaged, then unengaged by 2004. Finally Lopez seemed to find “true love” with singer Marc Anthony. In 2004, the two had a quiet marriage at home, merely four days after Anthony's own divorce was finalized. Anthony and Lopez seemed to be a couple that would finally stick. In 2008, Lopez gave birth to the couple's twins. As most celebrities do, Anthony and Lopez are keeping mum about their split for the most part. All they would say about it is that the marriage no longer “worked.”

Patricia Warner, the former Montgomery County Circuit Court judge, is in some hot water with the Alabama Court of the Judiciary. A lengthy complaint enumerates 74 individual charges against the judge who presided over divorce actions, child custody battles and related cases. Each is serious and damning of the official’s conduct. As a divorce judge, Warner just last year enjoyed reelection to the family court. At the heart of the allegations against Judge Warner is acting “in bad faith.” The charges tell a sordid tale of evidence that was ignored, testimony that would be dismissed and ex-parte communication that was inappropriate and demeaning. Adding insult to injury, the complaint alleges disregard of appellate court orders as well as improper sealing of court files. Rulings pertaining to divorce cases, child support awards, visitation orders and guardian reports were time and again reversed on appeal. There is some speculation that these charges are merely the tip of the proverbial iceberg. After all, it is unlikely that the judge just recently began to do her job with obvious disregard to established court procedures, case law and appellate court instructions. Then again, would there not be a mounting collection of evidence against Judge Warner, if she had been making legal errors in all -- or at least in the majority -- of the divorce proceedings over which she presided? The former judge has 30 days in which to respond to the complaint. Hopefully it is possible to learn more about her reasoning at that time.

Members of the United States military and their spouses are subject to unique laws that do not apply to civilian divorces. Divorcing military members, their spouses and lawyers should be familiar with these laws to help ease the difficult transition a divorce brings. Federal laws affect child support, pensions, health care coverage and other aspects of a military divorce. These laws may supersede state divorce laws if either spouse is an active or retired military member. While state laws view pensions as income, federal law classifies military pensions as property. The spouse of a military member may be entitled to up to half of the pension if certain conditions are met. Child support and alimony payments can be garnished from the wages of active military members or the pension of a retired member. Renewing or applying for a new passport cannot be done if more than $5,000 in child support payments is owed. Special rules also apply to how property can be transferred from a military post. Both spouses must sign a Joint Property Statement and an Authorization to Receive Goods Shipped from Post. This allows transfer of household goods or items in storage during the divorce. Although the rates of divorce vary for the four branches of the military and between male and female service members, the overall military divorce rate has risen from 2.6 percent to 3.6 percent in the last decade. This is slightly higher than the 3.4 percent civilian rate. With almost half of service members married, divorce affects a significant portion of the military population. Information detailing divorce information for service members and their spouses can be found at http://www.state.gov/m/dghr/flo/c23129.htm and at http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/9517.pdf.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, movie star turned political powerhouse, and Maria Shriver, his talented former newscaster wife, have recently made the decision to take a step towards divorcing. After 25 years and four children together, Shriver recently revealed she has been considering obtaining a divorce from Schwarzenegger, the highly-publicized former governor of California, since early 2009. Curiously, the couple have not made the apparent commitment to divorce, choosing instead to frame it in a mutual press release as living apart while deciding the future of their marriage. If they do legally split, it would be in their best interests to remain civil and keep the lines of discussion open, for several reasons. Divorce doesn't have to end the connection these two have shared for 25 years. Primarily, of course, they have four children that need a united front on parenting to be well-balanced, but also because of their stated future plans. Schwarzenegger has also announced recently that a "Governator" (a sly term that makes note of his former office as well as his Terminator movie franchise) movie is in the works, as well as a cartoon, video game, and other related media connected to the project. Shriver is in the midst of many different charity projects, using her well-known presence to raise money for intellectually disabled children and adults. Both parties would see their dreams injured or derailed by an ugly divorce, which often brings "dirty laundry" like accusations, past misconduct, and embarrassing habits to the very public surface of the matter.