New Jersey Family Law Blog

When people talk about the expense of divorce, they are referring not only to support payments and legal fees. Sure, those are contributing factors but there are many other, often overlooked, issues that can add to the expense of your divorce.

In an article for U.S. News & World Report titled “How You’re Making Your Divorce More Expensive,” Geoff Williams reveals other ways couples unwittingly add to the costs of their divorce. In the article, Mr. Williams explains how such things as forgetting about the tax impact, underestimating the expense of keeping the house, spending emotionally, overcompensating for the children, and even trying to “stick it to” your ex can add to your bottom line.

There is little question that for many people social media has become a popular way of communicating milestones and accomplishments with close friends and family as well as with distant relatives and others they have lost touch with over the years. People don’t hesitate to post happy events like new jobs, births, weddings and engagements, but less joyous events like divorce are another story. Usually such news is announced with a subtle change in status, but that may soon shift considering a recent ruling by a New York judge allowing Facebook to be used to notify an absentee spouse about a pending divorce. (For details, read “Judge rules that you can now divorce your spouse on Facebook.”)

Under ordinary circumstances, a person seeking a divorce files a petition with the court to terminate his or her marriage. The court then serves the other spouse with notification of the intentions, giving that person the opportunity to contest the divorce. There are instances, however, when the whereabouts of an estranged spouse are unknown and the person filing for divorce must make a diligent effort to locate him or her before the divorce proceeds. An earlier blog published on this site, “Divorcing an Absent Spouse Requires Detective Work,” outlined the basic steps to take when divorcing an absent spouse. In light of the court ruling mentioned above, posting to Facebook can now be added to that list.

A recent story on msn.com disclosed that actress Pamela Anderson was contesting an application for annulment by her estranged spouse, Rick Salomon, and instead was seeking to proceed with the divorce she filed for last month. While it seems both are in agreement that they want their marriage to end, this story raises the question: What is the difference between divorce and annulment?

Many people equate annulment with a religious process which ends a marriage in the eyes of their church. Although this is true, there is also such a thing as a legal annulment that has little to do with religion. Both processes effectively end a marriage; however, simply stated, divorce terminates the relationship while annulment reverses it. In other words, to annul a marriage is to declare that it never existed.

There are very specific circumstances under which an annulment would be granted, some of which are state-specific. The article, “What are the Grounds for an Annulment of Marriage in New Jersey” sets out the grounds for annulment in this State.