Choosing the right family lawyer can seem impossible as you wade through recommendations from friends, family, and your preferred search engine.

Before you decide who to hire, you need to understand how the lawyer can help you through what may be one of the most challenging times in your life. You want a compassionate, knowledgeable lawyer willing to go the extra mile for their clients.

The family lawyers at Weiner Law Group LLP fit the bill. Schedule a consultation to learn more about how a Red Bank, NJ, family lawyer from Weiner Law can help you.

At the consultation, we discuss your situation and what you can do to move forward and regain some stability in your life.

In uncertain times, we’re here to protect what matters most—your family and your future. Call today to speak with an experienced attorney. Call Us

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What Do Family Lawyers Help with?

Our team provides services related to divorce and legal separation, including helping with:

Whether you need services related to one or more of these areas, we can help.

Child Custody

Ensuring your children are cared for is at the top of any parent’s list. Who has custody determines who has primary childcare responsibility. In New Jersey, courts award custody based on the best interests of the child. 

Types of Custody

Custody falls into two categories: legal custody and physical custody. A custody order may involve:

  • Parents sharing physical and legal custody (joint custody), 
  • Parents sharing legal custody while one parent has sole physical custody (joint custody), or
  • One parent alone having legal and physical custody (sole custody).

When one parent has sole custody, the other may have visitation rights.

Legal custody typically includes the right to make decisions about important aspects of a child’s life, like where they live, their education, and their medical care. Physical custody involves the child living with the parent. A parent with physical custody is a custodial parent. 

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Custody Factors

Absent proof of abuse or neglect, courts presume the child having regular contact with both parents is in their best interests. Courts award child custody by considering the entire situation, weighing factors like:

  • How well the parents cooperate and communicate about the child;
  • Whether the parents want custody;
  • Any past custody issues;
  • The relationship between the child, each parent, and any siblings;
  • Any history of domestic violence and the child and each parent’s relative safety;
  • The stability of the home environment;
  • Effects on the child’s education;
  • Each parent’s fitness as a parent;
  • The distance between parents’ homes;
  • How much time each parent spent with the child before and after separation;
  • Each parent’s work responsibilities; 
  • How many children are involved;
  • The child’s age; and
  • If old enough to make a reasoned decision, the child’s preferences.

The lawyers at Weiner Law can help you establish a custody agreement, addressing issues like parenting time and grandparent visitation.

Child Support

Every parent must support their children until the child turns 19. When parents split, the non-custodial parent usually pays the custodial parent child support to meet this obligation.

New Jersey law determines how much a non-custodial parent pays per week based on how much each parent earns and how much each pays for child-related expenses. You can use a child support calculator to estimate how much payments may be.

Our lawyers can help you negotiate child support, enforce existing orders, or request changes to existing orders.

Property and Debt Division

Property and debt you acquire after you marry are typically shared as part of the marital estate. When you divorce, you split the marital estate. If you have a prenuptial agreement, you may divide the estate according to its terms. Otherwise, you can negotiate a deal with your lawyer’s help, attend mediation, or, if all else fails, litigate before a court.

Understanding how the court would likely divide the estate is essential to negotiating a fair division outside of court. A court must equitably distribute the marital estate, considering:

  • Each spouse’s physical health, mental health, and age;
  • The length of the marriage;
  • How much property each spouse owns separately;
  • The marital standard of living;
  • Any written marital or premarital agreements;
  • Each spouse’s economic situation and earning capacity;
  • Whether and how much each spouse contributed to the other’s education and career;
  • Each spouse’s contributions to the marital estate;
  • Tax consequences;
  • Property values;
  • Provisions to care for children;
  • Each spouse’s debts and liabilities; and
  • Reasonably foreseeable medical or educational expenses of a spouse or child.

While an equitable distribution may mean each spouse gets a 50-50 share, it does not have to.

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Alimony

A spouse may request any of the following types of alimony:

  • Open duration — has no specific end date;
  • Rehabilitative — payments to compensate a spouse for expenses incurred by the other;
  • Limited duration — has a specific end date; or
  • Reimbursement — payments to a spouse who supported the other’s educational or career-related pursuits.

Like property division, you often negotiate alimony through your lawyers. When you do, you need to know what factors influence court decisions on alimony.

When deciding whether to award alimony and, if so, what type, a court considers many of the same factors as in property division, along with:

  • Each spouse’s actual need, ability to pay, and earning capacity;
  • The likelihood that each spouse can continue the established standard of living after separation;
  • Whether either spouse spent time away from the job market and for how long;
  • How the spouses divide parenting duties;
  • The time and cost for a spouse with a lower earning capacity to obtain education or training to find employment;
  • Property distribution and any asset-related income; and
  • Any support paid during the divorce process.

An alimony award cannot last longer than the marriage unless there are exceptional circumstances or the marriage lasted 20 years or longer.

Restraining Orders

Unfortunately, domestic violence is common, and leaving an abusive partner frequently exposes the other partner to risks of increased violence. To keep you safe, you can get a restraining order. 

First, you apply for a temporary restraining order (TRO), which can go into effect without notifying the abusive party. To transform the TRO into a final restraining order (FRO), you attend a court hearing with the other party.

Applying for a restraining order means disclosing details about your life that you may want to keep private. And if you want the order to become permanent, it requires you to face your abuser in court.

Our lawyers can stand by your side throughout this process, helping to keep you safe, keeping private details private, and supporting your empowering decision to leave.

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Enforcing or Modifying Orders

With custody and support orders in place, you can usually rest easier. But life sometimes has other plans, leading you back to court to enforce or modify an existing order. 

Enforcement

To enforce a court order, you can file a “Motion to Enforce Litigants’ Rights,” asking the court to use its power to compel the other party to comply with an existing order.

In some cases, you may also request that a court initiate contempt of court proceedings, which can lead to criminal charges. Contempt is a vital tool when a party violates a restraining order.

Modification

You can request a court modify a child custody or support order if a substantial change in the circumstances has occurred. A substantial change in circumstances may involve a parent:

  • Relocating,
  • Getting a new job,
  • Changing their living environment,
  • Abusing or neglecting a child,
  • Violating a custody order, or
  • Experiencing new or worsening health issues.

Noteworthy changes in childcare expenses or new or worsening health issues related to the child may also qualify.

Speak with a Red Bank, NJ, Family Lawyer

Navigating the court system while trying to get your feet under you is never easy. The family lawyers at Weiner Law are here to help, offering our compassionate, driven, and knowledgeable support no matter the legal issue.

Contact us today to learn how a Red Bank, NJ, family law attorney from Weiner Law can help.

Areas We Serve

At Weiner Law Group LLP, we are committed to providing dedicated legal support to families across New Jersey. Our experienced family law attorneys proudly serve clients in Parsippany, Bayonne, Vineland, Atlantic City, Jersey City, Old Bridge, Hoboken, Woodbridge Township, Bridgewater, Clifton, Elizabeth, Bergen County, Hudson County, Union County, Union City, North Bergen, Red Bank, and beyond.

Where to find our Red Bank, NJ office: