taya102 said:
I need to know my legal right for a separation and divorce in NJ. I will be relocating to VA. as soon as I know what NJ's laws are for separtion, do I need to have a separation agreement before moving out of the house that we share?
Please Help!!
My response:
Are there children ?
Bank accounts ? How are they held ?
Property ownership ?
I presume you've satisfied the New Jersey residency / jurisdictional requirements by residing there for at least 1 year. Therefore, in New Jersey, before a divorce can be finalized, the two of you must be living "separate and apart" for at least 18 months. The time begins when service of process is completed on your husband.
Assuming there are no children or real estate involved, you may be better off divorcing in Virginia if "time" is a concern. If you file in Virginia, the residency requirement is only 6 months, and you must be living "separate and apart" for only 12 months, as opposed to the NJ 18 months. The 12 months runs concurrently with the 6 months. So, if you file for a divorce in Virginia, you could realistically have this marriage dissolved in a much shorter span of time.
While it would be nice, and quicker for you, to have a Separation Agreement ready for filing with either State court so that you could receive interim support, it's not a requirement if he's not cooperative. Once the 6 months has elapsed in Virginia, the Virginia court will give you "guideline" support. The only problem with that is if he fails to show up in Virginia for the divorce, Virginia will not have jurisdiction over him to compel him to obey the Virginia court orders. You'll need to have the Virginia orders "domesticated" in New Jersey, so that a New Jersey court will enforce the court orders of the Virginia Court.
Now remember, I said you could theoretically have your divorce in a much quicker amount of time. I didn't, however, say that it would be less expensive. Any time when you have to involve two jurisdictions (two courts from differing States), it will obviously require two different attorneys and their attendant fees and costs.
Good luck to you.
IAAL
