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Family Court ProceedingsSamantha Tobin

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Monmouth Vicinage Family Division

Mission: to resolve disputes, assure the rights of litigants, act in the best interest of our children and accommodate the needs of the community to the best of our ability.

MethodWork closely to ensure that litigants are treated fairly and their cases are moved quickly and effectively through the system.

Composition The Family Division Presiding Judge, the Family Division Manager, two Assistant Division Managers, eleven Team Leaders and support staff

+ Dockets of the Family Court System

DOCKETS (legal actions to be heard by court): Dissolution/Divorce Non-Dissolution Domestic Violence Violations of Restraining

Orders Juvenile Delinquency Abuse and Neglect Termination of Parental Rights Child Placement Review Kinship Guardianship Contested Adoptions Family Crisis

+Custody

Visitation/Parenting Time

Spousal Support

Divorce

Separate Maintenance

Child Support

Domestic Violence

Restraining Orders

Kinship Guardianship

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SPECIFIC ISSUES

+ Child support services include: locating the parent who has a

responsibility to support their child

legally determining if a person is the biological parent of the child

obtaining an order for child support

collecting support payments keeping accurate records of

payments enforcing the support order.

What

Is

Child

Support

+Income withholding

Federal law requires child support payments to be automatically deducted from the non-custodial parent's paycheck.

Non-custodial parent is the parent that the child does not permanently live with

the employer sends a check to the child support agency

Support Payment Laws in

New Jersey

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Income Level Percentage with Both Parents

Under $ 5,000 18.5 $ 5,000 - $ 9,999 17.4 $ 10,000 - $ 14,999 38.6 $ 15,000 - $ 24,999 51.8 $ 25,000 - $ 39,999 63.5 $ 40,000 - $ 49,999 83.9 $ 50,000 and over 91.6

Based on the data analyzed by Lauer and Lauer and the data

presented by Marciano, we can compare the average amount

of child support per week in New Jersey to the national

income of duel-income families.

+Female-headed families are more likely to experience poverty than male-headed families.

About half of the children living in poverty are in female-headed families.

The courts favor the mother in terms of custodial rights and supporting the child, but it might be better to give the father equal rights, as this would benefit the livelihood of the child

+ CHILD SUPPORT CASE

•Courts are necessary to legally finalize terms of child support• Parents encouraged to agree on terms

in an informal setting first• Better for child to absolve differences

before hearing

Procedure•Schedule an appointment

• Case is heard by a child support officer

•Child support officer makes a recommendation to parents about details of the agreement•If both parties agree to terms set forth by officer, it immediately becomes legalized and is considered an order of the court

•In this case, the parents did not agree with officers decision• Appeal

• Scheduled an additional hearing with a judge for a later date • Was not available to meet that

day