Why you suddenly can’t get divorced in NJ

No one wants to get a divorce. No one stands before their loved ones and exchanges vows with anything but the best intentions.

When betrayals come, or addictions steal the person you married, or violence in the home leaves you no choice, it can be a matter of your life depending on leaving. But even when couples manage to part amicably and as the best of friends, they still want to move forward with their lives.

Thousands of couples in New Jersey suddenly can’t do that. Divorce is not happening in many areas of the state and the people parting ways are having their lives held in limbo.

It’s all due to a shameful shortage of judges that I don’t think the Murphy administration is doing nearly enough to address.

Last year Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner suspended divorce trials in Hunterdon, Somerset, Warren, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties because there were not enough judges to handle the cases.

The judges have been needed for more pressing areas like criminal cases, juvenile delinquency cases, etc.. The Murphy administration has made only incremental progress on doing something to relieve the situation.

Meanwhile, people suffer. Even if they are separated and living apart, their legal entanglements persist, custody disputes remain outstanding and no one is able to have any fair closure to move on with their lives.

By last summer divorce trials proceeded (but with an understandable backlog by that point) in Cumberland Gloucester and Salem counties while Passaic county suddenly stopped theirs and the ones in Hunterdon, Somerset and Warren continued to be put on hold.

And on it’s gone this way. A sort of rolling brownout of the legal system satisfying no one.

The impacts have been serious. Bloomberg reported on children unable to be enrolled in school due to unresolved custody issues. A mother unable to get a court date for securing a child’s passport despite a kidnapping threat. A woman forced by financial issues to live with a partner who cuts off her electricity and denies access to bank accounts. And on and on.

It isn’t just complicated cases. Even in cases that aren’t being disputed, no trial, couples going separate ways who have reached a mutual agreement and just need a court date for a judge to rubber stamp it are left in the cold waiting for court dates. Full disclosure, I’m currently in that category.

And it isn’t the fault of judges. I blame the politicians. Under our state law, it’s up to Governor Murphy to nominate judges and the responsibility of the Senate to publicly vet and confirm nominees.

Maybe it’s time we divorced them.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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