A 20/20 Look at 50-50 Custody
Date: Oct 23, 2024 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Location: Online
Member Price: $159.00
Non-Member Price: $199.00
Section Price: $0.00
Areas of Law: Family
Earn up to 3.3 credits! (More Information)
Keynote
Moderator
- Hon. Lisa F. Chrystal, PJFP (Ret.)
- Brach Eichler LLCis counsel to Brach Eichler, LLC in Roseland, New Jersey, where she concentrates her practice in alternative dispute resolution, mediation and arbitration, and discovery management. She is a former Presiding Judge, Family Division, Union County, and sat in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Appointed to the bench in 2000 by Governor Christine Todd Whitman, she also sat in the Civil Division.
Prior to her appointment to the bench, Judge Chrystal maintained a solo litigation practice in Scotch Plains, New Jersey. She also served as Assistant Union County Counsel and was a civil litigator for two law firms before opening her own office. Judge Chrystal served on the Supreme Court Model Jury Charge Committee and is a former Co-Chair of the Union County Minority Concerns Committee. A former Trustee of the Union County Bar Association, she is a member of the Supreme Court Committee on Diversity, Inclusion and Community Engagement, and the Supreme Court Family Practice Committee, where she serves on the FM/FD Subcommittee. Judge Chrystal is a member of the New Jersey State and Union County Bar Associations, and serves on the Executive Committee of the NJSBA Family Law Section. She has also served on the Family Subcommittee on Mentoring of New Judges.
A former Master of the Richard J. Hughes American Inn of Court, Judge Chrystal is a member of the Barry I. Croland American Inn of Court and The Justice Virginia Long Hudson County American Inn of Court. She has trained newly-appointed judges and those transferring to the Family Division in the Comprehensive Judicial Orientation Program (C.J.O.P.) and co-authored the judges’ “Dissolution Manual.” Judge Chrystal has taught CLE classes for the Union County Bar Association and Ethics for Trial Attorneys for ICLE, and was an Adjunct Legal Writing Instructor at Seton Hall Law School. In 2022 she was the recipient of the prestigious William J. McCloud Award bestowed by the Union County Bar Association, which recognizes significant contributions to the administration of justice in the Family Part.
Judge Chrystal is a graduate of Syracuse University and a cum laude graduate of Seton Hall University School of Law.
Presenters
- LaDonna M. Cousins, Esq.
- Williams Law Group, LLC, Short Hills
- Ashley E. Edwards, Esq.
- Lawrence Law LLC, Watchung
- Eileen A. Kohutis, Ph.D.
- Forensic and Clinical Psychologist, Livingston
- Matheu D. Nunn, Esq.
- Einhorn, Barbarito, Frost, Botwinick, Nunn & Musmanno, P.C., Denville
Years ago, courts routinely awarded mothers sole physical custody of their children in divorce proceedings. Legal and mental health experts saw 50-50 physical custody as a way to keep both parents involved in their children’s lives and avoid litigation. However, we are now left to question whether 50-50 physical custody is the panacea we thought it would be, or causes more problems than it solves. With more states considering laws to promote equal physical custody, what does hindsight teach us about the future?
In New Jersey, as in most states, it’s rare for one parent to be granted sole physical custody of children after a divorce. For decades, our laws have favored joint physical custody arrangements, most often with both parents having equal legal status. Although this arrangement is typical, it is not without problems. When parents share joint legal physical custody, disagreements can arise about major life issues, such as schooling, medical care and religious upbringing.
This can be logistically and emotionally challenging for both the parents and children, as well as legally problematic.
This compelling program will take a 20/20 look at 50-50 arrangements and examine their pros and cons. Our panel of leading New Jersey family lawyers will share solid strategies and practical advice about how to best negotiate parenting arrangements and plans, all with an eye toward anticipating likely problems and resolving them proactively.
The panelists will discuss seminal cases such as Madison v Davis, 243 N.J. Super ( 20 (Ch. Div. 2014), which primarily deals with custody, but also addresses the issue of courts having the discretion to order co-parenting counseling as a mandatory requirement of joint custody.
Topics include:
- Is sole custody ever in the best interest of a child?
- What a parent must show to obtain sole custody
- Issues with shared legal custody and how to address routine and major life decisions in parenting plans
- What types of physical custody arrangements are in the best interest of the child?
- Issues with equal physical custody - Is it beneficial to children? Can it be detrimental?
- What the experts say?
- Public policy consideration
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