Death and Family Law – The 2026 Family Law Symposium Friday Night Program
Date: Jan 23, 2026 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Location: Hyatt Regency, New Brunswick
Member Price: $187.00
Non-Member Price: $234.00
Section Price: $175.00
Areas of Law: Family
Earn up to 2.4 credits! (More Information)
Keynote
Moderator
- John F. DeBartolo, Esq.
- Law Office of Timothy F. McGoughran LLC, Ocean
Presenters
- Cheryl E. Connors, Esq.
- Tonneman & Connors, LLC, Little Silveris a Partner in Tonneman & Connors, LLC with offices in Eatontown and East Brunswick, New Jersey. She concentrates her practice in family law, with an emphasis in issues of divorce, child custody, visitation, child support, equitable distribution, palimony, adoption, paternity, domestic violence, prenuptial agreements and collaborative divorce. In 2016 she appeared before the New Jersey Supreme Court on behalf of the New Jersey State Bar Association in the matter of In re Adoption of a Child by J.E.V.
Admitted to practice in New Jersey and before the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, Ms. Connors is Vice Chair of the Executive Committee of the Family Law Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association, a member of the NJSBA’s Solo and Small-Firm Section, has served on the New Jersey Supreme Court Family Practice Committee for the 2017-2019 and 2019-2021 terms, and is serving on the Committee for the 2021-2023 term. She is also a member of the Middlesex County and Monmouth Bar Associations, and the Collaborative Divorce Professionals of New Jersey. She serves as a Matrimonial Early Settlement panelist in Middlesex County and as an Intensive Settlement Panelist in Monmouth County.
An Associate Managing Editor of the New Jersey Family Lawyer, Ms. Connors has authored and co-authored numerous articles which have appeared in the New Jersey Family Lawyer and has been published in Divorce Magazine’s Frequently Asked Questions feature. She was the 2013 recipient of the Martin S. Goldin Family Law Award from the Middlesex County Bar Association and frequently lectures on family law topics.
Ms. Connors received her B.A., with distinction, from Cornell University and her J.D., magna cum laude, from Seton Hall University School of Law, where she was a senior member of the Seton Hall Law Review and received the Raymond del Tufo, Jr. Award. She served as a judicial clerk to the Honorable Barry T. Albin, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey.
(8/23) - Kaitlyn A. Lapi, Esq.
- Hagan Klein & Weisberg LLC- Main, Cedar Knolls
- Frank A. Louis, Esq.
- Greenbaum Rowe Smith & Davis LLP, Red Bankis a Partner in Greenbaum Rowe Smith & Davis LLP in Toms River, New Jersey. A substantial portion of his practice involves the mediation of complex matrimonial matters, and he generally represents individuals in Ocean and Monmouth Counties who are involved in complicated equitable distribution cases with a view towards negotiating resolutions.
Mr. Louis served as Chair of the Family Law Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association and as President of the Ocean County Bar Association, where he also chaired the local Family Law Committee for several years. A Diplomate Member of the American College of Family Trial Lawyers, he also serves as an Emeritus member of the Executive Committee of the NJSBA Family Law Section and a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML). Mr. Louis was selected by Governor Florio as the NJSBA’s representative to the New Jersey Commission to Study the Law of Divorce. He was a member of the New Jersey Supreme Court Family Part Practice Committee from its inception through 2011 and has served on a number of Supreme Court Committees, including the Special Committee on Matrimonial Litigation and the Economic Consequences of Dissolution Committee.
The 2006 recipient of the Alfred C. Clapp Award bestowed by ICLE for Excellence in Continuing Legal Education, Mr. Louis has also received the Tischler Award from the Family Law Section of the NJSBA and the Young Lawyer Award from the Ocean County Bar Association. He has lectured extensively for attorney and CPA groups, and has authored more than 50 articles, a number of which have been cited by courts in New Jersey in reported and unreported opinions. He organized and moderated ICLE’s Family Law Symposium from 1996-2013 and is the author of New Jersey Family Law Volume II: Divorce, Alimony & Property Division (2020).
Mr. Louis received his undergraduate degree, cum laude, from Brooklyn College, City University of New York, and his law degree from Rutgers Law School-Newark. - Thomas A. Roberto, Esq.
- Adinolfi, Roberto, Burick & Molotsky, PA, Mount Laurel
- Elizabeth Rozin-Golinder, Esq.
- Rozin Golinder Law, LLC, East Brunswick
- Sheryl J. Seiden, Esq.
- SeidenFreed, LLC, Cranfordis the founding Partner of Seiden Family Law, LLC in Cranford, New Jersey. She is a seasoned matrimonial lawyer, having practiced family law exclusively since January 2000. Prior to forming Seiden Family Law, Ms. Seiden was a Partner at a boutique law firm in Summit, where she practiced family law for thirteen years.
Admitted to practice in New Jersey and New York, Ms. Seiden is Past Chair of the Family Law Section Executive Committee (“FLEC”) of the New Jersey State Bar Association and a Trustee of the Association. She is a past Co-Chair of the Young Lawyer Family Law Subcommittee for FLEC, and has been a member of FLEC since 2008. An officer and Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers– New Jersey Chapter (“AAML-NJ”), Ms. Seiden has served on the Board of Managers for several years and is slated to be sworn in as the President of AAML-NJ in June 2024. She is also a member of the Union and Essex County Bar Associations. In November 2014 Ms. Seiden argued as amicus curiae for AAML in Gnall v Gnall before the Supreme Court of New Jersey. She has been an Early Settlement Panelist for the Superior Court of New Jersey, Chancery Division, Family Part, Union County, and has been asked to serve as a blue-ribbon panelist on several occasions by the Early Settlement Panel for the Superior Court of New Jersey, Chancery Division, Family Part, Essex County.
Ms. Seiden has moderated and spoken on many panels for the Family Law Symposium on topics involving creative support awards, child support, emancipation and special needs trusts, alimony issues, legislative issues affecting family law, and reexamining relocation laws. She has also been a speaker at the Friday night program for the Family Law Symposium on several occasions. Ms. Seiden is co-author of Marriage, Divorce and Dissolution (Gann Publishing, 2019, now in its 3rd Edition). She often lectures and educates junior lawyers and paralegals on how to prepare Case Information Statements, and has also lectured on the relocation laws in New Jersey as well as parental alienation.
Ms. Seiden received her B.A., cum laude, from American University and is a magna cum laude graduate of New York Law School, where she served as the Managing Editor of the New York Law School Law Review.
What happens when death collides with family litigation? This comprehensive seminar guides family law practitioners through the complex challenges that arise when a party dies during or after matrimonial or non-dissolution proceedings.
Our distinguished panel will explore the following topics:
- How to proceed if one party to a divorce action dies during the litigation
- How to properly present evidence to support the equitable distribution factors if one party is deceased
- How to proceed if a party in a non-dissolution action dies
- If child support from a parent die when that parent dies
- Custody, parenting time, and visitation issues that arise when one parent dies. Do grandparents have rights, do siblings, do aunts and uncles?
- Appropriate language to use in settlement agreements and wills to provide for a child’s care, custody, and support in the event one parent (or both) dies after the divorce
- Collecting legal fees from the estate of a deceased client
- Effective use of life insurance
Don’t miss out on this practical session for practitioners who want to be fully prepared for the unexpected twists of family law.
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