NJSBA Family Law Section

Parties were divorced in 2011 in NJ. Husband was pro se; wife and child resided in Puerto Rico. They had a 1 page agreement calling for direct pay child support into mother's bank account. Mother and child have moved to Florida. Agreement also calls for visitation which mother has ignored. Father still resides in NJ. He has never resided in Florida.  He has proof he has been paying child support each month by direct deposit into Mother's bank account. Father receives letter from Florida Department of Revenue saying mother is asking for a review of child support and claiming he is in arrears and threatening to garnish his tax refunds.

Can I file a motion in NJ to establish there are no arrears and also ask for enforcement of parenting plan or must this be done in Florida?

Thanks,

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John Weichsel
Hackensack NJ
(201)488-1400
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John:

Florida has no jurisdiction over your client related to the child support issue if he does not reside in Florida. See Kulko v. Superior Court, a U.S. Supreme court case.

Some years back, I had a similar scenario where mother and child moved to Florida and there was an existing NJ support order for father to pay. Mother, using an attorney, files an application in Florida for an increase in support. I wrote a detailed brief citing Kulko and sent it to the Florida judge and the Florida attorney for the mother. The judge set up a conference call and told the Florida attorney that I was 100% correct that Florida did not have in personam jurisdiction to enter a support order against my client, and the judge dismissed the mother's application.

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Robert Goldstein Esq.
Manalapan NJ
(732)972-1600
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