As a New Jersey Divorce Attorney for nearly two decades, I have met many folks who are confused between the differences of a ”No Fault” New Jersey divorce and a “uncontested” divorce. While they may sound similar, the two are radically different. Let’s explore.
A. NJ No Fault Divorce :
When I first opened my law firm in 1996, Irreconcilable Differences could not be used as grounds for a New Jersey Divorce. In turn, each party would have to allege fault against the other for the demise of the marriage. For much of my career the most common ground for divorce was Extreme Mental Cruelty.
Now if the NJ divorce was one of high conflict, nobody asked any questions. However, in cases in which the parties desired a peaceful resolution to their divorce, they would be unhappy when I had to explain that that the Irreconcilable Differences bill was frozen in the legislature. I would further explain that while we could not file under Irreconcilable Difference, we would make the specific allegations as non-confrontational as possible in order to avoid causing unnecessary conflict. However, it was virtually guaranteed that the other spouse would get upset when they would read the words, “Extreme Mental Cruelty.”