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In Farmilette v. Farmilette, 566 A.2d 835 (N.J. Super. Ct.
Ch. Div. 1989), the New Jersey Superior Court addressed whether
unallocated support orders are modifiable. The court held that
they are. The Farmilettes, formerly husband and wife, obtained a
divorce judgment, and Mr. Farmilette was ordered to pay $285 a
week to support his ex-wife and their two children. Sometime
after one child became emancipated and the other child began
living full time with Mr. Farmilette, the latter sought a
reduction of his unallocated support obligation, retroactive to
the time of the emancipation and change of residency. Before
deciding to what extent, if any, the support order should be
modified, the court considered its authority to do so. It
pointed to a New Jersey statute prohibiting retroactive
modifications of child support.9 The court reasoned, however,
that it "will not be so presumptuous as to assume the legislators
had in mind unallocated support orders which clearly are not
included within the statute." Id. at 835–836. The court then
held unallocated support orders modifiable and agreed to review
9The New Jersey legislature has since made minor modifica-
tions to this statute. In relevant part, the current version of
N.J. Stat. Ann. sec. 2A:17-56.23a (West Supp. 1999) provides that
No payment or installment of an order for child support
* * * shall be retroactively modified by the court
except with respect to the period during which there is
a pending application for modification * * *
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