Michael Robert Peterson - Page 8

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          A court order regarding unallocated support payments is                     
          modifiable.  Farmilette v. Farmilette, 566 A.2d 835 (N.J. Super.            
          Ct. Ch. Div. 1989).  Moreover, the obligation to pay alimony ends           
          at the recipient’s death, and upon such event, a court order                
          regarding alimony is modifiable.  See N.J. Stat. Ann. sec. 2A:34-           
          23 (West 2003); Jacobsen v. Jacobsen, 370 A.2d 65, 66 (N.J.                 
          Super. Ct. Ch. Div. 1976).                                                  
               In general, divorce proceedings abate with the death of one            
          of the parties.  Carr v. Carr, 576 A.2d 872, 875 (N.J. 1990).               
          Issues of custody and support of children do not abate, however.            
          Jacobsen v. Jacobsen, supra at 66.  Regarding the death of the              
          custodial parent, New Jersey statutory law provides:                        
                    In case of the death of the parent to whom the                    
               care and custody of the minor children shall have been                 
               awarded by the Superior Court, or in the case of the                   
               death of the parent in whose custody the children                      
               actually are, when the parents have been living                        
               separate and no award as to the custody of such                        
               children has been made, the care and custody of such                   
               minor children shall not revert to the surviving parent                
               without an order or judgment of the Superior Court to                  
               that effect. * * * [N.J. Stat. Ann. sec. 9:2-5 (West                   
               2003).]                                                                
          It “implicitly recognizes the inherent right of the non-custodial           
          parent to the reversion to his or her custody of the children               
          born of the marriage upon the custodial parent’s death and the              
          satisfaction of the statutory conditions.”  In re D.T., 491 A.2d            
          7, 9 n.3 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 1985) (referring to N.J.                
          Stat. Ann. sec. 9:2-5 (West 2003)).                                         






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