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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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Last modified: May 25, 2011