FARYAL KHAWAJA v. MUHAMMAD BUTT (FD-04-0458-21, CAMDEN COUNTY AND STATEWIDE)


NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court ." Although it is posted on the internet, this opinion is binding only on the parties in the case and its use in other cases is limited. R. 1:36-3. SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY APPELLATE DIVISION DOCKET NO. A-2828-20 FARYAL KHAWAJA, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. MUHAMMAD BUTT, Defendant-Respondent. _________________________ Submitted January 3, 2022 – Decided January 14, 2022 Before Judges Sumners and Firko. On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Chancery Division, Family Part, Camden County, Docket No. FD-04-0458-21. Daniel K. Newman, attorney for appellant. Melissa Fecak, attorney for respondent. PER CURIAM In this non-dissolution matter, plaintiff Faryal Khawaja, the mother of E.M.,1 born in July 2019, appeals from an April 27, 2021 Family Part order denying her motion for reconsideration of a February 25, 2021 order, which addressed custody and parenting time. The judge ordered that the parties' then nineteen-month-old infant daughter E.M. could travel between plaintiff's home in Cherry Hill and Kansas City, Missouri, for parenting time with her father, defendant Muhammad Butt. Defendant moved to Clinton, Maryland, during the pendency of this appeal and claims the issues raised on appeal are now moot. For the reasons that follow, we dismiss the appeal. I. The following facts are derived from the record. Plaintiff is a natural born citizen of the United States. Defendant was born in Pakistan and is not a United States citizen. He has an application for asylum, which "is currently pending in Immigration Court." Plaintiff claims defendant's asylum application and first appeal of same were denied. On July 25, 2018, the parties were married. Their marriage was pre- arranged. Prior to their marriage, plaintiff resided in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and defendant lived in Kansas City. Following their marriage, 1 We use initials to protect the identity of the minor child. A-2828-20 2 plaintiff moved to Kansas City to reside with defendant. In December 2018, while pregnant, plaintiff advised defendant she "wanted to live in Philadelphia with her family." Despite her representation, plaintiff returned to Kansas City in January 2019, and resided there with defendant until Spring 2019, when she again moved back to her parents' home. In July 2019, E.M. was born in Philadelphia. In October 2019, plaintiff and her parents moved to Cherry Hill. Later that month, plaintiff moved "back to Kansas City to try and make the marriage work," but to no avail. In December 2019, plaintiff returned to Cherry Hill. Both parties claim the other was physically and verbally abusive, and they each attempted to reconcile the marriage to the other's refusal. Defendant asserts he sought assistance from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community relative to establishing parenting time and child support through a mediation process without success. According to plaintiff, between December 2019 and October 2020, defendant "never came to visit either [her] or [E.M.] in New Jersey at any time." On October 22, 2020, plaintiff filed a pro se, non-dissolution complaint …

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