NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court."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-4947-17T3 T.K., Plaintiff-Respondent, v. J.G., Defendant-Appellant. ____________________________ Argued telephonically May 6, 2020 – Decided May 26, 2020 Before Judges Fisher, Gilson and Rose. On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Chancery Division, Family Part, Bergen County, Docket No. FM-02-1984-15. Do Kyung Lee argued the cause for appellant (Alter & Barbaro, attorneys; Bernard Mitchell Alter, and Do Kyung Lee, on the briefs). Melissa Cohen argued the cause for respondent (Weinberg & Cooper, attorneys; Melissa Cohen, and Gale B. Weinberg, on the brief). PER CURIAM After a lengthy evidentiary hearing – near the end of which the pleadings of defendant J.G. (John, a fictitious name, as are all the other names we have used to identify the parties and their children) were stricken and his ability to either question witnesses or provide testimony limited – the family judge determined plaintiff T.K. (Tara) should be the children's primary residential custodian with the right to make decisions on all health issues. The judge also increased John's child support obligation. In appealing, John chiefly argues that the striking of his pleadings and the limitations placed on his testimony and ability to cross-examine constituted an abuse of discretion. We disagree and affirm. The parties married in 1994. They have two children – S.G. (Stephen), who was born in 2005, and B.G. (Bernard), who was born in 2008 – and were living in Florida when, in 2010, they entered into a written shared child custody agreement. In August 2011, after an eight-day divorce trial, which focused mainly on financial issues, a Florida court entered a judgment that dissolved the marriage and required that John pay $453 per week in child support and $1 per month in alimony. The parties later moved to New Jersey to accommodate John's employment opportunities. A-4947-17T3 2 In March 2015, Tara commenced this action, seeking to register the Florida judgment here so she could enforce the child support obligation – which defendant had stopped paying in September 2013 – and to obtain the court's assistance in securing therapy for the children that John had opposed. The following month, the parties entered into a consent order, which, among other things: (1) registered here the Florida judgment of divorce; (2) declared New Jersey the children's home state pursuant to the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act; (3) required Bernard's evaluation at the New York University Child Study Center (NYU) "to formulate a diagnostic impression and treatment plan, if necessary"; (4) obligated the parties to submit names of developmental pediatricians so the court could appoint one to evaluate Stephen; and (5) ordered the parties to equally share in the cost of the evaluations. In June 2015, ...
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals