New Jersey Divorce Laws

Get divorce lawyer price quotes (free service)

• 2A:34-2. Causes for divorce from bond of matrimony. (Grounds for NJ divorce)
  Divorce from the bond of matrimony may be adjudged for the following causes heretofore or hereafter arising:
      a. Adultery;
      b. Willful and continued desertion for the term of 12 or more months, which may be established by satisfactory proof that the parties have ceased to cohabit as man and wife;
      c. Extreme cruelty, which is defined as including any physical or mental cruelty which endangers the safety or health of the plaintiff or makes it improper or unreasonable to expect the plaintiff to continue to cohabit with the defendant; provided that no complaint for divorce shall be filed until after 3 months from the date of the last act of cruelty complained of in the complaint, but this provision shall not be held to apply to any counterclaim;
      d. Separation, provided that the husband and wife have lived separate and apart in different habitations for a period of at least 18 or more consecutive months and there is no reasonable prospect of reconciliation; provided, further that after the 18-month period there shall be a presumption that there is no reasonable prospect of reconciliation;
      e. Voluntarily induced addiction or habituation to any narcotic drug as defined in the New Jersey Controlled Dangerous Substances Act, P.L.1970, c. 226 or habitual drunkenness for a period of 12 or more consecutive months subsequent to marriage and next preceding the filing of the complaint;
      f. Institutionalization for mental illness for a period of 24 or more consecutive months subsequent to marriage and next preceding the filing of the complaint;
      g. Imprisonment of the defendant for 18 or more consecutive months after marriage, provided that where the action is not commenced until after the defendant's release, the parties have not resumed cohabitation following such imprisonment;
      h. Deviant sexual conduct voluntarily performed by the defendant without the consent of the plaintiff.
• 2A:34-8. Jurisdiction stated.
  The Superior Court shall have jurisdiction of all causes of divorce, bed and board divorce, or nullity when either party is a bona fide resident of this State. The Superior Court shall have jurisdiction of an action for alimony and maintenance when the defendant is subject to the personal jurisdiction of the court, is a resident of this State, or has tangible or intangible real or personal property within the jurisdiction of the court. The Superior Court may afford incidental relief as in other cases of an equitable nature and by rule of court may determine the venue of matrimonial actions.
• 2A:34-10. Jurisdiction in divorce proceedings; service of process; residence requirements.
  Jurisdiction in actions for divorce, either absolute or from bed and board, may be acquired when process is served upon the defendant as prescribed by the rules of the Supreme Court, and
      1. When, at the time the cause of action arose, either party was a bona fide resident of this State, and has continued so to be down to the time of the commencement of the action; except that no action for absolute divorce shall be commenced for any cause other than adultery, unless one of the parties has been for the 1 year next preceding the commencement of the action a bona fide resident of this State; or
      2. When, since the cause of action arose, either party has become, and for at least 1 year next preceding the commencement of the action has continued to be, a bona fide resident of this State.
  
  Last Updated: 5-17-08