For divorce litigants exasperated by the nebulous standards surrounding alimony payment disputes, well, change is afoot. The New Jersey Supreme Court’s recent decision in the Cardali v. Cardali case is a significant stride towards transparency. The decision underlines fresh, valuable precedents that provide crucial clarity on the prerequisites for obtaining discovery in a motion that seeks to terminate or suspend alimony payments.
The Cardali v. Cardali case has set forth what experts are calling a “two-step” process. The ruling, detailed thoroughly here, has been widely hailed as a clear win for divorce litigants seeking significant revisions or even outright termination of their alimony obligations.
The new “two-step” process essentially allows a divorce litigant to obtain discovery by demonstrating a prima facie case, i.e., that their ex-spouse is cohabitating with someone else. This prima facie case doesn’t require direct evidence of cohabitation; circumstantial evidence is acceptable. Once this threshold is met, the court will decide the degree of discovery necessary for the case.
This ground-breaking ruling in Cardali v. Cardali has shed valuable light on cohabitation and alimony termination issues, which to date have been shrouded in obscurity, potentially sowing seeds of confusion and miscommunication among divorce litigants. This new, definitive legal precedent is, in all probability, a harbinger of more clarity and fairness to come in this crucial area of family law.