New Jersey Supreme Court Permits Mediation in Custody Disputes

By Sarah Harper

Published on July 11, 2009

The New Jersey Supreme Court voted unanimously Wednesday to allow divorcing couples to determine child custody through mediation (arbitration) instead of the judicial system. Proponents expect the use of mediation will quicken custody disputes' resolution and ease the burden on the state's court system.

Under the new ruling, parents can determine child custody without court intervention, submitting their dispute instead to an arbitrator, who will make the final, binding custody decision. (A lower court's previous decision mandated that custody decisions be made in court, since only court-determined decisions can be appealed.) The Court did not specify whether the arbitrator must be a lawyer.

According to an attorney for the New Jersey State Bar Association, which participated in the ruling, the ruling will also assist the state's court system in a time of strained resources. The judiciary reports that, in New Jersey, there were 61,516 divorces filed from July 2008 to May 2009 alone, and there are currently approximately 19,460 pending cases. The ruling will also prevent custody cases from languishing in the court system.

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