{"id":1283,"date":"2014-03-20T15:40:31","date_gmt":"2014-03-20T19:40:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/?p=1283"},"modified":"2014-03-15T15:44:45","modified_gmt":"2014-03-15T19:44:45","slug":"let-judges-be-judges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/?p=1283","title":{"rendered":"Let judges be judges!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There is a movement in NJ arguing for increased judicial independence. I fully agree that out courts should be free from political pressure. Judicial decisions are not popularity contests. Doing what is right will always be unpopular with some people. Judges needs to be free to make decisions on a case by case basis after considering the relevant law and the particular facts of a given case. <\/p>\n<p>Judicial independence is being threatened by those who seek to automate NJ family law. Divorce and family law issues are not easy or pleasant. Resolving them can be emotionally and financially draining. Exploiting these realities, many so &#8220;reformers&#8221; are seeking to impose arbitrary alimony guidelines and automatic triggers to terminate child support.  Those advocating for these types of changes claim that adopting these proposals will add certainty to the process, will make cases move quicker and result in lower legal fees. The problem is that no empirical evidence is offered in support of these claims. In truth, these &#8220;reforms&#8221; are one sided and advance personal agendas rather than justice. <\/p>\n<p>These &#8220;reforms&#8221; seek to take away judicial discretion. In doing so, litigants will be denied a review of their case on the merits and facts. Judges will be constrained and justice will be denied. <\/p>\n<p>I admit that some of our current laws need to be reviewed and updated. But any changes must be fair to both parties. Any changes must allow judges to continue judge independently and free from artificial constraints.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There is a movement in NJ arguing for increased judicial independence. I fully agree that out courts should be free from political pressure. Judicial decisions are not popularity contests. Doing what is right will always be unpopular with some people. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/?p=1283\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-durstfirm-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6omM8-kH","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2771,"url":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/?p=2771","url_meta":{"origin":1283,"position":0},"title":"A crisis in NJ Courts and why you should care.","author":"Sandy Durst","date":"January 25, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Judges in NJ are appointed. This requires action on the part of our legislators and Governor. Simply put, our leaders are failing to act and the lives of NJ residents are being greatly affected. According to NJSBA President Jeralyn Lawrence, their are 66 Superior Court judicial vacancies and 1 Supreme\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Durst Firm News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Durst Firm News","link":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/?cat=28"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1133,"url":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/?p=1133","url_meta":{"origin":1283,"position":1},"title":"Court strives to bring clarity to NJ alimony law","author":"Sandy Durst","date":"August 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"NJ has 4 types of alimony: permanent, limited duration, rehabilitative, and reimbursement.\u00a0 The body of case law and the NJ alimony statute have served litigants, attorneys and judges well in crafting equitable resolutions to alimony disputes.\u00a0 However, there are some gray areas in the law.\u00a0 One of those gray areas\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Durst Firm News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Durst Firm News","link":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/?cat=28"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2774,"url":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/?p=2774","url_meta":{"origin":1283,"position":2},"title":"UPDATE to prior Court in crisis post","author":"Sandy Durst","date":"February 9, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Previously I wrote about the looming crisis in the NJ family courts due to an extremely high number of judicial vacancies. Well, earlier this week the NJ Supreme Court released an official notice that family law trials are suspended in 2 vicinages thereby affecting litigants in multiple counties throughout New\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Durst Firm News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Durst Firm News","link":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/?cat=28"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1365,"url":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/?p=1365","url_meta":{"origin":1283,"position":3},"title":"Accusation of Domestic Violence can result in loss of firearms permit","author":"Sandy Durst","date":"April 27, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"While I have no intention of engaging in the political debate surrounding gun control and the 2nd Amendment, the recently decided case out of NJ (summarized below) illustrates the intersection of domestic violence and individual rights. \u00a0 It has been long held that if an individual is found to have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Durst Firm News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Durst Firm News","link":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/?cat=28"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":915,"url":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/?p=915","url_meta":{"origin":1283,"position":4},"title":"Proposed alimony reform will hurt NJ families","author":"Sandy Durst","date":"October 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"After practicing divorce law for more than a decade in NJ, I fully understand the unique circumstances, expectations, and factors that make up an alimony determination.\u00a0 It is true that the amount of alimony can vary as can the duration in two cases that may appear similar at the surface.\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Durst Firm News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Durst Firm News","link":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/?cat=28"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1001,"url":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/?p=1001","url_meta":{"origin":1283,"position":5},"title":"NJ Alimony Reform: My 2 Cents.","author":"Sandy Durst","date":"February 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I am a NJ divorce lawyer. I work day in and day out to help individuals and there children through the divorce process.\u00a0 I often get blamed for causing divorce.\u00a0 The collective integrity of my colleagues is constantly under attack.\u00a0 I am accused of making divorce a nasty fight simply\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Durst Firm News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Durst Firm News","link":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/?cat=28"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1283"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1284,"href":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1283\/revisions\/1284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedurstfirm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}