Author Archives: Bari Weinberger

About Bari Weinberger

Bari Zell Weinberger was awarded a Juris Doctorate in 1997 from Suffolk University Law School, and has dedicated her practice exclusively to the fields of family and matrimonial law since her graduation. She served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Roger W. Daley, J.S.C. in the Middlesex County Family Part upon receiving her law degree. Bari Z. Weinberger is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney, a certification achieved by only 2% of the attorneys in New Jersey. Ms. Weinberger is the Associate Author of the New Jersey Family Law Practice, 14th Ed., 2010, a 5-volume treatise utilized by virtually every family law judge and practitioner in the State of NJ and is published by the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education. She has also served in this capacity on prior editions as well. She is presently working as the Associate Author of the 15th Ed., which is scheduled to go to print in 2012. Ms. Weinberger has authored numerous articles, many of which are included in this website for your review and education, and she lectures on various divorce-related topics.

New Jersey Court Ruling: Adult Children With Power of Attorney Not Welcome in Elderly Parent’s Divorce

Signing away

With life expectancies among today’s senior citizens longer than ever, more and more adult children are finding themselves sharing the responsibility of caring for their aging and elderly parents, including taking part in their parents’ legal and financial affairs as an appointed Power of Attorney. Holding Power of Attorney can be helpful when it comes to making decisions concerning medical billing or nursing home payments. But what happens if an elderly parent decides to divorce?

A recently published opinion from New Jersey’s Ocean County Superior Court examined the novel question of whether or not a litigant in divorce proceedings could appear and testify through an attorney-in-fact designated by Power of Attorney (POA). The court declined to allow this, for multiple reasons, and presented some clear guidelines for parties and attorneys to follow if presented with similar situations in the future. The case, Marsico v. Marsico, involved an adult daughter holding POA for her elderly father who had been sued for divorce by his second wife. Read more

Misperceptions in the Alimony Reform Battle in New Jersey

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The end to alimony

The fight to end permanent alimony in New Jersey may be creating some false impressions about current reality. Although permanent alimony was common when many women exiting long marriages had never been in the workplace, times have changed. Not only do few divorcing spouses today qualify for permanent alimony, but some of those who do qualify are men. The definition of a long marriage has also changed. New Jersey courts once used 10 years as the benchmark, but permanent alimony after a marriage of 10 years is now quite rare. How long is long? There is no bright line, and the question is, should there be? Alimony decisions are very fact-specific and the length of a marriage is only one factor. Spouses who have the ability to work after a marriage of any length are expected to do so to contribute to their own support. Read more