A.D.C. v. M.T.

New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division·Decided January 9, 2024·No. A-3162-20·Unpublished

Opinion

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court ." Although it is posted on the internet, this opinion is binding only on the parties in the case and its use in other cases is limited. R. 1:36-3.

SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY APPELLATE DIVISION

DOCKET NO. A-3162-20

A.D.C., Plaintiff-Appellant,

v. M.T.,

Defendant-Respondent.

Submitted October 17, 2023 – Decided January 9, 2024 Before Judges Gooden Brown and Puglisi.

On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Chancery Division, Family Part, Bergen County, Docket No. FD-02-000356-21.

Geist Law, LLC, attorneys for appellant (Jared A.

Geist, on the briefs).

Hegge & Confusione, LLC, attorneys for respondent (Michael James Confusione, of counsel and on the brief).

PER CURIAM

Plaintiff A.D.C.1 appeals the Family Part's May 26, 2021 order establishing joint custody, parenting time, child support and related issues regarding P.T. (Poppy), the minor daughter of plaintiff and defendant M.T. Having reviewed plaintiff's arguments and the record in light of the applicable legal standards, we affirm.

I.

Plaintiff and defendant lived together from November 2007 to July 2019 ;

Poppy was born in 2013. In addition to Poppy, plaintiff has two older daughters from another relationship. According to plaintiff, defendant was not an involved parent with Poppy, and was absent from the household in the months prior to their breakup.

After the parties separated, plaintiff filed a verified complaint seeking an order granting her sole custody of Poppy, establishing a parenting time schedule, awarding child support, and seeking other relief. Both represented by counsel, the parties participated in mediation and resolved most points raised in the complaint. They then appeared before Judge Michael Antoniewicz to address the remaining issues. Plaintiff's counsel advised the court there were "wrinkles"

1 We use initials and a pseudonym in order to protect the privacy of the parties and their child. R. 1:38-3(d)(13).

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in the holiday schedule, specifically on Christmas; and plaintiff "was still maintaining on the legal custody issue" because defendant had not "been involved [with Poppy] prior to the litigation." Defendant's counsel indicated there were "basic issues" including the division of holidays and the child tax deduction. The judge asked, "So how . . . do you want to proceed? I mean, [do] you want to have a hearing? Let's have a hearing." The judge set a date to conduct a plenary hearing and ordered any stipulations to be filed prior to that date.

When the parties appeared for the hearing, the court began by advising, "Today is the day for the hearing," and asked whether any issues had been resolved. Defendant's counsel indicated in the affirmative, and summarized what remained as:

issues that concern how joint custody works in the sense of how some communication is to occur with respect to medical issues and the like, some telephone contact issue, joint custody issues with respect to how decisions are to be made with respect to the child notification—with respect to them—some holiday issues, the tax exemption, and some personal property issues.

Plaintiff and defendant were sworn in and provided testimony in addition to counsel's arguments on each issue. Regarding Poppy's Christmas and Easter breaks from school, plaintiff believed it would be best to split each break mid-

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week "so that [they] both get to spend the time with [Poppy] during the holidays—holiday breaks." Defendant wanted "to spend as much time as [he] possibly can with her" because he only had Poppy four days a month, and argued a split week would make taking a vacation impossible. The court found it was in the child's best interests for plaintiff and defendant each to have a block of uninterrupted time because "as children go to school, those blocks [of time] become more rare and more valuable," and ordered the parties to each have one break and alternate the breaks each year.

The court then addressed Christmas and Christmas Eve, which both parties celebrate. Plaintiff indicated it was tradition for Poppy to spend Christmas with her two sisters and therefore she wanted defendant to have Poppy Christmas Eve into Christmas morning so she could spend Christmas day with her sisters. Defendant countered that a 9:00 a.m. drop off "eviscerates Christmas morning." The court decided it was in Poppy's best interests to alternate the holidays, reasoning "children . . . are resilient. They will enjoy time with both parents. The experience will be unique, but still bonding with both biological parents."

The court then addressed Easter and Good Friday. Plaintiff wanted to pick up Poppy at 5:30 p.m. on Good Friday and defendant preferred to pick her up in

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the morning because she is off from school that day. The court decided the Easter holiday would be considered the whole weekend beginning 9:00 a.m. on Good Friday and ending on Sunday, and the parties would alternate years.

As for the dependent tax deduction, plaintiff had already filed her taxes for the prior year and wanted to retain the deduction because she had historically utilized it and earned less income than defendant; without it, she claimed she would take on a severe financial burden. Defendant sought to alternate the deduction. The court found it was common practice to alternate the deduction and ordered the parties to do so in the future.2 Addressing child support, counsel represented that the parties had exchanged income documentation and had calculated a weekly child support obligation of $217 utilizing the child support guidelines.3 Plaintiff disputed defendant's personal income as reported on his federal income taxes, and was "trying to vet his [S]chedule C on the business, which would appear to have a higher income than he was actually paying himself." Both counsel agreed the appropriate number was likely between $217 and $254, but advised the judge

2 Although the judge stated alternating the tax deduction was the "status quo," he apparently misspoke because plaintiff had historically claimed the child. 3 Child Support Guidelines, Pressler & Verniero, Current N.J. Court Rules, Appendix IX-B(2) to R. 5:6A (2024).

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they would have further discussions about it. They agreed to have the court enter an order for "a temporary child support number" of $217, subject to counsel's "working on different numbers."

Plaintiff asked for the support obligation to be retroactive to the filing of the original complaint. The operative date was disputed because plaintiff claimed she filed the complaint in August 2020, but according to court records the complaint was filed on December 2, 2020. Therefore, the court gave plaintiff the opportunity to submit documentation supporting her claim of the earlier filing date, but she did not do so.

Regarding Poppy's extra-curricular activities, plaintiff testified, "if [Poppy] wants to be in an activity, it should be what [she] wants. It should have nothing do with what [defendant] or I want." She explained Poppy participated in softball, soccer, football cheer and Girl Scouts, and should be allowed to join other activities if she showed interest. Defendant expressed his concerns that Poppy was not always able to attend all her scheduled extra-curricular activities during his parenting time because he did not always know her schedule, sometimes planned other activities, and lived an hour away. The court decided it was in Poppy's best interests for her to remain enrolled in softball and soccer,

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as she had been playing those sports. Moving forward, plaintiff and defendant were required to discuss signing her up for other activities. The court stated:

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