B.S. VS. A.S. (FM-18-0527-17, SOMERSET COUNTY AND STATEWIDE)

New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division·Decided September 20, 2019·No. A-3457-17T3·Unpublished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NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court."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-3457-17T3

B.S., Plaintiff-Appellant,

v. A.S.,

Defendant-Respondent.

Submitted April 9, 2019 – Decided September 20, 2019 Before Judges Yannotti, Rothstadt and Gilson.

On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Chancery Division, Family Part, Somerset County, Docket No. FM-18-0527-17.

Gomperts Penza McDermott & Von Ellen, LLC, attorneys for appellant (Marisa Lepore Hovanec, of counsel and on the briefs; Jennifer Lee Marshall, on the briefs).

Johnson & Associates At Law, PC, attorneys for respondent (Te D. Smith, of counsel and on the brief).

The opinion of the court was delivered by ROTHSTADT, J.A.D.

Plaintiff B.S.1 appeals from the Family Part's February 23, 2018 Judgment of Divorce (JOD) that was entered after a trial, ending his marriage to defendant A.S. On appeal, he challenges the trial judge's custody and parenting time determinations, as well as the judge's award of alimony, child support, and equitable distribution. Plaintiff contends that the trial judge abused his discretion in arriving at these decisions, which he alleges were arbitrary, made without rational explanation, and unsupported by the record. For the reasons that follow, we disagree and affirm.

I.

The undisputed facts as found by the trial judge are summarized as follows. The parties met in Canada where defendant had lived and they had one child, a daughter who was born in 2009. The family moved to plaintiff's home in New Jersey, before they were married in June 2012. At the time the parties met, defendant had a son from a previous relationship, who was born in 1995 and also lived with the parties. The parties separated on October 21, 2016, when plaintiff left the marital residence and relocated to his parents' home. Defendant and the two children remained in the marital home. On December 21, 2016, plaintiff filed a complaint for divorce.

1 We use initials to protect the parties' privacy interests. See R. 1: 38-3(d).

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During the marriage, plaintiff was a full-time municipal employee and earned approximately $70,000 annually. Defendant became employed in around 2015, and at the time of the parties' separation, she worked as a store manager at a retail store. In 2017, she earned approximately $28,000, but she stopped working later that year.

During the parties' marriage, they had one joint bank account into which they deposited both of their salaries and used to pay the family's expenses. The family resided in a house they purchased using money loaned to them by plaintiff's parents.

After plaintiff filed his complaint in this action, he filed a domestic violence action and obtained a temporary restraining order against defendant. Plaintiff later dismissed the action when on January 12, 2017, the parties agreed to the entry of an order in this case that contained civil restraints. The order also temporarily provided for custody and parenting time, as well as required the parties to continue to pay the household bills as they did in the past.

Thereafter, the parties engaged in substantial motion practice about their daughter's custody and parenting time. Among the contentions raised by plaintiff was that defendant was engaged in a romantic relationship with a female friend who plaintiff alleged was spending overnights in the marital home

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and in the presence of the children. Ultimately, on March 3, 2017, a judge ordered, pendente lite, that the parties have joint legal custody of their daughter and that defendant remain in possession of the marital home. In May 2017, the parties executed a Memorandum of Understanding, which stated that they would share residential and legal custody and established schedules for parenting time and transportation. A month later, plaintiff filed a motion to alter the parenting time schedule and for other relief that defendant did not oppose, which the judge granted in part and denied in part on August 4, 2017. The relief granted included a bar against "a third party taking up residence within the former marital home."

The matter was tried over three days in February 2018. Plaintiff testified and explained that he wished to be designated as their daughter's parent of primary residence (PPR), offered photographic evidence that defendant and her friend were involved in a romantic relationship, and that defendant allowed her to stay at the house overnight in the children's presence in contravention of the earlier court order. He also requested that the parties' marital debts be shared equally, and opposed any award of alimony because he already paid expenses pendente lite and defendant did not need the support as she was cohabitating.

Defendant testified that plaintiff had been paying all of the household expenses related to their home since their separation. Regarding custody and

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parenting time, defendant stated that she wanted "consistency" for their daughter and proposed a parenting time schedule that had the child with her from Monday through Friday and with plaintiff on the weekends and weekday evenings. As to the marital debt, she did not dispute the amount plaintiff claimed he paid, but stated that she incurred $17,000 in debt so she could hire her attorney.

Defendant's son also testified. He stated that he and the daughter were very close despite their age difference, and that he would prefer that she lived with him and defendant during the school week. He also believed that the daughter is not as close with plaintiff as she is with defendant, and that defendant was capable of caring for both him and the daughter. He stated that the daughter should spend time with plaintiff as well. He also testified as to defendant's relationship with her friend, stated that she did not live with them, but had spent nights at defendant's home since December 2017.

Defendant's friend testified and stated that she sees the two children "a little bit every day"; that she does not provide defendant with any financial assistance; and that she spends overnights at defendant's home a few times per week, but never when the daughter is present. She also described her relationship with the children and household assistance she provided to defendant, such as mowing the lawn, for which she was paid by defendant,

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helping to install a screen door, and driving defendant's son to school on occasion.

At the conclusion of the trial, the judge placed his findings of fact and conclusions of law on the record. The judge stated that he found all of the witnesses to be "generally credible," and that there had been "control issues in [the] relationship" as exemplified by plaintiff's "spying on" defendant. He found that plaintiff did not establish that defendant and her friend were cohabiting because there was no evidence of a "mutually supportive, intimate personal relationship" or commingled finances; there was only evidence of the friend visiting defendant's home, helping around the house, and staying overnight. The judge noted that to establish cohabitation, the burden of proof is on the party asserting it; if that burden is met, the burden shifts to the other party to disprove it.

The judge next addressed the issue of custody and noted that each party wished to be the PPR. The judge first granted the parties joint legal custody, then stated that regarding physical custody, the parties would have "a true joint custody relationship" with defendant being the PPR. The judge considered the relevant factors, including (1) "the parents' ability to agree, communicate[,] and cooperate in matters related to the child"; (2) "the parents' willingness to accept

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