6. Does a litigant have any legal limitations as what he or she can raise in cross-motion?
In many family court motion scenarios the ex-spouses simply start a “war of paper†with each other. In the world of family law, motions are the weapons that are used to combat each other. In most instances, when a party files a motion, the responding party then files a cross-motion that requests additional relief that is not even relevant to the issues raised in the initial motion papers.
An important case is Marangos v. Marangos, Docket No. A-2625-07T12625-07T1. This case should be cited when a litigant raises too many non-relevant grounds for relief in his or her cross-motion. This case was an appeal. Here, the plaintiff Catherine Swett, appealed from an order entered by the trial court on December 19, 2007, which denied in part her cross-motion for post-judgment relief. The parties were married on August 11, 1985. They had four children. The plaintiff filed a complaint for divorce on February 6, 2004, and on July 6, 2005, the parties then placed a settlement on the record. They agreed upon custody of the children, visitation, equitable distribution, alimony, child support, payment of pendente lite arrears, college expenses, and the allocation of certain debts. The parties also agreed that the court could decide certain outstanding issues. Thereafter, the court resolved the remaining issues and on August 29, 2005, and it entered a final judgment of divorce.
On November 10, 2005, the plaintiff filed a motion to set aside the judgment, arguing that the court had not considered her objections to the proposed judgment. The defendant filed a cross-motion to set aside the judgment. The trial court resolved the disagreements regarding the judgment and on January 17, 2006, entered an amended final judgment of divorce. Defendant appealed from the judgment. The Appellate Division affirmed. Marangos v. Marangos, No. A-3225-05 (App. Div. Dec. 6, 2006).
In October 2007, defendant filed a motion for a modification of his alimony and child support obligations based upon alleged changed circumstances. In November 2007, plaintiff filed a cross-motion in which she sought an order: (1) directing defendant to comply with a provision of the judgment that requires defendant to schedule sessions with a court-appointed evaluator “to corroborate his prescription regime and its effect, if any, on his parenting time,†suspending his parenting time with the children should he fail to comply, and directing that the evaluator’s report be provided to both parties so that any issues concerning parenting time could be presented to the court; (2) directing defendant to pay forty percent of the day care expenses for the children and entering judgment against defendant in the amount of $4,816; (3) directing defendant to pay his proportionate share of the college expenses for S.M., one of the parties’ children; (4) directing defendant to reimburse plaintiff for one-half of the school expenses for the parties’ children, and entering judgment against defendant for $1,347.09; (5) requiring defendant to provide documentation concerning certain patents and trademarks and any income earned therefrom; (6) directing defendant to pay his share of the uncovered medical expenses for the children and entering judgment against defendant in the amount of $394.88; (7) directing defendant to produce a signed and notarized authorization letter for the children’s health insurance benefits; (8) directing compliance by defendant with his life insurance obligations under the judgment; (9) directing defendant to contribute to certain private school education costs of the children; (10) directing defendant to pay plaintiff’s counsel fees and costs associated with the motions, and entering judgment against defendant for that amount; and (11) entering certain civil restraints against defendant.
The trial court then considered the motions on December 19, 2007, and it placed its decision on the record on that date. The court denied the defendant’s motion for modification of his alimony and child support obligations. The court also found that plaintiff’s cross-motion was procedurally improper because it did not relate back to the subject matter of defendant’s motion. The court stated that, “plaintiff had] seized upon [defendant’s] motion as a platform to reargue many of the issues that had previously been decided adverse to her without even a reference to these prior rulings.â€
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