Upon a divorce, former spouses can seek alimony and equitable distribution of the property that was acquired during the marriage. Former unmarried partners, however, cannot seek alimony or equitable distribution of property accumulated during the relationship. Instead unmarried partners have to rely on common law concepts and equitable grounds of relief for any type of recovery. Unfortunately, in many cases the concepts of contract law and equitable jurisprudence are not well suited to solve family-type problems.
The New Jersey statutory law offers very little relief to unmarried cohabitants. Alimony awards are only limited to cases of divorce. There is no statutory framework to guide unmarried couples through support and equitable distribution issues.
Over the course of the last twenty-five years, the New Jersey courts have recognized the dramatic increase in the number of unmarried partner households living here. The courts have tried to reconcile the existing statutory law with the reality that there is an increasing amount of unmarried couples living in New Jersey. The courts have recognized that unmarried people face the same issues at the end of their relationship to those confronted by divorcing married couples. In summary, when unmarried partners split up in New Jersey, there are various theories of legal liability can be asserted. These include palimony, breach of contract, or the request for the partition of jointly held assets.
5. What are the major cases that deal with cohabitant disputes?
There are three seminal cases that have been decided since 1979 that have carved out unmarried cohabitants rights. In the three landmark cases of Kozlowski v. Kozlowski, 80 N.J. 378 (1979); Crowe v. DeGioia, 90 N.J. 126 (1982); and In re Roccamonte, 174 N.J. 381 (2002), the New Jersey Supreme Court has created contractual remedies for some types of cohabitant family-type disputes. More specifically, these cases involve disputes that arise after one member of a couple breaks a promise to support or provide for the other member in some way.
As a result of these cases, the following principles are now well settled law in New Jersey:
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