Randazzo v. Randazzo

On June 28,2005 the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in Randazzo v. Randazzo that family court judges have the discretion to order the sale of marital assets prior to a final judgment of divorce when the circumstances of the case so justify. The Justices stated that the standard will be whether such a sale serves the best interests of the parties.

This ruling lays to rest a body of New Jersey decisional law which only permitted the pre-divorce sale of assets in hardship situations such as an imminent foreclosure or in other limited circumstances. The ruling unbinds matrimonial lawyers by allowing them to advance positions to the court which would have had far less chance of success under the old law such as the need to free up dollars for ongoing living expenses, college tuition and other reasons on a case-by-case basis.