ASSEMBLY JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

 

STATEMENT TO

 

ASSEMBLY, No. 79

 

with committee amendments

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

DATED: JUNE 10, 1996

 

      The Assembly Judiciary Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 79

      This bill amends N.J.S.2A:34-25 to provide that a former spouse who remarries while receiving permanent alimony would be required to inform the payor spouse of the remarriage.

      The committee amended the bill to modify the language of the bill to require the former spouse to "promptly" inform the payor spouse rather than "immediately" and included notification to any collecting agency . The committee declined to set a specific time that notice must be given e.g. "within 30 days of the remarriage" but felt that "promptly" offered a reasonable guideline. The use of "immediately" may have conveyed a sense that the notice had to follow immediately upon the second ceremony.

      Under the provisions of the bill as introduced the court would be required to order an alimony recipient who fails to comply with this notification provision to pay any attorney fees and court costs incurred by the payor spouse as a result of such non-compliance. The committee amendments make this provision permissive and clarify that the attorney fees must be reasonable.

      This bill embodies Recommendation 16 of the report of the Commission to Study the Laws of Divorce, issued April 18, 1995.

      This bill was prefiled for introduction in the 1996 session pending technical review. As reported, the bill includes the changes required by technical review which has been performed.