Does every application for a removal of a child require a full blown out plenary hearing?
No, not every relocation case requires a full plenary hearing. Plenary hearing are very time consuming, they are constantly adjourned, and they cost big bucks. Moreover, the family courts simply do not have the personnel and the time to conduct as many plenary hearings as they schedule. For the past five years, the major rage in the family courts has been to schedule a plenary hearing for every post-judgment application. This rage may be slowing down some. An interesting case is Barblock v. Barblock, 383 N.J. Super. 114 (App. Div. 2006) . In this case the issue was whether the trial court committed an error by granting plaintiff-mother’s application to remove the parties’ two minor children to Buffalo, New York in the absence of a plenary hearing? The Appellate Division held no error was committed by not holding a plenary hearing. More specifically, the Barblock court held that trial court did not commit an error in granting the mother’s removal application in the absence of a plenary
