The topic of parental rights has become more difficult to understand in recent years, as technology and science has developed to bring children into the world in unconventional ways. One of these is by way of gestational carrier, otherwise known as a surrogate. In the 1980s, New Jersey’s Supreme Court ruled that a surrogate has the right to keep the child if she chooses to. At that time, the surrogate was usually the biological mother of the child who donated her egg and agreed to simply carry the child and surrender her rights to the adoptive parent/mother and biological father. Today, though, it is possible for a woman to carry a fetus that she has no biological connection to. This has created an issue in surrogate situations today in that the law has yet to catch up to reproductive science.
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Tag: child custody
How Do Criminal Convictions Affect Child Custody in New Jersey?
When couples who have a child or children divorce, one of the most important decisions that will be made is which party will get custody. In New Jersey, there are several types of child custody, including temporary, sole, joint, and split. When a child custody dispute is brought before a New Jersey family court, a judge will look into a number of factors to determine what is in the best interest of the child or children. Some of the factors to be considered are the physical safety of the child or children and fitness of each parent. Due to the fact that character and propensities are relevant to determining these factors, a judge may find a parent’s criminal history to be a significant factor in child custody proceedings.
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