You be the Judge: Un-Married

If you have a relationship with another person to whom you are not married, this may interest you.

New Jersey recognizes lawsuits for palimony to enforce promises of support made by one party to the other, though they are not married.

Often these lawsuits are determined by a careful analysis of the facts that are particular and unique about the relationship of the parties.  This includes the promises made and the reliance placed on those promises.

In a recent case, plaintiff and defendant had an intimate relationship for 20 years.  He purchased a condominium where she resided.  He paid for her expenses, her college education and the vacations they took together. 

During that time, he allegedly promised to divorce his wife, and to have a child with plaintiff, to buy her a home and to provide her with financial support.

But defendant continued to reside with his wife, and never divorced her.

When defendant ended the relationship with plaintiff, he ejected her from his condominium.  She filed a palimony suit and claimed that their attempts to have a child together made the relationship sufficiently akin to a marriage to warrant the enforcement of his promises.

YOU BE THE JUDGE: Can an unmarried person enforce promises made during an intimate relationship over many years where the parties did not live together?

The Appellate Division said no.  It held that cohabitation is an essential element of a palimony suit.  Actual cohabitation provides a form of notice to the parties--and to others--that the relationship may prompt certain legal and financial consequences.  Absent cohabitation, a suit for palimony cannot succeed.