Some attorneys handle appeals. Others help define the law that New Jersey trial courts must follow. For over three decades, Certified Matrimonial Law Attorney Brian G. Paul has appeared as counsel in more than 95 family law appeals—including 14 before the New Jersey Supreme Court— shaping New Jersey’s law on alimony, equitable distribution, and custody, and influencing landmark decisions on child support, parental relocation, and grandparent visitation.
When the issue is not simply whether a result feels wrong, but whether the trial court committed a legal error that can survive appellate review, experience alone is not enough.
Appellate impact matters.
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Over the past decade, Brian’s appellate advocacy and amicus work have influenced nearly every major New Jersey Supreme Court family law decision. His work has helped define the legal standards governing alimony, custody, equitable distribution, parental relocation, palimony, cohabitation, and grandparent visitation in New Jersey. This is not an appeals practice built on volume alone, but on precedent, judgment, and appellate credibility.
Clients and referring counsel turn to Brian in high-stakes family law matters because appellate cases are won by disciplined issue selection, command of the standard of review, and the ability to persuade an appellate panel when the law must be enforced, corrected, or clarified.
Whether you are challenging a ruling or referring an appeal, you receive candid evaluation—including determining whether it is strategic to first file NJ reconsideration motions in family law—direct collaboration, and appellate strategy grounded in decades of focused experience.
The following appellate decisions illustrate how Brian G. Paul's advocacy has helped shape New Jersey family law—from alimony and custody to parental relocation, grandparent visitation, cohabitation, palimony, and prenuptial agreements.
The Supreme Court clarified the standard for investigating cohabitation in alimony termination matters. A payor may compel discovery by showing a marriage-like relationship without proving shared finances.
Learn more →The Supreme Court struck down the attorney-review mandate for palimony agreements, ensuring that consenting adults may enter enforceable support contracts without counsel.
Learn more →Redefined New Jersey’s child-relocation standard, requiring all interstate relocation requests to be decided based on the child’s best interests.
Learn more →Rejected the informal “15-year” rule for permanent alimony and reaffirmed that all statutory factors must be evaluated in determining duration.
Learn more →Invalidated a prenuptial agreement and mid-marriage amendment for lack of disclosure and counsel; reversed a trial court’s support award that ignored the established marital lifestyle.
Learn more →Reversed for failure to quantify the marital lifestyle, confirming that pendente lite budgets cannot replace the marital standard of living.
Learn more →Recognized a “savings component” in alimony where the marital lifestyle included regular savings—now a leading precedent statewide.
Learn more →Established parents’ right to arbitrate custody disputes with judicial safeguards, shaping modern private-resolution practices in family law.
Learn more →When a family court ruling carries serious financial or custodial consequences, the right appellate lawyer is not simply someone who handles appeals. It is someone who understands how appellate judges analyze legal error, how standards of review limit or expand the path to reversal, and how precedent can determine the outcome before the first page of the brief is written.
We focus on high-stakes family law appeals throughout New Jersey, including alimony appeals, equitable distribution appeals, custody appeals, high-net-worth divorce appeals, and complex issues involving enforcing a NJ divorce judgment. Learn more about Brian’s background, review our Frequently Asked Questions, or apply for a comprehensive, $1,500 flat-fee appellate consultation.