Area’s affluence cited as reason
for concentration
of highly regarded lawyers
By gloria stravelli
Staff Writer
John DeBartolo
While the average per capita income of residents of Monmouth County is among the highest in New Jersey, the county’s affluence also makes for a confluence of some of the region’s top matrimonial and divorce attorneys.
"It has something to do with the quality of life in Monmouth County," said attorney Bonnie M.S. Reiss. "I don’t think there are more divorces here. It’s simply that people who are well situated economically can afford lawyers with better reputations."
A recent survey confirms Reiss’ assessment that the county is big business for divorce lawyers — five of the top 10 practitioners of matrimonial and divorce law in Central New Jersey practice and/or reside in Monmouth.
"The Ten Leaders in Matrimonial & Divorce Law" surveyed attorneys in the central New Jersey counties of Monmouth, Middlesex, Somerset and Ocean. The survey by Digital Press International, a Fort Lee news service, was based on more than 170 interviews and referrals over a three-month period.
Noel Tonneman
According to DPI, more than half of the leaders are Monmouth attorneys.
In addition to Reiss, a partner in Paras, Apy & Reiss, Red Bank, the survey names area attorneys Philip Jacobowitz, of Jacobowitz, Grabelle, Defino, Latimer & Fradkin, Oakhurst; Noel Tonneman of Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer, Eatontown; John DeBartolo of Atkinson and DeBartolo, Red Bank; David Ansell of Ansell, Zaro, Grimm & Aaron, Ocean Township; and John P. Paone, a Rumson resident who practices with the firm of Paone & Zaleski, Woodbridge.
Reiss has served on the executive committee of the New Jersey Bar Association’s Family Law Section and on the state Supreme Court’s Family Practice Committee.
A Colts Neck resident, she began the practice of matrimonial law 22 years ago with Wilentz in Woodbridge, and eight years ago founded a practice in Monmouth County with two partners.
David Ansell
"When the firm started in 1996, I would say about 20 percent of my clients were in Monmouth County. Now 80 percent of the cases involve residents of Monmouth, and that’s a direct result of the move of affluent residents into the county, and attorney reputation," Reiss said.
Reiss said she sees her major role as guiding clients toward decisions that are in their best interest for the long term and helping them feel empowered to make economic decisions.
"You don’t do this if you don’t care about people, don’t want to help people," she said. "It’s not just a business deal."
Jacobowitz, who has practiced matrimonial and divorce law for more than 30 years, agreed that economics is the underlying factor that places some of the region’s top matrimonial law practitioners in the county.
Philip Jacobowitz
"I don’t think there’s a scientific reason for it," offered Jacobowitz, a founding partner of a firm of seven attorneys who focus exclusively on family law. "The real reason is that Monmouth County has a high per-capita income and people who get the higher economic cases seem to be situated in those areas."
A three-term chairman of the Family Law Section of the Monmouth Bar Association, Jacobowitz said the majority — 95 percent — of contested family law cases settle without going to trial.
"Only 5 percent get tried," he said, noting that the courts treat dissolutions (the legal term for divorce) as the unraveling of a commercial partnership.
That’s high stakes in a county like Monmouth, he noted.
Bonnie Reiss
"You’re dealing with economic issues, and Monmouth County is the third-highest county in the state in terms of per capita income," he said.
Jacobowitz estimated that 45-50 percent of marriages currently end in divorce but only 5 percent of dissolutions go to trial.
In addition to a population explosion in the county, Jacobowitz tied a continued rise in divorce cases to the fact that divorce laws became more lenient in the early 1970s.
Laws allowing "no fault" divorce brought a change in attitudes about staying in a marriage, he explained.
John Paone
"The court’s philosophy prior to the early ’70s was that the state had an interest in keeping marriages together and they made it difficult to get a divorce. Today the philosophy is, ‘If people are unhappy, we’re not going to keep them together,’ " he said. "Their whole view of divorce has changed dramatically."
According to Jacobowitz, a busy matrimonial attorney can juggle as many as 100 ongoing cases at a time.
"More than that and you’re stretching your ability to handle them," he said.
A county resident, Paone has been practicing matrimonial and divorce law for 20 years and said Monmouth’s geographic location is a factor in its attraction for family law practitioners.
"It’s fair to say it’s a major concentration of affluence in the county," Paone said. "But most of the major attorneys have practices beyond one or two counties. It probably has more to do with the fact that it’s more centrally located. People who are going through a divorce want quality representation and they’re willing to drive a half-hour to get it."
Since he began practicing matrimonial law 20 years ago, Paone said, a trend has been a change in the way domestic violence is viewed.
"Today people recognize that the type of violence and the emotional trauma that comes along with a bad marriage is not productive to raising children," he said.
According to Paone, attorneys handling matrimonial cases are often dealing with complex issues of child custody, assets, alimony and child support.
"I think a caseload of 25 to 35 cases at any one time is max," he said. "You have cases at various points, dealing with them, giving them time, appearing personally in court. It’s not a service you can hand over to others."
The cost of a divorce proceeding can range widely, he added.
"It’s a function of the hourly rate of the attorney and the number of attorney hours involved, and that is a function of how reasonable or unreasonable the parties are," he explained.
"I’ve seen cases where people have spent well over $100,000 in counsel fees in a divorce," he continued, "but you can get a divorce for as little as $5,000 when there are relatively few assets."
Ansell has practiced law for 42 years, most of that time as a matrimonial and divorce attorney, and is a member of a five-lawyer matrimonial law department at the firm.
A member of the New Jersey Bar Association since 1975, he is a member of the bar’s general council and has served as chairman of the Family Law Section.
The intent of a divorce proceeding, he said in a DPI profile, "is to create a fair settlement, and to create some stability, for everyone, including the children."
DeBartolo has been practicing matrimonial and divorce law for 20 years and is the incoming chair of the executive committee of the New Jersey Bar Association Family Law Section.
He is a member of the American and New Jersey bar associations and for more than a decade has served on the Early Settlement Panel of the Monmouth Bar Association.
A recent trend is the increasing number of contested divorce proceedings that end up in litigation, he told DPI .
Tonneman is on the executive committee of the New Jersey Bar Association, is a fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, and has served as an investigator for the New Jersey Supreme Court Ethics Committee.
The Fair Haven resident honed her skills as a litigator with a small firm in Red Bank, and joined Wilentz in its Eatontown office in 1988. She handles divorce issues ranging from custody and parental rights issues to post-judgment litigation.
In her DPI profile, Tonneman pointed out that the state’s legal community is currently grappling with the conflict between probate law and equitable distribution standards of divorce law.
Another issue attorneys face, she said, is a growing demand by clients for instant results that can be detrimental to both the quality of work as well as the results of the proceedings.