Sponsored by:
Senator LORETTA WEINBERG
District 37 (Bergen)
SYNOPSIS
Permits the use of electronic communication in child custody arrangements that include parenting time.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning parenting time and supplementing chapter 2 of Title 9 of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. A court-ordered custody arrangement which includes parenting time provisions may include provision for the use of electronic communication.
As used in this act, “parenting time” means in-person time spent between the child’s parent with whom the child does not reside and the child. In appropriate circumstances, it may include electronic communication under conditions and at times determined by the court. The term “electronic communication” means time that a parent spends with his or her child during which the child is not in the parent’s actual physical custody, but which is facilitated by the use of communication tools such as the telephone, electronic mail, instant messaging, video conferencing or other wired or wireless technologies via the Internet, or another medium of communication.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill provides that the court may order parenting time provisions that include the use of electronic communication. The term “parenting time” as used in the amended bill means in-person time spent between the child’s parent with whom the child does not reside and the child. The bill provides that in appropriate circumstances, parenting time may include electronic communication under conditions and at times determined by the court.
Under the bill, the term “electronic communication” means time that a parent spends with his or her child during which the child is not in the parent’s actual physical custody, but which is facilitated by the use of communication tools such as the telephone, electronic mail, instant messaging, video conferencing or other wired or wireless technologies via the Internet, or another medium of communication.
This bill is based on a 2009 Illinois enactment, Public Act 0960331.