Community Corner
Kayden's Law: What NJ's New Custody Rules Mean for Parents
Princeton attorney John Nachlinger on New Jersey's 2026 custody law, Kayden's Law, and what it changes for parents who separate.
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New Jersey quietly rewrote its child custody law this year, and family lawyers across the state are still working through what it means. On January 20, 2026, Governor Phil Murphy signed the bill on his last day in office. Most people now call it Kayden's Law.
For separating parents in Mercer County and beyond, the takeaway is short. When parents cannot agree, courts now put child safety first and give a child's own wishes more weight than before.
"A lot of folks hear 'new custody law' and brace for the worst," said John Nachlinger, a Princeton family law attorney and New Jersey Qualified Mediator atNetsquire. "For most families, the day-to-day factors a court looks at are the same. What shifted is how judges handle the hard, contested cases."
The law began as Senate Bill S4510 (Assembly Bill A5761) and became P.L. 2025, c.316, amending N.J.S.A. 9:2-4, the statute that governs custody and parenting time. It took effect the day it was signed and applies to pending and future cases. Its title says it "clarifies procedures in certain contested child custody cases," though many family lawyers read it as a substantial rewrite.
The Kayden's Law label points to where the law came from. It reflects a national set of child-safety protections tied to the 2022 reauthorization of the federal Violence Against Women Act, and New Jersey has built several of those safeguards into its own statute. Chief among them: child safety is now a threshold issue. A court addresses safety concerns first, before it turns to parenting schedules or shared time.
The law also retired a phrase that shaped custody cases for decades. The old statute opened by declaring it the state's policy to assure children "frequent and continuing contact with both parents." That presumption is gone. In its place, the law directs courts to decide each case on its own facts.
The biggest day-to-day change is the child's voice. A child's preference used to be one factor among many. Now, if a court orders a custody arrangement that goes against a child's expressed preferences, it has to place on the record the specific reasons for the arrangement and for setting the child's wishes aside. A child who is old enough and asks to speak with the judge must now be given that chance, whereas before, those interviews were left to the judge's discretion.
"A child's preference has long been on the list," Nachlinger said. "Now a judge has to explain, on the record, why they are going a different way. That changes how these cases actually play out."
When a court appoints a guardian ad litem or an attorney for a child, that person's role now includes voicing the child's stated preferences, spoken or written, unless they would put the child at imminent risk of substantial harm. If the child gave reasons, the court hears those too.
The amendment also tightens the rules on court-ordered therapy. Reunification therapy, which tries to rebuild a relationship between a child and an estranged parent, now generally requires good cause, the consent of both parties, a child of sufficient age, and proof that the method is scientifically valid with generally accepted evidence that it works.
"Most of this matters most when a case is contested and a judge has to decide," Nachlinger said. "Parents who build their own parenting plan still decide what works for their kids. That road is open, and for a lot of families it is the calmer one."
That contrast is the part Nachlinger wants parents to hear. The new rules shape what a judge does in a contested case. Parents who resolve custody by agreement, including through divorce mediation, keep far more say over the result, and the statute still directs courts to honor an arrangement both parents reach unless it runs against the child's best interests.
Lawmakers plan to watch how the reforms land. The law set aside funding for the Administrative Office of the Courts and for the Rutgers Institute for Families to study the results over the next few years, and follow-up bills to fine-tune the statute are already pending in Trenton.
Nachlinger's practical advice is steady. Do not coach or pressure a child about what to say, he said, because courts and evaluators look for it and it tends to backfire. Keep the focus on the child rather than the other parent. And for anyone weighing a divorce in New Jersey, remember that the calmer the process, the more control parents keep over the outcome.
"If you are a parent reading this and feeling uneasy, take a breath," Nachlinger said. "The law is aiming at the same thing most parents want, a decision that fits the actual child in front of the court."
About Netsquire
Netsquire is a New Jersey family law and divorce mediation firm based in Princeton, serving families across Mercer County and statewide. Founded by John Nachlinger, a New Jersey Qualified Mediator, the firm focuses on amicable, flat-fee divorce and custody resolutions that keep families out of court where possible.
To learn more, visit gethappydivorce.com.
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