What is the difference between an uncontested case versus a contested case in terms of how it moves forward?

All cases are contested from the beginning. Uncontested means you’ve settled your issues, contested means you are litigating your issues. Up until the point that you settled your issues, the case is contested. Uncontested case means that we settled the issues, there’s a property and settlement agreement, and we’re about to go into court and put the terms of our agreement on the record and it’s over. Ultimately, you would call it a non-trial case or a case where ultimately you’re not going to go before the judge, call witnesses, and lay out all of the proofs that you may have collected during the course of the litigated process and engage in a trial.

Rosalyn Charles is a family lawyer practicing in Newark, New Jersey.