Frank J. LaRocca

Frank J. LaRocca is the senior managing partner of LaRocca Hornik Rosen Greenberg & Crupi, LLC and a Certified Matrimonial Law Attorney, a designation granted by the Supreme Court of New Jersey to attorneys who satisfy rigorous standards concerning experience, education, knowledge, and professional reputation.

For more than 30 years, Frank has represented clients in complex divorce and family-law matters throughout New Jersey. His practice is concentrated on high-asset and high-conflict cases involving closely held businesses, professional practices, executive compensation, real estate, sophisticated financial holdings, disputed income, child custody, relocation, domestic violence, and other issues capable of affecting a family for years after the litigation ends.

Frank is both a strategist and a courtroom lawyer. He works to identify the issues that genuinely matter, separate them from the noise that often surrounds a divorce, and develop a practical path toward resolution. When negotiation, mediation, or arbitration can produce the right result, he uses those processes effectively. When trial or appellate intervention becomes necessary, he brings decades of substantial courtroom experience to the case.

Relying on his education in psychology and his pre-law experience in finance, clients frequently rely on Frank when the facts are complicated, the stakes are substantial, or the litigation has reached a critical point. His approach combines careful preparation, direct advice, financial sophistication, and an understanding that even the most complex matrimonial case remains deeply personal to the people involved.

Complex Divorce and Financial Litigation

Frank represents business owners, executives, professionals, entrepreneurs, spouses, and parents in divorce cases involving substantial or difficult-to-value marital estates.

His financial practice includes matters involving:

• Valuation and distribution of closely held businesses and professional practices
• Executive compensation, bonuses, deferred compensation, and employment benefits
• Analysis of actual income and earning capacity
• Forensic accounting and lifestyle analysis
• Claims involving hidden, transferred, dissipated, or separately owned assets
• Real estate, investment accounts, retirement assets, and other complex holdings
• Alimony and above-guidelines child support
• Tax consequences arising from divorce
• Enforcement and interpretation of marital settlement agreements
• Prenuptial and postnuptial agreements
• Bankruptcy issues affecting matrimonial obligations

Frank has handled highly contested financial cases through conclusion, including a complex matrimonial trial conducted over approximately six months. He regularly works with valuation experts, forensic accountants, employability specialists, mental-health professionals, real-estate appraisers, and other experts whose analysis may be central to a case.

His experience allows him to understand both the legal and practical significance of financial evidence—and to test whether an opposing expert’s assumptions actually withstand examination.

Child Custody and Parenting Disputes

Frank represents parents in difficult custody and parenting-time matters, including cases involving relocation, parental fitness, school selection, psychological evaluations, substance-use allegations, supervised parenting time, interference with the parent-child relationship, and requests for emergency relief.

He has handled heavily contested custody proceedings, including an eight-day trial involving significant parenting and custodial issues.

Frank approaches custody matters with the understanding that courtroom victories alone do not necessarily produce healthy families. His objective is to protect the parent-child relationship while developing an arrangement that is workable, durable, and focused on the child’s welfare.

When immediate court intervention is necessary, however, he is prepared to act decisively.

Domestic Violence and Emergent Litigation

Frank has extensive experience representing plaintiffs and defendants in domestic-violence proceedings and related family-court litigation. He has tried domestic-violence and contempt matters through conclusion, including a contested proceeding lasting approximately five days.

His experience includes cases involving temporary and final restraining orders, alleged harassment, stalking, coercive control, electronic communications, surveillance, financial restraints, possession of the marital residence, and the interaction between domestic-violence proceedings and pending custody or divorce litigation.

Because decisions made during the earliest stage of a case may shape everything that follows, Frank focuses on preserving evidence, identifying the actual legal issues, and preventing temporary accusations or tactical advantages from becoming permanent outcomes.

Trials, Arbitration, and Appeals

Frank has appeared extensively before the Superior Court of New Jersey and has handled matters in Family Parts throughout the state, including Monmouth, Bergen, Ocean, Middlesex, Essex, Passaic, Somerset, Morris, and Hunterdon Counties.

He has argued before the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, in matters involving:

• Child custody and parenting time
• Domestic violence
• Alimony and support
• Equitable distribution
• Jurisdiction
• Enforcement of judgments and settlement agreements
• Procedural and constitutional issues arising in family litigation

Frank has also argued matrimonial-law issues before the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

In addition to traditional litigation, he represents clients in private arbitration and mediation. His trial background is particularly valuable in these settings because he can evaluate a proposed resolution against the likely cost, risk, and potential outcome of continued litigation.

Court Appointments and Judicial Service

Frank’s professional experience includes service as a New Jersey municipal court judge. He currently serves as Municipal Court Judge for the Borough of Red Bank and the City of Long Branch and previously served as Municipal Court Judge for the Borough of Keyport.

He has also been appointed or selected to serve in matters involving:

• Family Part contempt proceedings
• Matrimonial receiverships
• Parental-rights termination proceedings
• General Equity competency proceedings
• Attorney ethics and fee-arbitration matters

Frank has served on District Ethics and Fee Arbitration Committees associated with the Supreme Court of New Jersey’s Office of Attorney Ethics.

His judicial service is separate from his private practice and is not intended to suggest any special influence with a court or governmental body.

Professional Leadership

Frank is active in New Jersey’s legal community and has served in leadership, educational, and professional roles involving both matrimonial and municipal law.

His professional activities have included:

• Member, New Jersey State Bar Association Family Law Executive Committee
• Member, New Jersey State Bar Association Family Law Section
• Member, New Jersey Family Law American Inn of Court
• Chair and panelist, Superior Court of New Jersey Mandatory Early Settlement Program
• Member, Supreme Court of New Jersey District Ethics Committee
• Member, Supreme Court of New Jersey District Fee Arbitration Committee
• President, Monmouth County Municipal Court Judges Association

Frank has also lectured for attorneys, accountants, and other professionals on divorce, taxation, equitable distribution, custody, valuation, premarital agreements, second marriages, and related ethical issues.

Representative Lectures and Programs

• Death, Taxes & Divorce: Planning for Marital Relationships — New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education
• Innocent Spouse Relief: Ethical Obligations & Practical Solutions — New Jersey Association of Certified Public Accountants
• Equitable Distribution in Divorce Settlements: Valuation, Tax and Other Issues — National Business Institute
• Child Custody and Visitation in New Jersey — National Business Institute
• Issues Raised by Second Marriages — New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education
• Issues Affecting Equitable Distribution — New Jersey Association of Certified Public Accountants
• Divorce Law in New Jersey — National Business Institute

Areas of Focus

• Complex and high-asset divorce
• Business and professional-practice valuation
• Equitable distribution
• Alimony and child support
• Child custody and parenting time
• Relocation
• Domestic violence
• Prenuptial and postnuptial agreements
• Mediation and arbitration
• Post-judgment enforcement and modification
• Family-law appeals

Certification

• Certified Matrimonial Law Attorney, Supreme Court of New Jersey, 2004–present

Bar Admissions

• New Jersey, 1996
• United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
• United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
• United States Tax Court
• United States Supreme Court

Education

• Pace University School of Law, Juris Doctor, 1995
• William Paterson University, Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, 1988

Honors and Recognition

• Selected to the New Jersey Super Lawyers list, 2006–2026
• Selected to the Top 100 New Jersey Super Lawyers list, 2009–2015 and 2021–2026
• Martindale-Hubbell peer-review recognition
• Recognized by Ten Leaders of Matrimonial and Divorce Law
• Recognized among Ten Leaders of Monmouth and Middlesex Counties