Legal Question in Tax Law in New Jersey

Re: Tax Non- profits

While this web site is not to be used for educational purposes, I will try to answer your question. Preseuming that a particular state court has a novel issue (one never decided in that state), the Judge would look to laws of other states for guidence in making a decision. Attorneys for both sides will provide the Judge with Memorandums of Law (Briefs) citing the decisions of other states on the issue involved, and may even cite Federal Law, depending upon the issue involved. Keep in mind that opposing attorneys will only cite laws favorable to their positions, so both favorable and unfavorable decisions will ultimately be presented by both sides. Finally, most judges will only consider the decisions from the highest state or federal court, unless the lower court's decision has never made it to the highest state court. NJ's Tax Court is considered a lower court, and its decisions can be appealed. Thus, anyone doing reasearch on an issue must look at all court decisions in a state to determine what is the final, current law on the issue, and cannot just pick a favorable decision that might have been reversed.