Rule 5:15-1.When and by Whom Filed
Last amended January 1, 1987 · Current through September 1, 2026 · Last verified September 8, 2026
Full Text of Rule 5:15-1
Amendment History
New Jersey publishes each rule’s amendment record in a “Note” beneath the rule. It is reproduced verbatim below; a “Source” line names the former rule the current one grew out of, and “R. (1969)” citations refer to the earlier numbering it replaced.
Note: Source--new. Adopted December 20, 1983, to be effective December 31, 1983; amended November 5, 1986 to be effective January 1, 1987.
Plain-English Summary
The petition is a last step, not a first one. Court Intake Services files it when, in the judgment of a crisis intervention unit, a juvenile-family crisis as the statute defines it continues to exist despite the provision of crisis intervention services and the exhaustion of appropriate community services.
Two conditions therefore have to be met before a family reaches a courtroom: services were actually provided, and they did not work. The court is the remedy for a crisis that has outlasted everything else available.
The second sentence keeps this route from swallowing others. Where the facts alleged are primarily governed by other specific statutes, no petition is filed under this rule — Court Intake Services proceeds as the law otherwise requires. A case that is really about abuse or neglect, or about delinquency, belongs under those provisions instead.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who files a juvenile-family crisis petition?
Court Intake Services, when in the judgment of a crisis intervention unit a juvenile-family crisis continues to exist despite crisis intervention services and the exhaustion of appropriate community services.
Can a parent file this petition?
The rule places the filing with Court Intake Services rather than with family members.
What if the facts really describe something else?
Where the facts alleged are primarily governed by other specific statutes, a petition is not filed under this rule; Court Intake Services proceeds as otherwise required by law.