What Constitutes a Legal Notice?
A legal notice is a notification that is published in an official medium and it is meant to inform the public about the happening of legal proceedings and other matters of official communications.
The Function of Asbury Park Press in the Publication of Legal Notices
The Asbury Park Press has actually been in operation over 150 years, since 1878. The Asbury Park Press is Tri-City News’ statewide network which also includes the Courier-Post, The Daily Journal and The Home News Tribune. The Press is a regional leader in print and online media that publishes many legal notices including foreclosures, marriages, deaths and more.
The Press circulates regionally (Middlesex and parts of Monmouth and Ocean counties). Additionally, the Press has a statewide network of other newspapers in NJ that Tri-City News can work with to meet legal notice requirements when filings are required outside of the Press’ local coverage area.
Published estimates from 2007 predict that almost 150,000 people will read each notice in the Press, if it is published in the Sunday paper. Of course, if the notice was published in the Wednesday or Thursday paper, that number would be substantially lower because the Press has a statewide network with Thursdays’ being the slowest news day, and it’s difficult to get people to read the paper.
Just over 100,000 people would read the notice if published on a Saturday due to there being more Saturday papers published in the area.
Overall, what this means is that a legal notice published in the Press’ is very likely to reach most of the residents in the Press’ coverage areas and reasonably at most of those residents will see the notice.
Various Types of Legal Notices Printed
Section 3: Types of Legal Notices Published
Legal notices published in the Asbury Park Press cover a wide range of categories within municipal government. Notices are typically published for zoning and planning decisions, declarations of foreclosures, sales of surplus property, proposed ordinances and other rules, tax increases, and sales of property for delinquent taxes or municipal utility charges. Noteworthy events such as gubernatorial elections, public hearings, and meetings of public agencies also receive legal notice in the Asbury Park Press.
Municipalities publish probate notices, which include estate filings in Surrogate’s court, the appointment of administrators, the probate of wills, and estate and trust settlement proceedings. Certain court filings in connection with foreclosure actions, guardianships, divorce actions, and other matters may also require publication in the Asbury Park Press or other official newspaper designated by the county.
How to Find Legal Notices in Asbury Park Press
The Asbury Park Press publishes numerous legal notices for the purposes of complying with the law, both state and local. The publication of legal notices in newspapers are considered legal advertising, and the Asbury Park Press publishes legal advertisements for clients throughout the state of New Jersey.
Legal advertisements include adoptions, borrowings, estates, foreclosures, public and private auctions, as well as ordinances, resolutions and public notices. After the expiration of the period for a party to respond to a legal notice, the Asbury Park Press may publish and distribute a list of any debtors who are in default on the amount owed to public or private entities to assist in notifying interested parties .
Readers of the Asbury Park Press can access legal notices both in print and online through the Press’ website. Online, readers can use a database maintained by website publisher CVC, Inc. That online database allows readers to input dates for their area of interest, and the notices and related court orders returned in the search results can be further refined through filters for publication newspaper, date, type the notification concerns, name of the debtor or court case number. Readers can request that specific notices be emailed to them directly. Readers can also access legal notices by purchasing back issues of the Asbury Park Press, though archived copies do not have the remnant value of online notices, as the online copies remain searchable records.
The Significance of Legal Notices for the Public
The Asbury Park Press provides a valuable service to the community through its legal notices. These announcements are crucial for local residents, businesses, and legal professionals as they work to stay informed of important matters in the area. The transparency these notices afford the public ensures that no citizen is left in the dark when it comes to significant developments within the community.
For residents, legal notices can serve as valuable information about upcoming legislative changes, zoning issues, and other matters that could impact them directly. This allows local citizens to voice any concerns or objections while remaining active participants in their community. Businesses, too, have a stake in the legal notices. These notices provide transparency on local government decisions, allowing business owners to adjust their strategies or operations accordingly. For legal professionals, legal notices can be an essential tool for documenting services provided and keeping up to date with relevant laws and regulations, which can be particularly useful for those operating in multiple municipalities. By publishing these legal announcements, the Asbury Park Press helps to preserve the transparency and informed citizenship that empower the community at large.
The Necessary Conditions for the Publication of Legal Notices
As with most things operated by municipalities, there have been laws passed on both the state and federal level that control and limit what can and cannot be published in a newspaper. Aside from several "general" requirements, such as requiring that the announcement be made in a "substantial" location where the parties do business, that the publication make it "substantially" clear to the people to whom the notice is intended, that notification be "reasonably likely to reach" the expected parties, that where it be "clearly" identified and concise, the notice will be "conspicuously" made if at least 20% of the space in the paper is allotted to it, etc. (See "Specific" guidelines below for more info on the "substantial, general, of the business, reasonably likely to reach, reasonable notice to persons, clearly and concisely, conspicuously and 20% of the space" qualifications; these are all listed and defined in the second statute.) All of the criteria above are clear statements regarding what is acceptable to satisfy a legal requirement; however, the guidelines also contain some more ambiguous requirements, such as the requirement that the publication be made in a "newspaper" as defined by the statute, or to be made "reasonably likely" to be seen by the intended parties. The "substantial," "generally" requirements, have been brought up here because they do seem to be relative to the cost issue mentioned above. In summary , the legislature has tried to set forth some general guidelines to which both municipality’s and laypeople’s notices must adhere. These are good legal requirements to go by and should definitely be followed. Unfortunately, the criteria that are listed above are written and passed by humans, therefore a judge cannot see "reasonably likely" or "substantial" in exactly the same way the next person might, and the court will always have the final say should you decide to challenge the rules and regulations put forth on this matter. The Asbury Park Press strives to satisfy all the requirements of state government. In fact, as previously stated, the State of New Jersey has established certain legal requirements (N.J.S.A. 35:4-43, 44, 46, and 47) which must be followed in order to correctly publish legal notices. In order to comply with the law, newspapers generally find it easier to publish notices in whole sections of the paper, usually on "public announcement" pages and table of contents. This assures that all notices of this nature will be in particular, regularly scheduled sections of the newspaper. This "guideline" is also enforced by the Asbury Park Press, and in order to ensure that these announcements, which may be placed in "random" locations throughout the paper, really should be place in their own sections of the paper, so that the "public announcement" and "classifies" sections are completely separate and identifiable.
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