In jQuery, trying to get next-item-not-having-a-specific-class

Use the nextAll method: http://api.jquery.com/next/

$('div.focus').nextAll('div:not(.hidden)').filter(':first');

This will find the next div after .focus that is not .hidden

try this!

$("#CONTAINER").find("div.focus").next('div[class!="hidden"]')

The below statement should solve your problem. $("#CONTAINER").find("div.focus").nextAll("div").not(".hidden").first();