Your Life's Next Chapter

 In October, 2010, New York State became the last state in the country to recognize no-fault divorce.  This means that a spouse can seek the dissolution of the marriage based upon the “irretrievable breakdown in the marriage”.   So long as the economic issues are resolved by the parties or determined by the court, the marriage [...]

In New York State, the division of marital property and debts in a divorce is referred to as “equitable distribution”. Equitable distribution is not necessarily an equal fifty-fifty split of the assets and debts. Sometimes equitable distribution will comprise of an equal division of assets and debts and sometimes it will be an unequal allocation [...]

If my spouse committed adultery, do I get a larger portion of marital assets? In other words, if one spouse is to blame for the reason for divorce, will the “good” spouse be rewarded in court through a more favorable distribution of assets settlement? It would seem good reason that if there was misconduct on [...]

Today is a great day to show your appreciation for your father, brother, son. Don’t forget Father’s Day is coming. Now is the perfect time to “thank” your father for the amazing gift of life he has given you and to those who are fathers, to appreciate, the incredible life which came into this world [...]

Deciding whether to have a prenup is a tough decision even for a prince. However, it is probably a good idea regardless of whether you have accumulated wealth right now or not. You are probably going to accumulate lots of wealth during your marriage. Having a prenup is kind of like having insurance or a [...]

As you probably already have heard, New York State finally joined the other 49 states and has enacted a No Fault Divorce statute allowing couples who want to divorce, but who didn’t previously have a “reason” to now part ways without having to accuse their spouse of wrongdoing. However, this new statute came with some [...]

“Helping [sic] couples through divorce through mediation is a softer landing, and that is softer to everyone involved. Just think of these children on Christmas.” — Marietta Shipley (Tennessean Divorce Mediator and Attorney, and former Judge)

I wanted to share a success story with you: A few months ago, several couples came to my office seeking to divorce their spouses.  At the time, New York had not yet enacted the No Fault divorce and so the best option was to file a Separation Agreement, wait a year, and then submit legal [...]

Yesterday, Governor Paterson signed the bill into law – so couples no longer have to prove that they have the right to end their marriage.  Instead, effective October 14, 2010 the courts must grant a divorce where either spouse states under oath that for at least 6 months there was an “irretrievable breakdown in the [...]

One of the major differences between a litigated divorce and a mediated divorce is time and money. A mediated divorce can often be resolved in as little as 4-6 weeks for just  a few thousand dollars (or less, if the couple resolves the financial and visitation issues  and prepares the papers themselves) while a litigated [...]