Your Life's Next Chapter

If you know anyone who has been through a litigated divorce they probably have told you about their frustration, how long it took, and they probably complain about the outcome and the expense.  Fortunately, not every divorce needs to be litigated.  In fact, I believe that anyone involved in a divorce does not have to [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]