Category Archives: Family
Parental Alienation: What is it and How Do the Courts Respond?
Parental alienation is when one parent attempts to turn the children against the other parent without a justified cause. The New York family law courts consider it harmful to the children. The courts can use parental alienation as the basis for determining issues related to child custody and whether or not child support should… Read More »
How Parental Gatekeeping Can Impact Your Child Custody Case
Parental gatekeeping describes a situation in which the custodial parent unilaterally decides to block or restrict the children’s access to the other parent. Parental gatekeeping can appear in many forms. These range from one parent attempting to shield the child from real harm to other forms of more insidious gatekeeping that involve parental alienation…. Read More »
Grandparents’ Rights in New York State
New York allows grandparents limited rights to visitation. Generally speaking, the right of a grandparent to visit with a child depends entirely on whether or not one or both of the child’s parents have died. Otherwise, there is no statutory right to visitation in New York State if both of the child’s parents are… Read More »
When Do the New York Courts Award Sole Custody of the Child
If you’re in a heated custody battle, you may be concerned about losing custody of your children. The New York courts default on the presumption that having both parents in the child’s life is in the best interests of the children. The best interests of the child standard is used to decide all custody… Read More »
How Does Legal Separation Differ From Divorce in New York?
Unlike some states, New York provides for legal separation agreements that allow you to separate without getting divorce. This is similar to divorce, but not quite the same. It’s available for spouses who aren’t certain they want to divorce, but need a change of scenery, at least for the short-term. Legal separation agreements can… Read More »
In New York, Child Support Can be Extended till the Age of 26
Child support fills a valuable purpose in New York State. It ensures that both parents fulfill their financial obligations toward their children. The general rule is that the parent who has residential custody of the child is entitled to recover child support from the non-custodial parent. This parent pays child support on a monthly… Read More »
Appeals Court Discusses Property Characterization in New York Divorce
Some people believe that the wife gets half of everything that the husband earns. This belief lacks nuance and fails to understand how the law works. Generally speaking, any property income, or asset you acquired during the marriage is property of the marital estate. When a divorce occurs, the marital estate is divested and… Read More »
What is the Best Interests of the Child Standard in New York State?
When determining child custody, judges have to base their decision on some standard to determine how custody arrangements will be made. Prior to the “best interests of the child standard,” most states favored mothers in custody disputes and would assign them the bulk of the custody rights and parenting time. Today, we use a… Read More »
Setting Up a Successful Parenting Plan
Navigating the complexities of co-parenting after a divorce is challenging. Your life will change in ways that you’ve yet to anticipate. You and your former spouse will have to sit down and discuss issues such as visitation schedules and custody arrangements for your children. If you and your former spouse cannot reach an agreement,… Read More »
Benefits of Mediation for High-Asset Divorces
Regardless of whether you want to, New York State requires divorcing couples to at least attempt to resolve their matters in mediation prior to taking their case to trial. During trial, a judge will decide all matters or those that could not be resolved in mediation. But making a good-faith effort to resolve your… Read More »