Category Archives: Family Law
Relocating With the Children After Divorce
After a divorce, the parent with primary custody of the children may have a need to relocate to another area for work, family or other reasons. Whether a court will grant a custodial parent’s request to move depends on what is deemed to be in the children’s best interests. One consideration for a court deciding […]
Splitting Business Interests When You Split with Your Spouse
If you own all or part of a business enterprise and you’re getting divorced, your stake in the company may be not be yours to keep. Your spouse may be entitled to an equitable share of your ownership, even if he or she played no part in acquiring or running the business. The key question […]
Enforcing Child Custody and Visitation Rights in New York
Child custody and visitation disputes are common during and after a divorce. Society generally favors having minor children maintain a close relationship with both parents, even when they live in separate households. Unless otherwise ordered by a court, people have a right to see their minor children. However, enforcing those rights can be challenging. In […]
New Law Requires NY Judges to Consider Pets’ “Best Interests” in Deciding on Possession
New York has recently passed a law that greatly affects how household pets are treated in divorce cases. Judges are now required “to consider the best interest of a companion animal” in deciding which of the divorcing spouse takes possession. This is a significant development in New York domestic relations law and might be an […]
How Easing of COVID Rules is Affecting the NY Family Courts
As COVID-19 swept the country, court operations in New York came to a virtual standstill under lockdown orders. In-person trials, conferences and hearings were postponed indefinitely. Despite the innovative use of videoconferencing technology for some proceedings, case dockets swelled as new cases were being filed and older cases were on hold. Now, as schools, restaurants […]
How Does a Spouse’s Wasting of Marital Assets Affect a Divorce?
When it comes to dividing property in a divorce, New York is an equitable distribution state. Most of the assets and debts acquired by either spouse during the marriage are considered marital property and are divided fairly, though not necessarily equally. The judge will take various factors into consideration in making an equitable distribution, such […]
Should You and Your Spouse Have Mirror Wills?
When a married couple plans their estate, they often create identical wills, also known as “mirror wills.” This arrangement makes sense to spouses who want the same things when they pass away. Typically, each spouse leaves all their property to the other or to their children if the other spouse dies first. Mirror wills may […]
N.Y. Legislature Mulls Bill to Establish Presumption of Shared Parenting
If you’re considering a divorce and you have minor children, it’s understandable that you might be nervous about what to expect when it comes to child custody. Under current New York law, judges apply a range of criteria to determine whether custody should be granted principally to one parent, which would leave the other parent […]
New York Adds Domestic Violence as a Factor to Consider in Equitable Distribution
New York State divorce courts now weigh domestic violence as a factor when making decisions about how to divide property among the spouses. Under a revised statute that took effect in 2020, courts must now consider “whether either party has committed an act or acts of domestic violence … against the other party and the […]
Does the COVID-19 Response Justify Modification of Visitation Rights?
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread, it’s natural for parents to wonder if the risk of contracting the virus should impact their child visitation plan. New York was hit particularly hard by COVID-19, and parents may be tempted to simply keep their child at home rather than risk spread of the disease by carrying […]
