Albany Child Custody Attorney Discusses Having an Order of Protection Against Your Spouse During Trial I am often asked as an experienced Albany Child Custody Attorney what the court proceeding is like with an order of protection against your spouse. If you and your spouse have Orders of Protection against each other, the court is…
The Importance of Paternity Rights When parents are married in New York State, it is presumed that the husband is the father of the child. However, when the parents are not married, the child does not actually have a legal father at the time of birth. There are two ways to establish paternity if the…
What Should My Attorney Have Access to for my Divorce Case? If you’re going to be filing for Divorce, there is a significant amount of information that your attorney is going to need. They are going to ask you questions about the history of your marriage, when you were married, how many children you have,…
The Criticality of a No-Fault Divorce Historically, In New York State, we had only Fault Grounds for Divorce. This resulted in substantial litigation, and it was not often about the Fault Grounds for Divorce. We litigated because the parties did not agree on the financial issues, which leveraged those issues through litigating Fault Grounds. Several…
Saratoga Child Custody Lawyer Discusses Grandparents Rights in a Custody Battle Question: Evan is our first grandson and he spends a lot of time with us, the father now wants a forensic study done with his mother as the second parent. We weren’t even asked to participate. The lawyer we have hired says we have no voice…
A Memorandum of Understanding When you go through a mediation process in New York, your mediator prepares an agreement at the conclusion of the mediation. That document is called a Memorandum of Understanding, also known as an MOU. That document is not signed by the parties, and it is not a valid or enforceable separation agreement.…
Order of Protection Information An Order of Protection is administered to keep someone that is harming you away. You can get an Order of Protection for two to five years, depending on the aggravating circumstances. Aggravating circumstances are when someone is using a weapon, using a gun, or physically harming you. Under these circumstances, the court…
Equitable Distribution in New York State New York is an Equitable Distribution state. Equitable means fair, and in the vast majority of cases in New York State, property is divided equally. It is New York public policy to value the contributions of the spouse who stays home to care for the family equally to the contributions…
Fear of Seeing the Defendant in Court If you’re afraid to see the respondent in court, notify a court officer once you arrive. If you don’t want to be around the respondent, don’t want to see them, or are scared that they are going to hurt you, that court officer can take you to a…
Calculating Bonuses into Child Support When child support is initially calculated on the non-custodial parent’s income, we or the court considers and assesses all of the sources of income that the parent has. Many support payers in sales, management, or executive positions receive a fair amount of income, by way of bonuses. Some courts will…
Post-Divorce Pension and Deferred Compensation Account Transition All property that is acquired during the marriage is divided in a Divorce in New York State. That includes all deferred compensation plans and defined benefit plans. A defined benefit plan is a plan that pays a specific amount of money every month after retirement. A deferred compensation…
Saratoga Divorce Lawyer Discusses Divorce Decree Statute of Limitations Question: I have not received the full amount of money from my ex-husband as stated in the divorce decree – this has caused me to not sign the quit claim on that home. Do I have to sign this or do I still own 1/2 of…