Deciding to divorce is rarely easy, and the process itself can be taxing. Sorting out property division and visitation schedules can be especially difficult when emotions are running high. However, divorce is not the tedious, cut-and-dry process most people think it is. Nowadays, you have a few options when it comes to dissolving a marriage–and collaborative divorce is one of the best. Collaborative divorce works Read More

Not more than thirty years ago (I had barely hit puberty) the divorce laws in New York were radically different, beginning with the requirement that one of seven grounds must be plead and proved in order to be granted a dissolution of the sacred union. Prior to the 2010 enactment of N.Y. D.R.L. § 170(7) (“Irretrievable Breakdown of the Marriage Lasting More than Six Months”) unhappy couples  needed a really Read More

As a parent myself, I have thought about this question in philosophical and pragmatic terms.  As a parent, I must be present with and for my child.  I work hard to provide her with a comfortable life.  I listen to her problems and celebrate her joys.  I look her in the eye and put down my phone when she is telling me about her audition for the school play.  It means that I work from home when Read More

The right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, the right to marry, to have a family and raise them as we, as individuals, see fit.  These are only a handful of liberty interests protected by the Constitution of the United States.  Some of those fundamental rights were recently extended to same sex couples.  The  Obergefell v. Hodges decision was rendered last June (576 U.S. Read More

Divorce is not an event we plan for or imagine as we dream of ourselves in an episode of “Say Yes to the Dress” or perhaps more appropriate, “Bridesmaids”.  Although the divorce rate has declined over the past twenty years, and varies from state to state, the national average ratio of marriages ending in divorce remains 40%-50%.  The statistic is higher for second time marriages, up to 60% of which end in Read More

I recently visited with my parents out of state.  They are in their eighties, and sadly, health is beginning to decline.  My mother, who is now on oxygen around the clock broached the topic of amending their Will with me, which evidently has not been touched since 1977, and includes a clause for mine and my siblings care by a now deceased friend of the family.   In any event, she told me about her dear Read More

In February  2013, the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles promulgated an emergency regulation;  § 136.5(b)[5] which provided for multiple periods of mandatory and discretionary ineligibility to hold a driver’s license or apply for a restored driver’s license upon conviction of “two(2) or more alcohol or drug related convictions or incidents in any combination within 25 years preceding the date of Read More