The courts prefer to keep siblings together for stability, companionship and close family ties. “Young brothers and sisters need each other’s strengths and association in their everyday and often common experiences, and to separate them, unnecessarily, is likely to be traumatic and harmful.” Obey v. Degling, 37 N.Y.2d 768 (1975). However, the courts will order split custody if it’s in …
New York Child Custody Law: So What Exactly is “Legal Custody?”
Legal custody refers to the parent or parents that have decision-making authority over “major decisions” regarding the child, such as non-emergency medical care, religion, education, and extracurricular activities. When you think of the phrase “legal custody,” replace it with the phrase “decision-making” (e.g., sole decision-making or joint decision-making). Please note that “day-to-day” decisions are made with the parent who has …
New York Child Custody Law: So What Exactly is “Physical Custody”?
The term “physical custody” or “residential custody” is who the child(ren) live with primarily (i.e., over 50% of the time by looking at overnight stays and “waking hours”). There are two main options with physical custody: (1) Primary Physical Custody with Visitation to the non-custodial parent – Primary physical custody to one parent while giving the other parent reasonable visitation/parenting …
Overview of the Law on Child Custody in New York
Determinations of custody are based on the “best interest of the child.” See DRL § 70; DRL § 240; see Eschbach v. Eschbach, 56 N.Y.2d 167 (N.Y. 1982); see Welsh v. Lewis, 292 A.D.2d 536 (2nd Dept., 2002) (emphasis added). These factors include, inter alia: (1) The parent who has been the primary caretaker; (2) The age and health …
Overview of Family Law or Divorce Mediation Process
Initial Consultation It is recommended that parties considering a mediation first have an initial consultation with the mediator. This initial consultation can be via the telephone or in-person. The parties may choose to have the initial consultation together or separately. During this stage, the mediator oftentimes will have the parties sign a confidentiality agreement, explaining that everything stated during the …
Sample Mediation Chapter from the New Family Law Book
I’m excited to share a sample chapter of my newest book, “Onward and Upward: Guide for Getting Through Divorce & Family Law Issues.” You can find my chapter on Mediation, here or here. Mediation can be a great form of Alternative Dispute Resolution (“ADR”) to help people through any type of family law dispute including child custody and parenting time disputes, …
Video About Onward and Upward: Guide for Getting Through New York Divorce and Family Law Issues
I’m really excited to share the video about my new book “Onward and Upward: Guide for Getting Through New York Divorce & Family Law Issues.” I’m really proud and excited about the finished product of this book. I love that it collaboration of both lawyers and nonlawyers, working together to strengthen families and people. This book is a phenomenal information …
The New Enhanced Earning Capacity Rule
The new spousal maintenance law signed into law by Andrew Cuomo at the end of September changes the concept of enhanced earning capacity in terms of looking at as an asset subject to equitable distribution. In the previous law, if a party earned a license or professional degree during the marriage, it was considered an asset to be divided …
Change in Guidelines for Calculating Temporary Maintenance in New York
On September 25, 2015, New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, signed into effect legislation that has changed guidelines set for determining temporary spousal support. These guidelines for temporary maintenance go into effect October 26, 2015. One of the major changes under the new bill is the reduction in the income cap from $543,000 to $175,000. Additionally, starting on January 31, 2016 …
The New Maintenance Rules for Post-Divorce Maintenance
In late September, new maintenance legislation was signed into law in New York. The new bill changes the guidelines for calculating post-divorce maintenance. The law goes into effect January 25, 2016. Similar to the temporary maintenance guidelines, the income cap for post-divorce maintenance is also $175,000. Additionally, the court makes the determination of which formula to use based on which …
NY Family Law: Vocational Experts
Imputation of income to determine spousal and child support can be complicated and a vocational expert may be of help in evaluating the various factors involved in this process. A vocational expert (“VE”) is an authority in the areas of vocational rehabilitation, vocational and earning capacity, loss of earnings, cost of replacement of labor and lost ability/time in performing household …
NY Family Law: Imputing Income
The most common issues that arise in a divorce proceeding are financial ones and how to determine awards of child support and spousal maintenance. Income is relevant to determining both of these awards. “In determining a party’s maintenance or child support obligation, a court need not rely upon the party’s own account of his or her finances, but may impute …