The Elliot Schlissel New York Law Blog

Justice Palmieri in the Supreme Court located in Nassau County, New York, has rendered an unusual decision in a divorce case.  Divorce Law in New York does not make fault a factor in equitable distribution of assets unless there is “egregious marital fault.”  In this case, the wife’s husband of ten years had been convicted of sexually molesting her eight year old granddaughter from another marriage.  The attorney for the wife sought to make an inquiry with the husband with regard to his conduct being a potential factor in the equitable distribution of the property.  The husband’s attorney brought a protective order application alleging that this conduct is not material to the equitable distribution of assets.

Sexual Abuse Is Egregious Fault

Judge Palmieri, in his decision, stated “it cannot be seriously argued that this could never be a sufficient basis…for finding ‘outrageous’ or ‘conscious shocking’ conduct no matter what disclosure of the underlying facts might reveal.”  He therefore, allowed the discovery of material to develop the facts in this situation.

Mrs. G stated that after her husband was convicted she had a nervous breakdown.  She was forced to take medication which prevented her from functioning properly.  She needed therapy, but could not continue with the therapy because her husband refused to pay for the treatment.

Judge Palmieri in his decision stated “notwithstanding the plea, no trial Court can fairly determine whether the defendant’s conduct was sufficiently outrageous or conscious shocking to affect equitable distribution on a conviction alone.”  This is due to the fact plea bargains are often the result of negotiations in which various factors come into play.  The judge went on further to say “the issue is his conduct and the effect on the plaintiff and his alleged victims cannot be used as shields.”

Conclusion

Judge Palmieri has deviated from the established law with regard to allowing fault to be taken into consideration in the equitable distribution of assets.  I presume this case will be appealed.  It is my expectation that it will be reversed by the Appellate Division.

Fathers Rights’ Lawyers

Sometimes when fathers come into Court, they find the playing field is not level.  The Family Court is often referred to as “mommy’s court.”  However, there is a way to level the playing field and that is to hire the most experienced, most competent aggressive fathers’ rights lawyers available.

The attorneys of the Law Offices of Elliot Schlissel are recognized throughout the metropolitan New York area as the premiere father’s rights lawyers.  We litigate issues involving divorces, child custody, visitation, changing child custody, child support, child abuse, child neglect, annulments, parental alienation cases, as well as orders of protections. Call us for a free consultation at 1-800-344-6431, 516-561-6645, 718-350-2802.

On June 26, 2011, the Marriage Equality Act was passed in New York.  New York became the fifth state to recognize same sex marriages.  The Marriage Equality Act states “a marriage that is otherwise valid shall be valid whether the parties of the marriage are of the same or different sex.”  The intent of the statute is to allow marriage to become a fundamental human right in same sex relationships.

Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)

The Defense of Marriage Act, which is a federal statute passed by Congress, does not recognize same sex marriages.  This statute bars the Federal Government from recognizing same sex marriage as being constitutional.  The law states “no state, territory, or possession of the United States or Indian tribe shall be required to give effect to any public act, record or judicial proceeding or any other state, territory, possession or tribe respecting relationships between persons of the same sex that is treated as a marriage under the laws of such other state, territory, possession, or tribe or right or claim arising from such other relationship.” It should be further noted pursuant to Section Seven under Title One of the United States Code marriage is defined as a legal union between a man and a woman and the term spouse only refers to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.

Rights Under New York’s Marriage Equality Act

The Marriage Equality Act in New York conveys certain rights to individuals in same sex marriages.  The following are a list of some of these rights:

1.         Family and Medical Leave

2.         Veterans and military benefits

3.         Workman’s Compensation benefits

4.         Pension and survivor benefits

5.         Immigration rights

6.         Health insurance

7.         Automobile Insurance

8.         Burial rights

9.         Testate and Intestate Spousal rights under New York State law (Inheritance Rights)

10.       Creates tenancy by the entirety regarding real property ownership (marital rights to real estate)

11.       Allows a New York State Tax exemption

12.       Creates certain spousal evidentiary privileges

Conclusion

The New York Marriage Equality Act goes a long way in recognizing same sex marriage and providing the parties to these marriages with many benefits.  However, until the Federal Government revokes the Defense of Marriage Act there are numerous federal benefits that won’t attach to individuals in same sex marriages.

New York and Long Island Divorce and Family Court Lawyers

The Law Offices of Elliot Schlissel have been litigating a myriad of issues involving divorce and family court situations for more than thirty years.  The attorneys at this firm have more than 100 years of combined legal experience.  Some of the matters handled by the law firm involved divorces, divorce grounds, orders of protection, high net worth divorces, grandparents’ rights, equitable distribution of assets, annulments, no fault divorce, child abuse defense, issues involving reduction of child support, custody issues, changing child custody, orders of protection, father right issues and mothers’ rights issues.  Feel free to contact the firm for a consultation.

Justice Charles J. Markey was recently presented with two cases involving divorces that had similar fact situations.  In both cases judgments for divorce had been granted to the parties based on sworn statements that there were no children from the marriages.  However in both situations the court eventually discovered that there were children of these marriages.

The court found intentional fraud or inexcusable recklessness due to the fact there were unemancipated children of the marriages who required child support to be paid on their behalf.  Since there were misrepresentations in the original documents, there was no child support in the divorce judgments.

In both situations the court vacated the judgments of divorce.  The court refused to amend the divorce judgment to include the children.  Both divorce law suits were dismissed by the courts.

Stayed Foreclosure Allowed To Continue

The court took note that in both situations there were homes in foreclosure.  He put in previously granted stays with regard to the foreclosure proceeding during the pendency of the divorces.  The court vacated the stays of the foreclosure matters and allowed the two foreclosures proceedings to proceed. Conclusion, tell the truth in your divorce admissions!

New York and Long Island Divorce Lawyers

The attorneys of the Law Offices of Elliot Schlissel have extensive experience in handling matrimonial and family court cases. The lawyers have a total of 100 years combined experience.  These attorneys have extensive experience with regard to divorce grounds, family law, child custody, changing visitation, child abuse and child neglect, drafting separation agreements, prenuptial and post nuptial agreements.  We also have litigated cases involving mothers’ rights and fathers’ rights.

Elliot Schlissel has litigated numerous cases dealing with professionals whether they are doctors, lawyers or dentists whose practices were being equitably distributed.  The firm pays special attention to individuals who have high net worth divorce situations. Feel free to call for a free consultation 1-800-344-6431, 516-561-6645 and 718-350-2802.

Susan Powell has been missing since 2009. She had two children, ages 4 and 6. The children had been staying with her husband, Josh Powell during her absence. Recently the Washington State Children’s Administration removed the children from Mr. Powell’s home. It seems that Josh Powell was also living with his father Steve. Steve has been charged with possession of child pornography and voyeurism. This has caused the children to be removed from Josh’s custody and placed in the custody of his wife’s parents. This action was taken by the Washington State Children’s Administration, even though Steve advised them “I have nothing to do with any kind of illegal pornography.” Josh claimed that he’s a loving father and good to his children. He alleged his children were not at risk and they had not been exposed to any type of inappropriate material such as pornography.

Steven Powell Charged With Crimes

Steven Powell has been jailed on 14 charges of voyeurism and pornography possession. His bail has been set at $200,000.00.

Child Custody and Pornography

If you have custody of your children it is important to make sure that the other individuals residing in your household are not engaged in activities that may create a dangerous or inappropriate environment for your children. Children need to be protected and individuals involved with child pornography are considered to be very poor role models and guardians.

Father’s Rights Lawyers

Father’s rights are protected by the lawyers at our law office. For 30 years we have been assisting fathers in matrimonial and family law matters and family court proceedings. We represent fathers involved in divorce proceedings, orders of protection, child custody, child visitation matters, changes in child custody, child support matters, spousal maintenance, child abuse and child neglect proceedings. In addition, we help our clients to reduce child support payments, we defend the in paternity actions and deal with parental alienation situations. We also negotiate prenuptial agreements and postnuptial agreements for our clients. In amicable situations we negotiate separation agreements and participate in arbitration and mediation of marital issues. Call us for a free consultation at 1-800-344-6431, 516-561-6645 or 718-350-2802. Our phones are monitored 24/7.

There are many issues that come up in divorces. Who gets custody, child support, visitation (parenting schedules), equitable distribution of property and the payment of debts from the marriage. These issues can cause divorces to be contentious. Litigants in divorce cases spend large sums of money fighting to protect their rights concerning these problems.

College Expenses

If the parties to a marriage have children, how is the issue of college expenses dealt with? To start with, most litigants in a divorce will tell their attorney that their children are young and they don’t want to deal with the college expense issue now, that they’d prefer to wait until a later time. In those situations, the attorney should ask his clients how much they have saved up for college so far. The answer to that question is often either zero or a very small amount.

During settlement discussions on divorce issues, the parties often get together at one of the attorney’s offices and have a four party meeting. At this meeting, both spouses and their respective attorneys face each other across a conference room table and discuss, in a mature, intelligent, reasonable manner the issues involved in their divorce.

The purpose of these discussions is to try to work out an amicable settlement without the need for expensive litigation. When the issue of college tuition comes up, both of the spouses sometimes say they agree that we should pay for the college expenses for their children. Often the Attorney will inform them of something along the lines of: “well, your children are eight and ten, as of this point. You have saved very little towards their college expenses. Even though you seek to pay for your childrens’ college expenses, and this is admirable, since you haven’t saved money up until this point, it is unlikely that you will be able to save enough money to pay for the tuition in the future”

Divorce and Family Court Lawyers

I have been representing men and women concerning issues involving divorce, divorce grounds and family law problems for more than 33 years. I have been involved in hundreds of cases dealing with issues concerning orders of protection, child custody, child abuse, child neglect, division of marital property and regarding negotiation and separation agreements. My law office protects mothers’ rights and fathers’ rights in divorce and family court situations. Should you have questions or seek a free consultation, call me at 1-800-344-6431, 516-561-6645 or 718-350-2802.

There is a new application for the iPhone 4S. This application can track people. An interesting case involves a man who purchased a new iPhone 4S for his wife and loaded the “Find my friends app” onto her phone without her knowing about it. He had been suspicious about her meeting another man for liasons. She told him she was going to one place and he tracked her on the iPhone app. to another.

This new iPhone application can be used by boyfriends and girlfriends to track significant others to see if they are telling the truth as to where they’re going, should foul play be a possibility. The wonders of new technology. Now instead of hiring a private investigator to track your spouse, you can simply put an app on their iPhone and figure out where they’re going. So much for trust in relationships!

The new iPhone 4S has been a spectacular success. This new operating system has been purchased by more than four million people during its first three days on the market. It is too bad Steve Jobs didn’t live long enough to see this tremendous success of Apple’s newest product.

New York Divorce Lawyers

The Law Office of Elliot Schlissel can help you if you wish to divorce your spouse. We have extensive experience in dealing with divorce grounds, and other family law related issues. We can assist you with question involving child custody, annulments, amicable divorce, mothers’ rights, fathers’ rights and the mediation of divorce related issues. We also have extensive experience in dealing with high net worth divorces and family owed business issues. Call us for a free consultation.

Paul McCarthy Re-married

Being Alone

Fathers’ Rights Lawyers

When marriage fails what you need is a good lawyer! The Father’s rights lawyers at the Law Office of Elliot Schlissel have been helping men protect their rights for over 33 years. We litigate all aspects of divorce, including child custody, visitation, child support, spousal maintenance (alimony) and equitable distribution of property. We also represent fathers with regard to proceedings in family court. We litigate issues involving paternity, downward modifications of child support, relocation problems, parental alienation cases and issues involving parental alienation syndrome. We also negotiate separation agreements for our clients. Feel free to call us for a free consultation.The Law Firm handles cases in Nassau County, Kings County, Queens County and throughout the Metropolitan New York area.

Have men’s rights in Family Courts become a civil rights matter? Do men need to band together to protect their rights that are being abused in Family Courts? Is there an inherent bias against men in the Family Courts? Do Family Courts make presumptions that have a negative effect on men’s rights?

Women as Nurturers

women have had equal rights regarding custody of their children. So why have men not faired well in the Family Courts?

Primary Care Givers

Fathers’ Rights

Fathers who come to our law office often claim that they are treated like second class citizens in the Family Court regarding child custody, visitation, child support, spousal maintenance (alimony), orders of protection and issues involving child abuse and child neglect. They also relate to us that in divorce proceedings in the Supreme Court they are not treated fairly.

Our law office represents fathers with regard to all types of proceedings in the Family Court and the Supreme Court. We aggressively protect fathers’ rights. We deal with difficult issues, such as downward modifications of child support, relocation problems, parental alienation cases and issues involving parental alienation syndrome.  For more than 33 years, we have been recognized as one of the premier fathers’ rights law firms in the Metropolitan New York area. If you have matrimonial or family problems, we can help you.  Call for a consultation at 1-800-344-6431, 516-561-6645 and 718-350-2802.

Judge Colangelo, sitting in Westchester County Family Court, found the actions of a father related to his being intoxicated when he picked up his children from school to constitute neglect. In this case, a petition was brought by the Department of Social Services against the father, Derrick. He was accused of failing to properly supervise and care for his 4-year-old son Joshua.

Joshua was placed in Derrick’s care by Judge Colangelo. School officials notified the Department of Social Services that Derrick appeared intoxicated at the time he picked Joshua up from school. The Department of Social Services agents went to Derrick’s home. Derrick refused to open the door or respond to their requests concerning questions as to Joshua’s safety.

The police were called to the scene. They broke the door down. Upon gaining entry to the apartment, they found Joshua was completely safe. However, they did find a knife and a bat under one of the beds in the apartment. The Department of Social Services took the position that the knife and the bat were close to Joshua and therefore constituted a danger to the child.

Judge Colengelo held a hearing with regard to this entire incident. He found that Derrick did not comply with his obligations concerning Joshua’s placement with him by the court. Derrick’s refusal to allow the Department of Social Services investigators into his home violated the terms of the child’s placement. Even though the court found that Joshua was completely safe, they found Derrick’s conduct  inappropriate and that he had neglected the child under Article 10 of the Family Court Act .

Fathers’ Rights

Fathers who come to our law office often claim that they are treated like second class citizens in the Family Court regarding child custody, visitation, child support, spousal maintenance (alimony), orders of protection and issues involving child abuse and child neglect. They also relate to us that in divorce proceedings in the Supreme Court they are not treated fairly.

Our law office represents fathers with regard to all types of proceedings in the Family Court and the Supreme Court. We aggressively protect fathers’ rights. We deal with difficult issues, such as downward modifications of child support, relocation problems, parental alienation cases and issues involving parental alienation syndrome.  For more than 33 years, we have been recognized as one of the premier fathers’ rights law firms in the Metropolitan New York area. If you have matrimonial or family problems, we can help you.  Call for a consultation at 1-800-344-6431, 516-561-6645 and 718-350-2802.

New York County Family Court Judge Statler dismissed a father’s custody petition based upon the fact that he still lived with the children’s mother. The father in this case brought a proceeding under Article 6 of the New York Family Court Act. He requested custody of both children. He also requested a forensic psychiatrist investigate the mother’s fitness to be a parent.

Parents Never Married

The father and mother were unmarried. They lived together with their children and continued to do so for more than one year during the course of the proceedings in the Family Court in New York County. The father’s petition stated that the court must intervene and deal with the issue of custody, even though he continued to live with the mother. His petition stated that he was the more fit parent. The mother suffered from deep depression. She was an alcoholic and she abused prescription medications.

Judge Satler’s opinion held there had been no reports to Child Protection Services with regard to the mother’s alledged inappropriate conduct concerning the children. The attorney for the mother presented arguements to the court that the parties continued to co-habitate together. The mother’s attorney also stated that the allegations made by the father concerning the mother were untrue.

Judge Satler’s decision was that she could not regulate “the internal affairs of a home”. Her decision further stated that there was no proof that the children were in danger. The father did not prove their reasonable needs were not met. She dismissed the father’s custody petition and his application to have a forensic evaluator appointed.

Fathers’ Rights

Fathers often have a difficult time asserting their equal rights in Family Court. While all laws in the State of New York are gender neutral, many fathers run into an institutional bias against them. The Law Office of Elliot Schlissel has been representing fathers’ rights for more than thirty years. We litigate all aspects of divorce, including child custody, visitation, child support, spousal maintenance (alimony) and equitable distribution of property. We also represent fathers with regard to proceedings in family court. We litigate issues involving paternity, downward modifications of child support, relocation problems, parental alienation cases and issues involving parental alienation syndrome. We also negotiate separation agreements for our clients. Our office has also has developed an expertise in dealing with matters concerning grandparents’ rights, separation agreements, pre nuptial agreements and post nuptial agreements. Our office handles cases in Nassau County, Kings County, Queens County, Suffolk County and throughout the Metropolitan New York area. Feel free to call us for a free consulation at 1-800-344-6431, 516-561- 6645 or 718-350-2802.