Domestic Violence & Order of Protection
What type of cases go to IDV?
IDV judges hear cases that involve the same parties or family where there is a family court order of protection case plus a matrimonial case, a criminal case, or both, and the main issue in each case is domestic violence. The cases must be filed in the same county, and the IDV judge must accept…
Read MoreWhat is an Order of Protection?
An Order of Protection is an Order issued by a court specifying the type of conduct that the opposing side must follow. An Order of Protection can be issued in a matrimonial action, in criminal court, or family court. If there is a pending divorce action, the party seeking the Order of Protection can file…
Read MoreEffective cohabitation during COVID-19
If you were preparing for divorce in early March, then the pandemic most definitely stalled your plans. When COVID-19 put New York on pause, everyone was ordered to shelter in place, and the court system was limited to non-urgent matters. If the lockdown took effect before you and your spouse had the chance to separate,…
Read MoreDomestic violence in New York during COVID-19
Earlier this month, Governor Cuomo confirmed that there has been an increase in reported domestic violence incidents across New York during the pandemic. According to his office, there was a 15% increase in March and a 30% increase in April. It is clear that the lockdowns and shelter in place orders have had a detrimental…
Read MoreWhat to do if you are stuck at home with your domestic abuser during the COVID-19 pandemic
COVID-19 has affected the United States greatly, and the State of New York has a stay at home order in place. Schools are physically closed and are operating electronically; thus, students are home. Also, many are working from home or are unemployed and are at home. While this might be a good thing to prevent…
Read MoreHow does a case reach IDV Court?
A case gets to Integrated Domestic Violence Court (IDV Court) if the same parties or the same family has a case in family court for an order of protection plus a matrimonial case, a criminal case, or both, in the same county and the main issue in each case is domestic violence. One of the…
Read MoreWhat is IDV?
IDV stands for, “Integrated Domestic Violence,” and there are special IDV courts or “parts” that hear these cases. IDV courts hear cases when one family has a criminal court case along with a family court case, a matrimonial case, or both in the same county, and the central issue in the cases is domestic violence.…
Read MoreDecluttering after divorce
Decluttering is challenging in the best of times, but tackling your home in the wake of divorce can be especially hard, not to mention emotional. Where do you start dividing the remnants of your married life? How do you transform your home from a marital nest into a single person’s abode when you can’t afford…
Read MoreWhat to do if your ex accuses you of child abuse
All good parents have one thing in common: they love their children deeply. Therefore, one of the worst things a parent can experience in a contentious family law case is an accusation of child abuse. Imagine that you are going through a divorce from a vindictive spouse. They are accusing you of all kinds of…
Read MoreWhen should children testify in family law proceedings?
When custody disputes occur, New York judges attempt to resolve the matter without putting the child in the position of having to choose between their parents. In some cases, however, input from the child may be necessary to give the court the information it needs to make the best decision, so a “Lincoln hearing” will…
Read MoreHow does infidelity affect a New York divorce?
You’ve discovered that your spouse has been having an affair for months and feel confused, angry, and betrayed. After a while, you decide that the marriage is irretrievably broken and want a divorce. How will your spouse’s adulterous behavior affect the divorce process? Before 1967, adultery was a major factor in a New York divorce…
Read MoreVexatious litigation: What to do when your ex won’t stop dragging you into court
Some divorces are so hostile and contentious that the fight continues throughout the entire process and even long after the judge issues the divorce decree. Spouses who feel that they have been slighted feel compelled to punish the other one and don’t care whose time they waste while doing so. They begin a campaign of…
Read MoreHow to protect yourself during a toxic divorce
Under ideal circumstances, you and your spouse will accept that you’re better off apart than together and be willing to work with one another to make the split as painless as possible. Unfortunately, we live in an imperfect world and you may be married to someone who is aggressive, controlling, and even an outright narcissist.…
Read More4 tips for New York parents whose children were removed by Child Protective Services
Being a parent can be overwhelming. We want to do what’s best for our children by disciplining them for inappropriate or unacceptable behavior, but it sometimes happens that people who disapprove of our parenting methods overreact by calling Child Protective Services (CPS), who may conclude their initial investigation by taking the children away. Although CPS…
Read MoreAssembling your divorce “dream team”
Divorce is a confusing and stressful time for anyone. There are so many areas that need to be addressed: legal, financial, and of course emotional. To make matters worse, everyone is giving you advice, a lot of it conflicting. How will you handle it all? The answer is: you don’t. At least not by yourself.…
Read MoreFour tips for summer parenting time
As the last day of school before summer break approaches, we feel a more pressing need to confirm vacation plans for the summer. For divorced parents who have agreed to establish their own vacation schedule, this can be as difficult as it is exciting. We would love to take the kids to Disney World in…
Read MoreWhat types of child visitation schedules can be set up in Bronx Family Court?
Child visitation allows the parent who does not reside with the children an opportunity to see them on a regular basis. When two former spouses have an amicable post-divorce relationship, they can work together to come up with a visitation schedule that works for everyone involved while remaining in the best interests of the children.…
Read MoreBenefits of hiring a family law attorney
Many individuals who are about to become involved in a New York family law matter, such as divorce, child custody, and support, or spousal maintenance, wonder whether they should hire a family law attorney to represent them or save some money and handle their own case. While there is no law that requires you to…
Read MoreWhat cases does a Bronx family court lawyer handle?
Family law deals with domestic relations, so Bronx family court lawyers represent clients in divorce proceedings and associated matters such as spousal maintenance, child custody and support, and division of marital property. Many lawyers also assist victims of domestic violence in civil protection court order proceedings. Child custody There are two types of custody arrangement…
Read MoreLitigated divorce in New York
A litigated divorce is one where both parties can’t come to an agreement and resort to the courts to settle their differences. This type of divorce usually happens when one party refuses to settle on key issues, deliberately hides information such as financial records, or refuses to disclose details about all property they owned prior…
Read MoreFamily court gives father with domestic violence violations visitation rights
In a recent New York Law Journal article summarizing a Family Court case, a husband and wife who had two children from their marriage were getting a divorce. The husband had been arrested for acts of domestic violence—assault—against his wife. While the wife was awarded sole custody of her children, the husband was still allowed…
Read MoreNew York State Domestic Relations Law summarized
The Domestic Relations Law is part of New York’s legal code. This part is often abbreviated, DRL. The DRL is composed of sixteen articles. These articles form the backbone of New York’s laws on marriage, divorce and family law. A summary of each article of the DRL follows. Article 1 The article gives the short…
Read MoreAppellate Division reverses lower court’s ruling on order of protection
An appellate court panel reversed the decision of a lower Family Court related to a temporary order of protection according to the New York Law Journal on June 23, 2014. A man accused a woman of harassing him and his child. The woman was not related to them. In the court, the judge ruled that…
Read MoreWhat is the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)?
When people think of domestic violence they usually think of a situation where there is a man physically abusing a woman. However, there are situations where the roles have been reversed but these situations are rarely reported as men feel ashamed and will not admit that they are being abused by a woman. In addition,…
Read MoreThe House passes bill that will provide women with more protection from domestic violence
The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) has been approved and passed the House sending a bipartisan bill to President Obama. The first draft of the bill that solely endorsed by the conservative party was defeated in the Senate. However, the modified bill gained support on both sides passing 286 to 138, according to a March…
Read MoreBoth parents file order of protection against the other in New York family case
A New York court ruled that there were no grounds for granting either parent’s order of protection requests against the other, as reported in a March 18, 2013 New York Law Journal article. The feuding couple fought the dispute during a custody issue over their twin daughters. The mother of the girls initiated the action…
Read MoreNew York panel rules that mother is entitled to a child custody hearing with abuse issues are raised
A New York panel reviewed and agreed to hear a mother’s petition after the Family Court denied her custody petition, as reported by the New York Law Journal in a December 24th, 2012 article. The Family Court refused to hear the mother’s request to modify a prior custody order. The original custody order granted primary…
Read MoreNew standards and rules created to better protect victims of domestic violence
New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, signed a bill into law in late October that creates harsher punishments for those individuals that commit domestic violence-related crimes, as reported by the New York Law Journal in an October 26th, 2012 news article. The new bill creates more protection for victims by creating a new crime of aggravated…
Read MoreJudge Denies Claim after Administration for Children’s Services is unable to corroborate
A Family Court Judge has decided that there should not be a further finding based on a claim that a teenage girl that disappeared during the middle of the trial on the basis that she was sexually abused when she was a child. New York Administrative of Children Services sticks to the claim that the…
Read MoreTeenager’s out of court statement not enough to move forward in abuse case against stepfather
The New York City Administration of Children’s Services (ACS) is accusing a stepfather, Ruben, of sexually abusing his stepdaughter Sabrina since she was five years old. ACS argued that Sabrina’s mother, Melody, knew of and/or should have known about the abuse and failed to protect or notify the persons to protect her well-being, according the…
Read MoreBronx lawyer comments on a wife’s motion to vacate an order of fact-finding
A New York wife attempted to have an order of fact-finding vacated, as reported by the New York Law Journal in an October 19th, 2012 decision. The wife was found guilty in Criminal Court for a family offense against her husband. He brought the charge against her roughly one year ago for disorderly conduct. The…
Read MoreMother neglecting her child may lead to her behind bars
A New York mother was found guilty of neglecting her child which caused abusive injuries while the child was in her care, as reported by the New York Law Journal in an October 15, 2012 article. The Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) filed the petition against the mother and another for actions that occurred. Specifically,…
Read MoreOrder of protection applies to a parent’s boyfriend
A father who filed an order of protection against his ex-wife’s boyfriend on behalf of his daughter was dismissed by New York’s trial court for lack of subject matter jurisdiction as the child and the mother’s boyfriend did not have an “intimate relationship,†which is a requirement under the Family Court Act. However, the decision…
Read MoreMultiple false allegations leads the court to grant sole child custody to the father
A father was granted sole legal and physical custody of his daughter after the child’s mother made multiple false reports that the father had sexually abused their daughter, as reported by the New York Law Journal in a September 7th, 2012 article. After reviewing all of the petitions regarding these issues, including those made by…
Read MoreFamily court’s semi-centennial
In New York State, there is a family court located in each of its five boroughs, in addition to the numerous family courts that are located upstate. Today New York City’s family court, which handles disputes that include but not are not limited to divorce, child abuse, child support, paternity, adoptions, and order of protections…
Read MoreVideo: Bronx Divorce Lawyer On Child Kidnapping
Video: Domestic Violence & Parental Rights
COURT DENIES ORDER OF PROTECTION IN A RELATIONSHIP DUE TO LACK OF INTIMACY
In a case that started where the parties met online, the Family Court decided the relationship lacked the intimacy needed to deserve an issuance of an order of protection, according to the May 30, 2012 edition of the New York Law Journal. The parties started off flirting on an online dating site but by the…
Read More“TROUBLING†CONDUCT BY PARENT DOES NOT EQUAL NEGLECT HOLDS THE COURT
In Matter of Hannah U., 511618, the Appellate Division, Third Department held that though a person may not be an ideal parent, does not mean that he is an unfit parent. A father’s status as a Level II sex offender who had violated his probation by falsifying attendance records to Alcoholic Anonymous, did not lose…
Read MoreBronx divorce lawyer explains why a judge ordered a mother who sent her adopted son back to Russia to pay child support
Recently, a mother sent her adopted son back to Russia. She claimed that he was disturbed. Even after cycling through several attorneys, she never paid the proper child support according to a July 13, 2012 Washington Post article. The seven-year-old son now lives in a group home just outside of Moscow. The mother was recently…
Read MoreBronx divorce lawyer comments on the best interest of a child in foster care
A New York court is now debating the issue of whether a parent may make decisions regarding their child when that child is in foster care, as reported in a June 25th, 2012 New York Law Journal article. The child was removed from his mother’s care and placed into foster care after a protective order…
Read MoreRulings on Effect of Violence on Parents’ Rights
There were a couple of unrelated appeals in the Court of Appeals last week as stated in the New York Law Journal on May 25, 2012, related to parent’s rights in cases where the children have seen domestic violence. Though the Third Department decided differently in each, the record is adequate enough for the court…
Read MoreWestchester court decides children were permanently neglected
Since 2005, two children have been under the care of foster parents. The father, who is 68, was convicted of molestation. The 34-year-old mother was of “limited intelligence†according to a May 25th, 2012 New York Law Journal article. The mother allowed the father unsupervised contact with the children even though she knew of his…
Read MoreGrandparents seeking adoption must satisfy special standard requirement
The New York family court ruled that special circumstances are required to be met when a grandparent seeks custody rights of their grandchildren, as reported by the New York Law Journal in a December 2, 2011 article. A New York grandmother sought to gain full custody rights of her twin granddaughters after their mother’s boyfriend…
Read MoreNew York court rules that an ex-husband in jail means no Order of Protection for wife
New York Family Court denied a divorcing wife an order of protection against her husband, as reported in the New York Law Journal on August 5th, 2011. The wife petitioned the courts seeking an order of protection in an effort to prevent her husband from contacting her. The wife claims that the husband continues to…
Read MoreCourt rules father’s intoxication constituted neglect
The Department of Social Services brought a petition against father Derrick K in Matter of Joshua J. v. Derrick K (August 18) for neglect of his 4 year old son, Joshua. Joshua was placed with Derrick under Family Court Act 1055. According to the decision, published in the August 26, 2011 “New York Law Journal, 
Read MoreMother petitions for modification of child custody so known killer cannot live with her sons
It is said that a mother has a natural instinct to protect her children from any harm. So when Trisha Conlon learned that her ex-husband was living with a woman, Kristine Crushing, who had killed her own two children years ago Ms. Conlon’s motherly instincts kicked into high gear, as reported in a New York…
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