NYC Divorce Litigation Lawyers
Divorce Litigation Attorney in NYC
After you retain a divorce lawyer licensed in the NY courts, there may be some issues that are not able to be resolved between the parties. You find yourself having gone through negotiating with your spouse on your own, and after exposing your bottom line to your spouse, you have no agreement. Clients then come to us.
There are some issues that simply need to be litigated, period. This is where who your lawyer is matters. You need a lawyer who is a NYC matrimonial lawyer. We have handled litigation of high net worth and international custody cases, international divorce cases, pension plan distribution, marital home litigation, professional and business evaluations, child custody, child support, and equitable distribution cases.
Not all divorce lawyers are experienced, and not all experienced divorce lawyers are child custody lawyers. As Manhattan divorce lawyers, we are poised to take on that responsibility. And never forget that in NY State divorce litigation, the law has developed that under the right circumstances, one spouse can be ordered by the court to pay for the other spouse's legal fees. Hence, don't believe anyone who says "you can't win this, he has more money than you and will bury you with paperwork." The law is set up so that both parties can have lawyers to represent them, even if one was the stay-at-home parent not working and with no bank account.
Facing a Spouse in Court
If you are faced with a spouse in Court who wants nothing less than to impose upon you a bleak future of unrelenting and unconscionable monthly alimony or child support running into eternity, or you are faced with a husband who has forgotten your input into the marriage, then you will need a lawyer who is first and foremost trial savvy.
Being shrewd helps too. Ron Perelman of Revlon, the billionaire owner of Revlon, said "I can feed my child on $ 3.00 per day," on the front cover of the NY Post. But an order for $ 10,000.00 a month in child support does not sit well with a lot of non-custodial parents. They may fight for custody to be the custodial parent, and hence, no child support.
The issues of property division, right to a divorce, maintenance, custody, your time with the children, your future payments for maintenance, child support, and child support add-ons, are decided by a Justice of the Supreme Court at trial if no settlement is reached with your lawyers. Should you wish your case to go to trial, not obtaining an experienced trial lawyer is probably the single worst mistake you can make. Your lawyer must not only be zealous enough, but must have the resources to prepare you, prepare your witnesses, and prepare you documents and trial exhibits which is crucial before trial. The computer technology we have in our firm streamlines this process. In fact, we have a whole inner page on this website called "Our Technology."
Divorce Law Attorney New York City, Manhattan
Any divorce proceeding has the potential to become a messy, complicated affair with conflicting claims and differing versions of events. The complications only increase if your spouse is outside of New York. Conflict of law issues, child custody issues, and differences in property law regimes all come to the forefront in interstate divorce. This is why you need a top divorce attorney to handle your interstate divorce case.
There are no cookie-cutter solutions and no easy answers when it comes to interstate divorce, but an experienced New York divorce attorney can help you navigate the maze of laws and regulations involved in a divorce that spans different jurisdictions. One of the first steps involved will be to figure out the jurisdiction in which the divorce papers need to be filed. In some cases one jurisdiction rather than the other will have the power to issue a binding divorce decree.
Further complicating matters are the rules on child custody, and which court has the authority to interpret these rules. The issues surrounding child custody are governed by the UCCJEA (Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act), which contains a number of guiding principles for deciding which court is best equipped to rule on child custody matters. The UCCJEA is supplemented by another law called the PKPA, or Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act, which governs situations when one parent takes the children out of the state in which the other parent is located.
If all of this sounds extremely complicated and confusing, rest assured that you are not alone. Diefenbach Law Firm can help you navigate the complex rules and regulations surrounding an interstate divorce.
Our Experience
With years of experience, we have a list of trial experts, evaluation of business experts, evaluation of license experts, private detectives, and psychologists, all of whose testimony may be necessary to prove your case. After the Court hears from all witnesses from both sides, admits into evidence documents from both parties, and takes into account any applicable statutes, rules and precedent cases, it will rule on the various issues to be decided.
Our office is experienced in handling child abduction cases brought pursuant to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, as well as negotiating child custody and visitation, split-parenting, joint legal custody and joint physical custody. New York Courts apply the 'best interests of the child' standard as the guiding principle to be applied in deciding which parent the child shall live with. Through years of experience we have accumulated a list of respected trial experts, forensic psychologists, and scientific articles on the issue of what is best for your child.
Mr. Diefenbach is a trial lawyer first and foremost. He was hired out of law school by Martin, Clearwater & Bell in their Litigation Department, attending court conferences and settlement conferences almost on a daily basis in the Supreme Court of the Counties of New York, Westchester, Queens, Kings, Richmond and the Bronx. He has been hired in the past by other law firms to do their trials. He has litigated literally 1000's of cases in the New York courts.
Relocation of the child with the custodial parent after the divorce is finalized should be another area of concern to the non-custodial parent. Believe it or not, there is one thing more emotional for parents than fighting over who gets custody of the kids, or who keeps the Park Avenue co-op, and that is the all-out litigation that ensues when the custodial parent wants to relocate with the child after the divorce is finalized to another state or out of the country altogether. What are the non-custodial parent's rights? Do the children have a say in staying or relocating? Can you obtain a court order to temporarily stop the custodial parent from relocating until the judge hears the reasons why he or she wants to separate you and your child by 2,000 miles? The answer to the last question is: you may not be able to, but we can.
