DIVORCE ARTICLES
During my career as an affordable family law attorney, I have pretty much only done uncontested divorces. The reason is that there is pretty much no such thing as an affordable contested divorce in the NYC area.
Some people have successfully done their own uncontested divorces without the aid of an attorney
Divorce cases typically involve a large number of issues, including child custody, child support, spousal support, and the division of property (equitable distribution). Because the Supreme Court procedures and practices are much more formal than the Family Court, there is typically a lot of paperwork required, including discovery and motion practice. In recent years, prenuptial agreements have become more popular, and while these are intended to reduce the issues that divorce courts have to resolve, sometimes there is extensive litigation about whether or not the prenuptial agreement is valid and enforceable.
The financial issues can be very complicated and complicated, and the total costs of a contested divorce, especially in Manhattan, Brooklyn, or the more well to do suburbs can be well over 50 thousand dollars, and contested divorces run up six figure legal bills for one or both spouses. Very few middle income people can afford these type of expenses, on top of the high cost of living for NYC, which, in recent years, has gone up even more.
The Supreme Court also handles cases which seek the annulment of a marriage. These cases are similar, in many ways, to divorce cases.
Because of the cost, stress, and uncertainty of contested divorce, in recent decades more and more couples are refraining from getting married in the first place. In New York, unmarried couples can use domestic partnership agreements as an alternative to marriage.
Occasionally, a couple find out, aftere a divorce has been filed, that they were never legally married.
In recent years, there has been a trend towards collaborative divorce, where couples wish to divorce amicably without the stress and expense of an adversarial proceeding.
