New York Divorce Report - New York's Divorce and Family Law Blog

When one spouse suspects the other of having an affair, the knee jerk reaction is to hire a private detective to get the"smoking gun.” It is permissible to hire a detective to “snoop around” even when the spouse having the affair has an obtained an order of protection against the other. “The hiring of a professional licensed private investigator in a matrimonial action to gather evidence is for a proper and legitimate purpose.”   Anonymous v Anonymous According to the Court opinon: The husband had the right to gather evidence up to the date of trial in defense of the... More

There has been much ado, of late, about how text messages are the new lipstick stain on the collar-the telltale sign of an adulterous relationship. Indeed, both  Laura Holson in the  New York Times and David Wright on  Nightline did stories about this phenomenon, which has recently brought down Tiger Woods, Mayor Khame Kilpatrick of Detroit and Senator John Ensign. For some reason, people feel immune when embracing a new technology – they feel that their use of it for illicit conduct will not be discovered. Texting a lover on a portable device that may be left on your night-table... More

A-Rod, Christie Brinkley, Madonna. There is no escaping it. Divorce is all over the news. The tabloids (and their readers) are eating it up. The issues in these celebrity divorces are, in large measure, the same as those of everyone else. Granted - few of my cases involve the wealth of someone like A-Rod. These cases seem to all have the recurrent theme of adultery, infidelity and loss of trust. As a result of the betrayal, marital assets will have to be divided. The very public Christie Brinkley trial is particularly compelling. It is providing a primer on how a... More

An adulterous relationship does not necessarily always lead to divorce. The blog, Domestic Diversions offers insight on how to save your marriage after an affair. The adulterer must be willing to disclose all the details of his affair and agree to new degrees of openness, says Rick Reynolds, founder of the Affair Recovery Center in Austin, Texas.**** It’s not always just the spouse who committed the transgression who has to change after an affair if a marriage is to recover. Often it’s difficult for the betrayed party to consider what he or she could have done that may have helped... More

A husband was justified in abandoning his wife after she admitted having an adulterous relationship. When the wife sought a divorce after her husband left her, her abandonment claim was dismissed. The New York Legal Update provides the details of the case of Kaplan v. Kaplan: In that case, during a marital counseling session, the wife admitted to a long term extramarital affair. Thereafter, the husband moved out of the marital residence. More than one year later, the plaintiff-wife commenced the action for divorce, after 17 years of marriage, on the grounds of abandonment and cruel and inhuman treatment. The... More

Janet Langjahr in her Florida based divorce and family law blog, reports that money does not equate with happiness in marriage. Citing an article, The Rich and Unfaithful, in Forbes, she says that the wealthy are no happier in their marriages than the not as well off. About half of wealthy people describe themselves as unhappy in their marriages, and just as many admit to cheating on their spouses in the last three years. (Interestingly, more women than men owned up to affairs.) Somewhat ironically, the excuse cited for unfaithfulness was desire for variety. Although half of the affluent were... More

The New York Times featured a front page story on how computers, blackberries, cell phones and other electronic devices are being used to discover adulterous relationships and hidden assets. The Mississippi Family Law Blog points out these electronic devises all leave a  trail which may be discovered during the course of litigation. Folks need to understand that if you use a computer or a phone, you are leaving an electronic trail which can easily be followed. Once divorce proceedings begin, the discovery process can allow your spouse to discover e-mails and inspect computer hard drives. Just because you hit the... More

I thought it would be great to end a hot summer week with three strange tales of  parrots ratting out their owners, who were committing adultery.  Thanks to Stephen Worrall at the Georgia Family Law Blog for finding this piece on DarnDivorce.   :November 19, 1937: According to the LA Times, Mr. James J. Reynolds wanted to put his parrot on the stand to testify concerning its knowledge of the domestic affairs of him and his wife by showing that the bird had learned to call Reynolds certain abusive names and that the bird’s teacher could have been none other than... More