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

As difficult as divorce is for the parties, it is far more traumatic for the children. When parents divorce, every aspect of the children’s life is up-ended as they watch their parents prepare to go to war against each other. Children, who should enjoy the unconditional love and affection of both parents, may be drawn into the battle as their loyalty is tested. A showing or expression of affection for one parent could be taken as a sign of betrayal to the other. Children must stagger through an emotional minefield while their parents battle. Although it seems like common... More

The custody fight of Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook reared its ugly head again. Last year the case settled after several days of lurid testimony about Peter Cook's affair with a teenage store clerk and revelations that he spent thousands of dollars downloading pornography. Sophia Chang and John Valenti report in Newsday that the in the current dispute: Cook wanted Brinkley found in contempt of court for allegedly failing to deliver their son's passport to his house in November, which, Cook said, caused Jack to miss a school trip to Egypt. In return, Brinkley's attorneys filed a countermotion to hold... 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

A study published in Ambulatory Pediatrics warns that young children, who are separated from their parents, are at increased risk for learning difficulties and may require special education. Separation of parents and children is one of the unfortunate consequences of divorce. It is disturbing to learn that divorce may be a cause of learning disabilities. The study enrolled 1,619 children between ages 4 and 6 who were entering Rochester City School District kindergarten classrooms in the fall of 2003. Parents or caregivers were asked if their child had ever been away from a parent for more than a month, and... More

For some reason, Valentine’s Day brings on lots of articles about divorce. Jonathan Clements (no relation) wrote an interesting piece in the Wall Street Journal about his “fairly successful” divorce. Success, he properly points out, does not mean he took his ex-wife to the cleaners or that he extracted every concession he could from her. To Clements, a successful divorce means that while he and his ex are not best friends, they each benefit from having a civil relationship in which they both get to share in the joys and pains of raising their children. Clements, armed with the perspective... More

In an interesting piece on the Huffington Post, Stacy Schneider opines that Rudy Giuliani’s “Nasty Divorce” reveals why he may be unfit to be president. Politics aside, the former mayor’s divorce is a primer on what not to do during a divorce. The divorce was a vicious, go-for-the-jugular, corrosive slugfest, with Rudy seemingly pulling the sharpest punches of the pair. His ongoing public display of his mistress's affections was certainly unbecoming of an elected official. But watching an uncaring father of two young children consistently display his contempt for his own family on the television news was both shocking... More

Divorce, visitation and holidays-three things, that when combined, raise divorced parents’ blood pressure and put a lot of stress on their children. There are some things you can do to  make the holidays a little more bearable. The Divorce Law Journal highlights ten tips to help children enjoy the holidays: Give your children permission to love the other parent. Help your child make a card for Dad or buy a gift for Mom. Encourage them to call the other parent. Set realistic expectations. To divide or share a holiday, each parent will have only half as much time with the... More

Darn Divorce provides some insightful tips on how to help children cope with divorce. 1. Tell children the truth in simple terms with simple explanations. Tell them where their other parent has gone. 2. Reassure them that they will continue to be taken care of and that they will be safe and secure. 3. Your children will see that parents can stop loving each other. Reassure them that a parent’s love for a child is a special kind that never stops. 4. Spend time with each child individually. Whether you have custody or visitation, the most important thing to the... More

The Modern Woman’s Divorce Guide has been running a series of  Weekly Divorce Tips. This week’s tip offers some simple advice for a complex problem- How to tell your children that you are getting divorced. Telling your children about divorce is challenging, but essential. According to Gary Neuman, a psychotherapist and divorce expert who appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show a few weeks ago, “the way children are told about their family breaking up is a seminal moment that no child forgets.” So, how do your tell your children about divorce without scaring them for life? Gary Neuman recommends you... More

The Family Law Professor Blog and Forbes.com report on an Australian study published in the Journal of Marriage and Family that shows that children of divorced parents “had twice the risk of going through a divorce themselves.” The study found that family history was more predictive of divorce than genetics. The research did not completely eliminate all genetic factors, however. According to D'Onofrio, about 66 percent of the increased risk for divorce appears to stem from the simple fact of a person's parents having been divorced. The remaining 34 percent of the risk seemed to be tied to genetic factors,... More