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

Ruth Bettelheim in the Huffington Post and in an op-ed piece in the New York Times argues that we should have no-fault custody legislation. Ms. Bettelheim’s correctly urges that custody battles are damaging to children. Indeed, most family law practioner’s would agree that children are the unintended victims in contested divorces, particularly when custody is in issue. As a result, most would agree that reducing family conflict and the acrimony of divorce would be beneficial to the children’s well-being. As Ms. Bettelheim aptly points out, however, litigated custody battles have just the opposite effect; parents at war are forced... 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

I have been following the continuing saga of who will get custody of Michael Jackson’s children. I even had the privilege of appearing on ABC World News to add my thoughts to the other talking heads theorizing about what may occur in this real life custody drama. The more I hear and read, the more disturbing the case becomes. As in all custody cases, the custody award will be based upon the best interests of the children. In most cases between a parent and a third person, it is presumed that it would be in the best interests of the... More