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

The rights of unmarried fathers of children were in the news with the recent reports about Sarah Palin’s daughter’s break up with her boyfriend. I was, in fact, quoted in one such article that appeared in the New York Daily News. Like their married counterparts, unwed fathers have the right to custody and visitation of the children. That the parties did not wed does not in any way limit the father’s parental rights As in all cases, the standard of visitation/custody is “best interests of the children.” The flip side of parenting is the financial responsibilities. The unwed non-custodial parent,... More

This is a common scenario - you are seeking a court order for child support, but the non-custodial parent is claiming an annual income far less than you suspect he/she actually earns. One way to prove that a party’s actual income is higher than his/her reported income is to illustrate how his/her reported lifestyle could not be supported by the reported income. The Appellate Division in Strella v. Ferro ruled that: in calculating a party's child support obligation, the court "need not rely upon the party's own account of his or her finances, but may impute income based upon the... More

Robert Ambrogi in his Law.com Network Blog details the case of a man who learned during his divorce, that he was not the father of a child born during the marriage.   Notwithstanding the fact that he was not the child’s biological father, he was ordered to pay child support.   . . . .through a DNA test 16 months after his divorce, Richard Parker learned that someone else had fathered the 3-year-old boy. Facing court-ordered child-support payments of $1,200 a month for 15 years, he immediately turned to the courts, claiming fraud by his wife. His case took him all... More

In a case where a husband abandoned his wife and children and failed for nine years to pay any child support, a Court ruled it was appropriate to set off the husband’s unpaid child support obligation against his interest in marital property.   Since the husband failed to pay child support for nine years, his interest in the martial home was set off against the amount of unpaid support. As a result, the Wife was entitled to full possession and title to the marital home.   In the case Pritchett v. Pritchett ( N.Y.L.J. 4/9/07(subscription required), Justice Darrell L. Garvin ruled that the... More