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

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