When a couple gets divorced or parents that are never married but break up, their child custody agreement dictates who has decision-making authority for things such as education and medical issues. The parents need to follow the terms of their agreement or court may modify it. Of current importance, is a parent’s decision to vaccinate their child(ren), especially as we all face COVID. Recently, [...]

Substance abuse, whether it be drugs or alcohol, can affect whether a parent is able to gain, or retain, custody of their child or children.  If a court determines that a parent’s substance abuse presents a direct risk to a child that parent could be denied physical or legal custody. The challenge, however, is being able to prove the use [...]

For some parents, collecting child support is not an issue, for others they need to chase after the other parent to make sure payments are made and that they are made on time. As a custodial parent or guardian, you can collect child support from the child support collection unit (CSCU) from New York State. CSCU acts as the middleman by collecting the [...]

There are many surprises along the way when a couple decides to get divorced, but there are also five very important things you should know about getting a divorce so that you are prepared. 1. Don’t Expect to Win Your Divorce Case In a divorce there are no winners.  It may be a hard pill to swallow, but the truth [...]

We are heading into the Holiday Season – Thanksgiving, Chanukah and Christmas are just weeks away. And yes, there are presents and parties, but there is also an enormous amount of stress for families going through a divorce, or already divorced or separated.  There are ways, however, to make it less stressful. If you have your children for one or [...]

COVID is now part of our daily lives – from what we hear, to what we see, to what we do.  For some families going through the divorce process COVID has become an added source of tension. Arguments about which COVID precautions should be implemented for a child and to what degree, along with whether to have a child vaccinated, [...]