Category Archives: Child Custody

In the News

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Below is a roundup of our attorneys’ recent awards, recognitions, media, and other accomplishments from around the country.

You Don’t Need a French Vineyard to Have a Prolonged Divorce Proceeding
July 25, 2024 – Blank Rome Partner Alan R. Feigenbaum authored this New York Times article discussing the occasionally absurd length of divorce proceedings amidst disputes over finances.

 
Chambers High Net Worth 2024 Highly Ranks Blank Rome Matrimonial & Family Law Group and Attorneys
July 24, 2024 – Blank Rome is pleased to announce that Chambers High Net Worth 2024 has highly ranked our firm’s Matrimonial & Family Law practice group in California and New York, as well as co-chairs Kristina Royce and Brett S. Ward and partners Marilyn B. Chinitz, Norman S. Heller, Lois J. Liberman, Morgan Fraser Mouchette, Sophie Jacobi-Parisi, Stacy D. Phillips, and Mary T. Vidas.


Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie’s Divorce Battle Nears 8 Years as His Romance with Girlfriend Heats Up
July 24, 2024 – Blank Rome Partner Sophie Jacobi-Parisi speaks to Fox News Digital about some of the financial hesitation that may come with the divorce between Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. 


Shannen Doherty Died amid a Contentious Court Fight with Her Ex. How She Was Able to Divorce Him After Her Death
July 20, 2024 – Blank Rome Partner Ashley Silberfeld talks through some of nuances of divorce cases, when one of the parties has died.


How to Have an Actually Productive Argument, According to Lawyers
July 19, 2024 – In this HuffPost Life article, Blank Rome Partner Marilyn Chinitz discusses arguments as an art and social practice, and speaks to the best practices when it comes to arguing.


Breaking Up? Here’s What to Do About Joint Bank Accounts
July 13, 2024 – Blank Rome Partner Lois Liberman shares advice with The Penny Hoarder on how to begin navigating the process of dealing with joint bank accounts in a divorce.


Alan R. Feigenbaum Joins the To Dine for Podcast
July 1, 2024 – Blank Rome Partner Alan R. Feigenbaum joins the To Dine For Podcast and discusses the “Non-Linear Love” project, a collection of unique relationship stories that reframe the way we think about dating, romance, break-ups, divorce, and love.


Email Exchanges in Divorce Litigation Carry Immense Risk
June 28, 2024 – Blank Rome Partner Alan R. Feigenbaum authored this New York Law Journal article discussing the risks and stress associated with email exchanges as a divorce lawyer.


Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt Went from ‘Domestic Bliss’ to Divorce: Inside Their Ongoing Multi-Year Legal Feud
June 20, 2024 – Blank Rome Partner Sophie Jacobi-Parisi shares commentary with CNN on the bifurcated divorce process and its potential for detrimental effects on proceedings.


Blank Rome’s Linda Kornfeld and Stacy D. Phillips Named 2024 Top Women Lawyers by Daily Journal
June 20, 2024 – Blank Rome Insurance Recovery practice group partner and co-chair Linda Kornfeld and Matrimonial & Family Law partner Stacy D. Phillips have been named 2024 Top Women Lawyers by the Daily Journal.


The Long and Winding Road to Gender Parity in the Legal Profession
June 20, 2024 – Blank Rome Insurance Recovery practice group partner and co-chair Linda Kornfeld and Matrimonial & Family Law partner Stacy D. Phillips have been named 2024 Top Women Lawyers by the Daily Journal.


Mary Craig Calkins, Robert L. Kahan, and Kristina Royce Named Entertainment Business Visionaries
June 18, 2024 – Blank Rome is pleased to announce that partners Mary Craig Calkins, Robert L. Kahan, and Kristina Royce, who serves as co-chair of our firm’s Matrimonial & Family Law group, have been named Entertainment Business Visionaries by the Los Angeles Times B2B Publishing.


Alan R. Feigenbaum Joins the Dating Daze Podcast
June 17, 2024 – Partner Alan R. Feigenbaum takes on the “Non-Linear Love” project, which aims to view love through a non-linear perspective rather than judging relationships based on their path and relativity to marriage.


Marilyn B. Chinitz and Lois J. Liberman Recognized in Spear’s Legal Indices 2024
June 13, 2024 – Blank Rome is pleased to announce that Spear’s Legal Indices recognized partners Marilyn B. Chinitz and Lois J. Liberman in its 2024 Family Law Index for a second consecutive year.


‘I’m Divorcing after a Lot of Heartache:’ Should I Suggest My Husband Keep His $200,000 401(K), So I Can Take Our $360,000 House?
June 6, 2024 – Blank Rome Partner Brett S. Ward provides perspective on the difficult distribution of assets in a divorce.


Navigating the Nuances of LGBTQ+ Divorce in California
June 5, 2024—In this Love Bytes blog, Stacy D. Phillips unpacks some of the unique challenges LGBTQ+ couples face when it comes to divorce.


When There Are No Custody Heartstrings to Pull
June 4, 2024 – Blank Rome Partner Alan R. Feigenbaum authored this New York Law Journal article discussing how important it is to critically analyze a parent’s claims regarding custody.


Conservatives Are Coming After This Type of Divorce- Here’s Why
May 31, 2024 – Blank Rome partner Marilyn Chinitz shares her thoughts with HuffPost on the benefits and efficiency of no-fault divorce.
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A Divorce Court’s Primer on Requesting Sole Custody

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Alan R. Feigenbaum ●

New York Law Journal, August 21, 2024 —

Domestic violence in the post-pandemic era continues to be at the forefront of divorce practice. This author has written previously on the need—for the sake of the many victims—to expand our views of domestic violence beyond physical violence, as domestic violence can and does take many different forms.

One of those forms derives from the use of language in communications, be it by email, text message, or, as was the case in L.W. v. J.U., 2024 NY Slip Op 50879(U) (Sup. Ct. Westchester County, July 9, 2024) (Justice James L. Hyer), communications sent on the Our Family Wizard application “which is intended to serve as a mode of communication between parties involved in high conflict custody matters.”

In custody disputes, divorce lawyers may be asked by clients something along the lines of “under what circumstances can I get sole custody?”

A mere difference in parenting styles (e.g., Mom believes in “no screens” and Dad is more lenient with “screen time”; Dad prepares a continental breakfast for the children whereas Mom throws frozen waffles in the toaster for the children) is unlikely to warrant an award (or discussion) of sole custody.

To be in sole custody territory, the conduct of one of the parents needs to be closer to what a reasonable person would consider extreme such that it puts a child’s physical and/or emotional wellbeing in patent jeopardy.

Read more on our website.

The State of New York Divorce Practice

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Alan R. Feigenbaum ●

New York Law Journal, July 26, 2024 —

Compassion, humanity and the resources to act promptly are greatly needed when it comes to making sure that the matrimonial courts in New York are able to continue providing invaluable assistance to families in distress. Our matrimonial courts are tasked with protecting the best interests of children across this entire state. If our courts are slow to act due to backlog and insufficient resources then that reality has the potential to enable bad actors to prevail, secure in the knowledge that the courts may struggle to stop them. So the question I have is, have our matrimonial courts been provided with the resources necessary to protect children of divorce?

To answer that question, I decided to poll some of the many upstanding members of our Bar, as well as a retired judge, and get their views on the matter. To conclude this article, I will share my views as well.

Read more on our website.

When There Are No Custody Heartstrings to Pull

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Alan R. Feigenbaum ●

New York Law Journal, June 4, 2024 —

There is something about parental arguments over children, otherwise known as custody disputes in the matrimonial arena, that generate a spectrum of emotions not seen in the context of disputes over dollars. Certainly, financial disputes carry their own set of emotions for divorcing spouses. But custody disputes tend to open the door to claims made in litigation that, from the outsider’s attentive view, are sometimes a bridge too far.

How can we explain the tendency of litigants to overreach when it comes to custody disputes? First, there is the salt on the wound feeling from shifting from a world in which a parent (stay at home or working) expects to see their child each day to a world in which days are spent by a parent without his or her child in the home.

Ashleigh Louis, Ph.D., a mediator with a background as a dual-licensed psychologist and marriage and family therapist who does work for Quantum ADR, describes the feeling of absence as follows: “Every moment that is allocated to the other parent is time that parent does not get to spend with their child, and the absence of control and oversight over their child’s wellbeing can set off a cascade of worry and distress. There tends to be significant hurt, anger, resentment, sadness, and other challenging feelings that can permeate the ongoing lens through which they view the other parent, not only in their relationship with each other, but also in their relationship with their shared children.”

Read more on our website.

Divorce Law Ends 2023 on a High Note

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New York Law Journal, December 11, 2023 ●

Alan R. Feigenbaum ●

This author started off the New Year in January 2023 with an article showcasing a decision by the Honorable Jeffrey S. Sunshine that demonstrated excellence in the practice of matrimonial law.

As 2023 comes to a close, given the state of world affairs, I find myself searching for any remaining vestiges of humanity. If I have to return to matrimonial jurisprudence to find vestiges of humanity, so be it.

Against that admittedly bleak backdrop, which I do not believe is overstated considering what has transpired in our world over the last few months, I felt my confidence in the willingness and dedication of our courts to do what is right, and what is just, sparked by Judge Edmund M. Dane’s Nov. 14, 2023 decision in T.H. v. G.M., 2023 NY Slip Op 51267(U).

T.H. brings us back to the standards under which a divorcing person may seek temporary exclusive use and occupancy of a home, which results in the physical separation of parents during divorce. As a general matter (excluding cases involving alarming threats of harm/extreme emotional abuse) there must be competent proof of physical violence or damage to property to justify the remedy of temporary exclusive use and occupancy. Failing that, if one spouse has an alternative residence, and his/her return to the home would cause strife, the exclusive use remedy may also be available.

A restrictive view of domestic violence has regrettably permeated matrimonial jurisprudence into following a litmus test of sorts that asks this: does the person seeking the exclusive use remedy have a black eye, or something equivalent?

Read more on our website.

Protecting Children’s Safety: The Divorce Court’s Awesome Power

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New York Law Journal, November 2, 2023 ●

Alan R. Feigenbaum ●

In 2016, ESPN’s 30 for 30 series released “Doc and Darryl,” a documentary profile of the former New York Mets legends Dwight “Doc” Gooden and Darryl Strawberry.

In that documentary, Bob Forrest—identified as an addiction specialist—delivers the following, harrowing words on the issue of substance abuse: “In the end, if you don’t realize how $%@! up you are being a drug addict, you’re probably going to keep $%@! up.”

Outside of divorce practice, some of us have lived the terribly sad experience of trying to help someone who succumbs to substance abuse who does not himself/herself come to the realization that Forrest spoke of in Doc and Darryl.

As divorce lawyers, many of us have crossed paths with this phenomenon as well, which often times manifests itself in the form of a client who, despite handwriting on the wall type evidence of a substance abuse problem, remains adamant that “there is nothing wrong with me.”

When children of divorce find themselves in a situation where one, or both parents, suffer from substance abuse problems, trial judges in matrimonial cases are faced with the daunting task of establishing appropriate protocols to ensure that those same children are kept safe.

Such was the case in the matter of SG v. MG, NY Slip Op 51063(U) (Supreme Court, Nassau County, Oct. 5, 2023) (Dane, J.), where the court had to confront how to address a party’s continued use of Adderall in the context of safeguards surrounding access with the parties’ children.

Read more on our website.

In the News

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Below is a roundup of the recent awards, recognitions, media, and other accomplishments of our attorneys from around the country.

Chambers High Net Worth 2023 Highly Ranks Blank Rome Matrimonial & Family Law Group and Attorneys
July 20, 2023 – Chambers High Net Worth 2023 has highly ranked Blank Rome’s Matrimonial & Family Law practice group in California and New York as well as co-chairs Kristina Royce and Brett S. Ward and partners Marilyn B. Chinitz, Norman S. Heller, Lois J. Liberman, Morgan Fraser Mouchette, Stacy D. Phillips, and Mary T. Vidas.

Blank Rome’s Linda Kornfeld and Stacy D. Phillips Named 2023 Top Women Lawyers by Daily Journal
June 22, 2023 – Linda Kornfeld and Stacy D. Phillips have been named 2023 Top Women Lawyers by the Daily Journal.

Marilyn B. Chinitz Named Notable Woman in Law 2023 by Crain’s New York Business
June 21, 2023 – Marilyn B. Chinitz has been named a 2023 Notable Woman in Law by Crain’s New York Business, which recognizes “leading female attorneys in New York who are furthering justice and keeping the cogs of commerce spinning.”

Stacy D. Phillips Named a 2023 “Most Influential Person” by Los Angeles Business Journal
June 6, 2023 – Stacy D. Phillips was listed in the 2023 Los Angeles 500 Most Influential People by the Los Angeles Business Journal, marking her eighth consecutive year being honored in this prestigious listing of leaders and executives.

Stacy D. Phillips and Kristina Royce Named 2023 Top 100 Lawyers by the Los Angeles Business Journal
May 22, 2023 – Stacy D. Phillips and Kristina Royce have been named 2023 Top 100 Lawyers by the Los Angeles Business Journal.

Marilyn B. Chinitz and Lois J. Liberman Recognized in Spear’s 500 Legal Indices 2023
May 11, 2023 – Marilyn B. Chinitz and Lois J. Liberman were recognized in Spear’s 500 Legal Indices 2023 Family Law Index.

Michelle M. Gervais Recognized in Tampa’s Top Women in Law by Tampa Style Magazine
May 9, 2023 – Michelle M. Gervais was named one of Tampa’s Top Women in Law by Tampa Style Magazine.

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Forensic Custody Evaluations: A Fundamental Human Right?

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New York Law Journal, May 31, 2023 ●

Alan R. Feigenbaum ●

What comes to your mind when you find yourself passing through the cereal aisle at your local Target or Wal-Mart? One cannot help but notice the overwhelming number of choices Americans are given in the cereal aisle. There is a cereal for seemingly each and every palate known to humankind.

For this author, I cannot help but associate the ocean of cereal choices with the plethora of diagnoses that make up the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The DSM is considered, or has been considered, the bible, or guide, to diagnosing mental disorders.

It can be difficult to pinpoint which version of the DSM is the most recent; it appears to be the “text revision” released in 2022, known as the DSM-5-TR. The DSM-5-TR includes certain disorders that beg the question whether and to what extent we are entering (or have entered) a point in time where, to some degree, we all have a disorder.

It is with that in mind that I urge you to consider the Appellate Division, Third Department’s decision in Matter of Virginia OO v. Alan PP, 2023 N.Y. Slip Op. 1120 (NYLJ March 3, 2023). Matter of Virginia concerned an appeal from an order of the Family Court of Tompkins County granting an application to modify a prior order of custody.

Read more on our website.

Attorney Spotlight: Los Angeles

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Stacy D. Phillips ●

This edition of Attorney Spotlight highlights one of my Los Angeles colleagues in Blank Rome’s Matrimonial & Family Law Group—Erica Swensson.

Erica Swensson
Of Counsel

Recently promoted to of counsel at the firm, Erica and I first met in 2007 when we found ourselves on opposing sides of a number of cases.

She impressed me so much that she later became my first hire at Blank Rome. It has been a delightful experience seeing my relationship with Erica transform from a worthy adversary to an amazing coworker and friend. Please enjoy learning more about her.

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Attorney Spotlight: Los Angeles

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Stacy D. Phillips ●

This edition of Attorney Spotlight highlights one of my Los Angeles colleagues—Pauline Martin. Pauline has more than two decades of litigation experience, handling all areas of family law, as well as a range of clients’ other legal needs. Her commercial litigation experience, especially in partnership dissolution and employment-related matters, adds a unique perspective to her family law practice. Please enjoy learning more about her.

Pauline M. Martin
Of Counsel

Pauline M. Martin is a relentless litigator who focuses on passionate advocacy for the families she represents so they can move their lives forward with dignity, security, and grace. Pauline took a circuitous route to the practice of family law, beginning her legal career as a commercial litigator with time at national law firms as well as aggressive boutique litigation firms before taking some time away from law firm life as a new mom. She also helped develop a groundbreaking insurance program, which covers the risk of paying an adversary’s attorneys’ fees in a contract dispute. The product was hailed by the legal community as a “game changer” in contract litigation and was eventually sold to a publicly traded insurance carrier.

After her then-three-year-old son suggested she go back to work so he could stay for afternoon pre-school with his friends, Pauline found a new professional home practicing family law with Stacy Phillips. Pauline has developed a passion for resolving the intimate issues of custody cases, where her background as a general litigator has been an asset as she crafts specialized and sophisticated solutions to each client’s unique issues and family needs. Pauline acts practically to find common ground with the opposing party without resorting to the kind of knee-jerk scorched earth litigation tactics that she believes many times do more harm than good. She also uses her skill and tenacity to fight in court when necessary to advance the goals of her clients when it is clear amicable resolution is no longer an option.