Choosing to Adopt? We Can Help!

In today’s world, more and more families, particularly in the United States, are choosing to adopt children. The Law Firm and Mediation Practice of Alla Roytberg, P.C. has recently expanded its practice to include adoptions.

For many, the adoption process may seem overwhelming:

• Should you adopt domestically or internationally?
• Do you want to formalize the relationship with an existing child in your family through a step-parent adoption?
• Are you a same-sex couple trying to decide what types of legal paperwork need to be prepared to secure your rights as parents?

The process is cumbersome, but not impossible, and we can guide you through it.

Under New York law, all adoptive parents have to be certified by the court if they want to adopt a child in the United States. Click here to read more.

Innocent Play or Child Pornography?

                                    “… I know it when I see it.” – Justice Potter Stewart

In the December 20, 2013 Law Journal, there is a very interesting case called Matter of CW v. CYR. This case comes from Kings County Family Court (Brooklyn Family Court) and it started on November 20, 2013 when the Administration for Children Services (ACS) filed an emergency petition against parents to remove their 4 children. What happened?

The father lost his Blackberry in April of 2013. The person who picked up the Blackberry found on it pictures of naked children and turned the phone over to the police. The police issued a warrant to search the house and to examine all the computers because allegations were made that the pictures were showing children in sexually explicit poses.

The District Attorney’s office got involved and then involved the ACS, which removed the children. Fortunately, the children were not removed into foster care because there were family members that were willing to take them, but they were removed from the parents.

The parents were upset and did not cooperate too well with the ACS, which made the ACS even more angry, so as a result, there was a full fledged lawsuit in Family court which ended up in a hearing. The issue? The ACS alleged that the parents had sexually explicit photos of their children. In addition, the parents refused to bring the kids to their social worker appointments or forensics and would not speak to the case worker.

Click here to read more.

Determining Where to File for Divorce in the 21st Century World of Mobile Families

                   
                   “Not all those who wander are lost.” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

In the world of mobile families, complex international marriages and overburdened courts, would a New York court accept a divorce case, filed by the husband, an Irish resident, British passport holder and citizen of the European Union against the wife, a U.S. citizen who prefers to reside in Ireland? Apparently, the answer is yes.

In a recent Putnam County Supreme court case, Mr. S. filed for divorce in New York and his wife opposed it, claiming that New York State had no jurisdiction to end the parties’ marriage. Under New York State law, when you commence an action for divorce, the first thing that needs to happen is that the court needs to verify that there is jurisdiction.

Click here to read more.

Is Anyone Thinking About the Children?

And the king said: ‘Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.’ Then spoke the woman whose living child was unto the king, for her heart yearned upon her son, and she said: ‘Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and in no way slay it.’ – The Bible, Kings 3:16-28 – The Story of King Solomon and “Splitting the baby”.

On February 11th, a grandfather shot and killed his grandchildren’s mother in a Delaware Family Court. Christine Belford, a contact lens technician, and David Matusiewicz, an optometrist, were married from 2001 to 2006. As reported by delawareonline.com on February 12th, they had 3 daughters, who were the subject of a custody battle during their divorce. One of the girls is autistic. #childrensrights.

Click here to read more.

The Quagmire of Divorce, International Style

Different states in the United States view custody, jurisdiction and enforcement pieces of a divorce differently. Because of that, there is what is called the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA). UCCJEA was drafted in 1997 and was adopted by all States except for Massachusetts and Puerto Rico. Basically, the UCCJEA gives exclusive and continuing jurisdiction for custody cases to the child’s home state.

The child’s home state is generally defined as the state where the child has lived with a parent for six consecutive months before the case was started in court. To read more, please click here. 

Mediating the Multi-Cultural Fugue of Divorce Mediation

Although many of us live in the most multi-cultural State and City in the world, for New York mediators a dispute between participants of unfamiliar cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds brings unprecedented challenges. In her article on Neuro-Literacy, Pauline Tessler rightly points out that “our clients experience divorce as an extended human transition of operatic dimensions, with emotionally exhausting peaks and valleys involving betrayals, bad faith, and narcissistic wounds that call into question identity, core values, and even the will to survive.”¹ Add to this a mix of centuries’ old beliefs, traditions and rituals, sprinkle it with a committee of advisors, comprised of family, clergy, and community elders, and you get a cacophony of contrasting voices which exacerbate an already looming emotional headache of a human being facing a divorce.  To read more, please click here