newyorkcitydivorcelawyer

05/13/2024

Cohen Stine Kapoor LLP is now accepting Hague Convention matters. Who else would sponsor me to practice law in federal court other than my partner and legendary matrimonial lawyer, Harriet Cohen? ♥️ So my next step is to get Just For Men? 😅😭🥹

08/16/2021

In my experience, power divorces do not have to be messy at all. There is usually enough money to go around. It is a lot easier splitting up a $100 million estate than a $1 million estate.

I routinely represent high net worth individuals in their divorces and we try our best to stay out of the limelight. Prominent folks, such as an athlete I represented recently, have substantial business interests and career reputations to uphold. Sometimes it is better to pay a "ransom" to your spouse and add a confidentiality clause in the separation agreement to protect your reputation, interests and careers down the line. I have had only one case that involved the other side running to Page 6, and even then, we mitigated the issues presented by the unwanted publicity in the case.

While it will not do much for romance, for those with substantial asset portfolios, pragmatic considerations and planning can protect both sides during one of life’s messiest outcomes: divorce.

07/26/2021

I co-authored this New York Law Journal article, which should be in the print edition of the NYLJ today. This article discusses the substitution of judgment—proper and improper—by the Attorney for Child in family law cases.

Questions that are explored and answered in the article are:

How far can we go in substituting our wishes for the child client’s when we think the child’s wishes are not in their best interests?

What should we do when we can’t convince our child clients as to what we think we know is best for them?

When is the situation so fraught with danger for the child client as to make it necessary and proper for us to substitute our judgment for that of our child client? Or is that even the standard?

Does the Code of Conduct for the AFC oblige us to advocate the expressed wishes of the child client even if the result will not be in the child client’s best interests?

And more!

What happens when the AFC believes that the child’s wishes are contrary to the child’s best interests and finds himself/herself at a crossroads with the child? The AFC must then decide whether it is permissible to use substituted judgment.

01/31/2021

Great NY Times article on managing your expectations during a divorce in this pandemic. My firm was interviewed and quoted in it.

For a lot of wealthy New Yorkers seeking divorces, there is much fighting about the vacation home, where many families have been ensconced for months. In one of the lawyer Harriet Newman Cohen’s cases, a couple spent thousands of dollars fighting over a court order that would seal off the master bedroom in their Hamptons home so the husband couldn’t spend the night there with his girlfriend when it was his turn to see the kids.

“He wouldn’t say, ‘I won’t go in there,’ so it had to be locked off,” said Ms. Cohen, whose clients have included Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York.

Our routines may have stalled during Covid, but the desire to divorce certainly hasn’t. Here, some of the pandemic-age challenges to consider.

04/04/2020

Work is busy as ever.

Cooped-up New Yorkers are flooding lawyer phone lines with divorce inquiries — with an avalanche of filings expected once the courts re-open. “People are realizing that they can’t stand each other,…

01/07/2020

"Just like many other things people make New Year’s resolutions to change, an unhappy marriage is one of them. Just as gym membership and attendance see a rise in January, so do people wanting to change their life with a divorce."

January is "Divorce Month." Find out why.

09/13/2019

The amount of su***des this year in the NYPD is alarming. And they often occur after retirement. I think part of it is because members of the service lose their sense of identity. When you identify with a job for a long time i.e 20+ years, it’s very difficult to transition into a new life. I also witness this with my clients who have identified with another individual through marriage/relationship for a long time. Loss, whether of a job or a person, is a tough transition and people should seek help if needed.

Always retire to something not just from something. (Although I wouldn't say the same when it comes to a marriage i.e. don't jump into another one immediately)

I served in the NYPD for almost 7 years. It wasn’t easy for me to transition into my new life so I somewhat understand how these officers feel but I hope I see less of this in the news in the future.

A retired NYPD sergeant committed su***de early Wednesday at his upstate New York home, police sources said. Jose Pabon, 49, shot himself in the head at his home in the Orange County town of Goshen…

08/28/2019

"In popular culture, the sentiment still prevails that marriage makes us happy and divorce leaves us lonely, and that never getting married at all is a fundamental failure of belonging. But speculation about whether or not marriage is obsolete overlooks a more important question: What is lost by making marriage the most central relationship in a culture?"

What an interesting case against marriage. Although I am pro-marriage because of the deep sense of commitment it may provide to the couple, it’s worth considering what would happen if they lived in a culture that supported all intimate relationships with the same energy currently devoted to celebrating and supporting marriage.

What if marriage is not the social good that so many believe and want it to be?

08/26/2019

Getting a divorce means saying goodbye to your old life, and welcoming the new one. Often times it helps to learn from other people's experiences before taking the leap into the new life.

After my divorce, I've learned that everything is more expensive when you're single, from taxes to insurance to your phone service.

08/22/2019

Two can live as cheaply as one, the old saying goes. Except for some high-income taxpayers.

Some taxpayers, particularly high-income couples, still face a marriage penalty, meaning that they pay more in taxes than if they were each single.

08/16/2019

I started Brooklyn Law School 5 years ago as an evening student to become a divorce attorney at a prominent matrimonial firm in Manhattan. When I worked as Police Officer in the NYPD ( NYPD 79th Precinct, NYPD 75th Precinct, and NYPD 94th Precinct), I saw so many officers get divorced so I figured there’s a market there...and I was right.
Although we represent extremely high net worth individuals, we make time for police officers because I understand their concerns in a divorce and have seen too many cops lose a substantial portion of their pensions and homes.
Just last week I had a cop come in for a divorce consultation and another (white shirt) coming in for a prenup (protect your pension!!!). I also help cops get the right attorneys for other issues such as personal injury, especially LOD injuries, and whatever else I can help them with. If I can’t help them, I always get them someone who can.
My firm has tremendous resources and employs top notch attorneys. We are located right in midtown Manhattan and I’m always here to help whether or not you’re a Police Officer.
When it comes to a lawyer, remember, you get what you pay for. Don’t try to save a few thousand and end up losing tens or hundreds of thousands in the long run. A divorce is a start to a new life and a great divorce attorney is an investment for this new life. Choose wisely. -AK

08/16/2019

In NYS, they are not divorced under the law and the presumption is that the child is the product of the marriage. Therefore, the (ex)husband can be held liable for child support. However, the presumption can be rebutted....more detailed information in the link in bio.