Getting divorced? Help yourself to a bigger piece of the marital pie via legal blackmail, courtesy of the New York State Legislature. Let me explain.
New York has some of the most restrictive divorce laws in the country when it comes to grounds for divorce. There is no such thing as "irreconcilable differences" or anything remotely similar in New York. In New York, we do it the old fashioned way. The party wanting the divorce, typically the plaintiff, must prove "fault" to obtain a divorce. But what happens when there is no "fault" as defined by the Legislature? What if the parties are just miserable, or grew apart, or frequently argue?
This is where the blackmail comes in. If the requisite legal fault cannot be proven, the other side can blackmail the plaintiff by resisting the divorce unless the financial terms are made more favorable. If the plaintiff does not want to pay the blackmail, he or she will have to have a trial on grounds for divorce, a who-did-what-to-whom free for all that may result in a judge ruling that proper legal grounds have not been proven, and the parties have to stay married. Many opt to pay the blackmail.
This sad state of affairs is the result of the New York Legislature's continued inability to enact a no fault divorce law, something every other state in the U.S. seems to be able to do. Until a no fault divorce law is enacted, the legal blackmail will undoubtedly continue.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Who's Driving the Train?
Want to guarantee misery and financial destruction from your divorce? Let someone else drive the train.
The train is a metaphor for your life, and the direction it is taking. Ideally, you should be the one determining where you are going and how you will get there. Your lawyer is the conductor, there to assist you in making choices about direction and destination. But you make the decisons.
Divorce is both an emotional and financial process. Sometimes, emotions take center stage, and determine your course of conduct. You want to make the other person pay for all the bad things he or she did. You want revenge, payback or to punish your soon-to-be ex. When you act on those emotions, you let someone else drive the train of your life.
Your lawyer will be only too happy to litigate small issues, or pursue strategies that will contribute little to the ultimate resolution of the case. Why not, the lawyer gets paid win or lose.
But if you want to minimize the damage to your finances and your life, you must put aside the emotion. You must make decisions based upon rational considerations and probable outcomes, not emotions. You must drive the train of your life yourself.
The train is a metaphor for your life, and the direction it is taking. Ideally, you should be the one determining where you are going and how you will get there. Your lawyer is the conductor, there to assist you in making choices about direction and destination. But you make the decisons.
Divorce is both an emotional and financial process. Sometimes, emotions take center stage, and determine your course of conduct. You want to make the other person pay for all the bad things he or she did. You want revenge, payback or to punish your soon-to-be ex. When you act on those emotions, you let someone else drive the train of your life.
Your lawyer will be only too happy to litigate small issues, or pursue strategies that will contribute little to the ultimate resolution of the case. Why not, the lawyer gets paid win or lose.
But if you want to minimize the damage to your finances and your life, you must put aside the emotion. You must make decisions based upon rational considerations and probable outcomes, not emotions. You must drive the train of your life yourself.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Why Do Cases Take So Long?
I was sitting in court yesterday on a matrimonial matter. The courtroom was filled with lawyers, all waiting to see the Judge or the law secretary. It occurred to me that if you added up the amount being billed that morning, it was easily tens of thousands of dollars.
Some lawyers were sitting there reading the newspaper while billing at $375-400 per hour. Others were schmoozing with their friends or colleagues - again the meter was running. I felt badly for the clients that were there, watching their money being frittered away.
Why was there no sense of urgency? Why was everyone involved in the system content to while away the hours waiting? The simple answer is the billable hour. Who cares how long it takes to acomplish a particular task if the longer it takes the more money you make? The court calendars all cases for 9:30 AM. No one minds waiting, since the meter is running. There is no impetus to be efficient, because law is the only business in which the more efficient you are the LESS money you make.
There has to be a better way. You can bet that if all the lawyers in the room were getting a fixed fee for the appearance, they would be screaming about the delay. The same lack of urgency due to fees permates the entire legal system. Who cares how many times you have to come back to court if you are being paid by the hour?
Don't get me wrong. I bill by the hour. But I don't feel good about it. What do you think?
Some lawyers were sitting there reading the newspaper while billing at $375-400 per hour. Others were schmoozing with their friends or colleagues - again the meter was running. I felt badly for the clients that were there, watching their money being frittered away.
Why was there no sense of urgency? Why was everyone involved in the system content to while away the hours waiting? The simple answer is the billable hour. Who cares how long it takes to acomplish a particular task if the longer it takes the more money you make? The court calendars all cases for 9:30 AM. No one minds waiting, since the meter is running. There is no impetus to be efficient, because law is the only business in which the more efficient you are the LESS money you make.
There has to be a better way. You can bet that if all the lawyers in the room were getting a fixed fee for the appearance, they would be screaming about the delay. The same lack of urgency due to fees permates the entire legal system. Who cares how many times you have to come back to court if you are being paid by the hour?
Don't get me wrong. I bill by the hour. But I don't feel good about it. What do you think?
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