New York Contested Divorce Lawyer
The Difference Between Contested & Uncontested Divorce
Many couples going through a divorce in New York will turn to the courts to help them sort out all aspects of their separation—from dividing debts and distributing property to determining child custody and support payments. If a couple cannot come to an agreement on some of these issues without intervention from the court, they will enter into what is called a “contested divorce.”
This term can mean several different things. First, it can be used to describe a divorce where one party argues that the other doesn’t have grounds for divorce, thus trying to prevent it. In this case, the divorce itself would be contested. More commonly, however, it is used to describe a divorce where both parties have agreed to a divorce, but cannot agree on issues such as child custody or property division.
Temporary Orders in Contested Divorce
In some cases, a divorce attorney will ask the judge to make temporary orders. This can help direct the payment of bills, mortgage payments, child support, spousal support and lawyers’ fees early in the case so that if one spouse stops paying the bills or providing the other with spending money, the court can order support. This will provide temporary relief that may remain in effect until the divorce is finalized.
In New York, a typical contested divorce will take several months, or longer, to complete. As you may have already discovered, life doesn’t stand still during this time. By establishing temporary orders, a non-monied spouse can pay some bills while the case is pending. These orders will generally stay in effect until the final divorce decree is entered or an agreement is reached by the divorcing parties.
During the Pending Divorce
While a divorce is pending, each spouse’s lawyer can request discovery from the other spouse—which may include information and documents almost anything related to the financial or custody issues involved in the divorce.
Some of the information your attorney might request includes:
- Deeds or titles to property
- Bank statements, checks and deposit records
- Credit card bills and other spending records
- Proposed witness lists
- Business account records
The Trial
If your case cannot be settled, there will be a trial, during which the judge will hear evidence from both sides on all issues that have been raised. This could include witness testimony, testimony from either spouse, financial records, police or medical reports, or any other form of admissible evidence—all of which will help the court decide the facts and establish division of assets and debts and the best interests of the children.
Once the trial has been concluded, the judge may enter a ruling from the bench or take the matter under advisement and render a decision at a later time. In some jurisdictions, if the divorce has been pending for an extended period of time without any foreseeable resolution, the judge may schedule a status conference to see if a settlement would be possible before taking the case to trial.
For more information about contested divorce, call us at Lois M. Brenner, Esq.: (646) 663-4546.
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“Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!”- Sara and Jeff
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We have Lois Brenner to thank for turning our marriage around. We hired Lois as our mediator when we were considering divorce. When we started working with her and she realized we wanted to try to keep our marriage together she suggested a postnuptial agreement to get our marriage back on track. Having the postnuptial agreement made us both accountable when it came to our issues. Having this doc in place is clearly helping us redefine our marriage in a better way. I don’t know if we will never get divorced, but for now we are respecting each others’ boundaries and are aware of the consequences if we don’t! It was really cool that Ms. Brenner suggested this method as an option. Most divorce attorneys would not have suggested a way for us to try to stay together. She is very talented and unusual in the best possible way. If we choose to take the divorce path eventually we will definitely hire her again. In the meantime we are making it work. She is amazing.- Joseph M
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I met with Lois Brenner nine months ago, and my life has been changed for the better! She and her legal team really encouraged me to leave a very abusive husband. They gave me the knowledge and courage to take the necessary legal steps. My parents were helping me and found Lois to be smart, and compassionate. My whole family felt really comfortable having her handle my case. I am finally divorced, away from an abusive man and ready to start a new life. I can’t thank Lois and her legal team enough for all the support I received. I got a much better settlement than I expected because they were relentless in locating money my husband had hidden. Thank you so much!- Kim B.
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Lois is a “Rock Star” I was very worried about my daughter who was in a really bad marriage. I started researching divorce attorneys and found Lois Brenner. I called her, discussed my daughter’s horrible marriage and she agreed to meet with us. Since my daughter’s husband wanted out of the marriage too (he was cheating), Lois suggested she help them dissolve their marriage in mediation. To my surprise it worked out. Lois was able to keep my daughter and husband from fighting during their sessions, and she helped them resolve all their financial issues. Since I was paying the fees to help my daughter, not having to go to court saved us a great deal of money. As a father, I am truly grateful for everything Lois did. Her talks with me in the beginning of the process, to calm me down, really helped. I would highly recommend her to anyone thinking of divorce.- Graham (happy dad)
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“You are extremely knowledgeable and the consummate professional.”- Ben and Jill
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Thanks to Lois Brenner our wedding went well because we had our prenuptial agreement in place. We literally had her draft our prenuptial agreement 2 weeks before our wedding. She was thorough, made suggestions to include things we hadn’t even thought of, and got it done really quickly. Thanks Lois :)- Tanya S
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When I first decided to hire a divorce attorney, I thought a male attorney would be best. Lois Brenner really surprised me. Although she has written a divorce book on women’s rights, she is totally an advocate for men as well. She really understood how much I loved my kids, and listened and understood all the horrible things my wife was doing to destroy their relationship with me. She didn’t miss a beat and really went to bat for me. She reached out to my wife’s attorney every time my wife made any attempt to disrupt my visiting our kids and always demanded the best results. She made herself available, even when she was on vacation! Lois has been there every step of the way in these difficult circumstances. I highly recommend her.- Sam
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Lois Brenner was great to work with. She was very thorough and efficient! I would recommend Lois to anyone seeking an amicable divorce.- RW
