Divorce – Husband
Client’s Situation: Husband and Wife had two young children (ages 4 & 6) at the time they divorced. Husband wanted joint legal and joint physical custody of the children. Wife alleged that Husband was not a good father and had not been involved with the children and wanted sole legal and sole physical custody.
Allison’s Approach: Advised Husband to undergo a Parenting Assessment, which would assess his parenting skills and his relationship with his children. I hypothesized that if, in fact, Husband was never involved with the children, then he would do poorly in the Parenting Assessment, and I could better advise him on whether to take his case to trial. But if he was involved with the children, then he could display that in the assessment and we could use the positive outcome to get him joint custody at trial. The results of the Parenting Assessment were positive for Husband. The psychologist found that his children were well adjusted and attached to him, and that he was a responsible, attentive parent, which would not be the case if he were “never” involved as the Wife alleged. We presented the Parenting Assessment at trial and the psychologist who performed it testified about her results.
Result: Husband was awarded joint legal and joint physical custody and an equal parenting time schedule after a trial.
Child Custody
Client’s Situation: Mother made many accusations against Father to try and obtain sole legal and physical custody. A custody evaluation was done and the evaluator recommended sole legal and sole physical custody to Mother, believing the accusations.
Allison’s Approach: Presented credible evidence at trial that refuted Mother’s accusations and that revealed bias in the custody evaluator’s report.
Result: Prevailed in obtaining Father joint legal and joint physical custody of his daughter.
Divorce – Wife
Client’s Situation: Long term marriage in which Wife was a spousal maintenance candidate. Complex marital estate that included Husband’s non-marital claims to his pension and to his 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, out of the state of New York.
Allison’s Approach: Advocated for Wife getting temporary spousal maintenance while the divorce was pending and succeeded in obtaining an order for Husband to pay Wife over $5,000 in spousal maintenance pending the final outcome of the divorce. Husband refused to pay the monthly spousal maintenance amount and we had to go to trial on the issues of division of marital and non-marital property and spousal maintenance.
Result: Prevailed in getting Wife permanent spousal maintenance and the entire marital portion of Husband’s pension. Also prevailed in getting Wife over $60,000 of Husband’s 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund and in getting an award of attorney’s fees of $7,500.
