Westchester Divorce Lawyer – Arnold D. Cribari

Category: Divorce

NYACP: THE PLACE TO FIND A NEW YORK DIVORCE LAWYER

The NYACP (New York Association of Collaborative Professionals) is the place to go if you are looking for a divorce lawyer in the New York City metropolitan area. What is the NYACP? It is an association of like-minded collaborative professionals who share a powerful commitment. This commitment includes achieving excellence in their work as collaborative lawyers, divorce coaches, child specialists and financial specialists. Every NYACP member in good standing is required to satisfy ongoing and rigorous collaborative training requirements, which include attending numerous seminars each year that continuously improve the collaborative professional’s skills. This results in more and better divorce settlements that stand the test of time, meeting the reasonable needs of divorcing couples and their children. Why go collaborative and why settle? For the benefits of a collaborative divorce, which include: (1) protecting children from the trauma of a divorce war in Court; (2) avoiding the monumental legal and … Read More...

MY NYACP MEMBERSHIP IS PRICELESS

Since joining the New York Assocation of Collaborative Professionals (NYACP) in 2002, I represented 50 to 75 clients who were able to successfully settle their collaborative divorce cases during those dozen years. Then, during the past several months, I have not been retained on any new collaborative divorce cases. Yet I still regard my NYACP membership as priceless. Here’s why. At its essence, the NYACP is an association of like-minded professionals. They share a powerful commitment that is three-fold: (1) to achieve excellence in their work as collaborative lawyers, divorce coaches, child specialists and financial specialists; (2) to obtain long-lasting interest-based divorce settlements; and (3) to promote collaborative so that people think collaborative first when considering a divorce. Sharing such a commitment with others over the years, building trust and having fun at the same time, makes the relationships between NYACP members priceless for three basic reasons. First, these relationships … Read More...

Collaborative Divorce and a Special Needs Child

With March being Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, I am reminded that – for a divorcing couple who has a child with special needs – a collaborative divorce offers the best way for the parents to come to an agreement on addressing the needs of the child. About ten years ago, I worked on a collaborative divorce in which the couple had two children, one of whom had been diagnosed on the autism spectrum. I represented the husband, and another collaborative lawyer, “Michelle,” represented the wife. The parties were having some very heated arguments about parental decision-making and access to the children. The defining moment in the case occurred at a four-way settlement conference when, after a few niceties were exchanged, the wife suddenly lashed out at the husband, exclaiming how upset she was at his criticism of her decision-making with respect to their disabled child, and the various therapies she … Read More...

An Affordable Divorce

As a divorce lawyer with a solo practice, I offer clients personalized service and reasonable fees. Maintaining an office with low overhead expenses translates into a lower hourly rate for my services. I particularly enjoy doing collaborative divorce and mediation. In those cases, I work in partnership with my clients to achieve a settlement that works for both divorcing spouses and their children. I like collaborative and mediation because those processes empower the client and enable us to work together to find creative, “outside the box” solutions. Collaborative and mediation are also much more economical for the client, since those processes eliminate the need for writing voluminous legal papers and spending monumental hours in court. When collaborative or mediation is not possible, and clients are doing a litigated (court-based) divorce, I sometimes team up with an attorney colleague, particularly if my client’s spouse has hired a large law firm. This … Read More...

Beat the System in a Divorce

© Arnold D. Cribari, 2015 If you want to beat the system in a divorce and save a lot of money, a collaborative divorce or mediation is the way to go. You can “cut to the chase;” skip going to court and avoid paying for monumental hours of your lawyer’s time in preparation for court. Get to the heart of a settlement discussion early in the process. Here’s how it works. You and your spouse meet together with both of your attorneys, arrange for necessary financial disclosure and start a four-way conversation about settlement. This obviates the need for unnecessary financial disclosure, legal motions, court appearances – and the thousands of dollars in lawyers’ fees generated by all of that paperwork and courtroom presentations. In the collaborative process, both you and your spouse have your own attorneys. Your collaborative attorney is your ally and will make sure that you are … Read More...

Collaborative Divorce vs Aggressive Divorce

As a divorce attorney – in social situations I am often asked – if I were in need of my own divorce, would I want a collaborative divorce or would I pursue an aggressive divorce? When I probe the questioner I usually find that the question is based on a mistaken assumption. The assumption is that an aggressive approach will enable you to get and keep “more” of what you want out of the divorce. The truth is – unless your goal is to make your lawyer rich – the aggressive approach is probably not in your best interest. An aggressive approach in divorce means “litigation.” Litigation necessitates mountains of paperwork requiring hours and hours of “billable hours” of your attorney’s time. Moreover, in litigation, our adversarial legal system tends to aggravate the situation, increasing the amount of time demanded of your lawyer. The court system looks for the “truth” … Read More...

Choosing a Divorce Lawyer: Why Hire a Settlement Professional?

You probably have more experience dealing with doctors than with divorce lawyers. You may find this analogy helpful. If you had a heart problem, you wouldn’t go to an orthopedist. If your goal is a good divorce settlement, then, why would you go to a trial lawyer? It makes more sense to choose an attorney with skills, training and experience in getting good settlements. In our medical analogy, a divorce trial is comparable to surgery. Surgery is risky, stressful and expensive. You don’t undergo surgery unless it’s absolutely necessary. A collaborative divorce is comparable to the medical approach to a problem. When dealing with an illness, usually the least risky treatment is recommended. Going to court is risky. Over my 30-plus-year care as a divorce lawyer, I have told countless clients, “Get your needs met in a settlement. At trial you roll the dice.” When confronted with a divorce, think … Read More...

Why choose a collaborative divorce?

As a divorce attorney, I have been part of the collaborative divorce movement for 12 years. Before that, I spent 25 years in the adversarial divorce system. Over the past 14 years – since collaborative began in New York State – collaborative has been gaining a reputation as the less stressful, less costly, way to divorce. Yet it astonishes me that many people still choose to go the adversarial route; many of those divorces escalate into monumental messes. I wish there were a way to persuade people that – even in high conflict divorces – revenge on your spouse is not in your best interest. In New York State, there are legal guidelines for distribution of assets, maintenance, child support, etc. Fighting for demands beyond those legal guidelines can be a great adrenaline rush. Your attorney may even succeed in getting your spouse to cave on some of those issues. … Read More...

How to find a good collaborative divorce attorney

Collaborative divorce has achieved a reputation as a less stressful and less expensive divorce process. Consequently, more and more divorce lawyers are calling themselves collaborative attorneys. Unfortunately, just because an attorney labels him or herself as “collaborative” doesn’t necessarily mean that they have the training and skills to conduct a collaborative divorce. Your best bet is to select a collaborative divorce attorney who is an active member in good standing of the New York Association of Collaborative Professionals (NYACP). The NYACP has the most rigorous training requirement of any collaborative professionals’ group in the New York metropolitan area.

Choosing a Divorce Lawyer

So you and your spouse have decided that your marriage isn’t salvageable. You both are emotionally bruised and angry. Nevertheless, you would like to dissolve the marriage with as little stress as possible, both for yourselves and for your children. Here are some things to watch out for when choosing a divorce lawyer. In your first consultation, if the attorney says, “We need to file a summons,” ask why. If the answer is “because this is the way we start a divorce,” stop right there. Are you in a true emergency situation? Very few circumstances in a divorce are true emergencies. A true emergency includes physical abuse of any kind, psychological abuse of the children (i.e. a parent being cut off from their children); incessant psychological abuse of you (i.e. constant belittling), or financial abuse (i.e. withholding of money for rent, mortgage, food and/or other necessities). If you find yourself … Read More...