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Elliot S. Schlissel is a father’s rights attorney. He can be reached by telephone at 516-561-6645, 718-350-2802, or by email to schlissel.law@att.net.
Does the Present Income Rule Apply to Spousal Maintenance?
October 19, 2014 By
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Elliot S. Schlissel is a father’s rights attorney. He can be reached at 516-561-6645, 718-350-2802 or by email to schlissel.law@att.net.
Court Terminates Father’s Child Support Obligations
October 15, 2014 By
In a case before Support Magistrate Elizabeth Bloom, sitting in the Family Court of Nassau County, a father brought a petition to terminate his child support obligations. In his petition, the father plead that his two daughters had been constructively emancipated from him and as a result he sought to end all of his child support obligations. He had not seen either of his two daughters since 2007. The father claimed the mother had defamed him in front of his twin daughters. She had told them he had engaged in extramarital relationships with other women. This information caused the girls to be alienated from him.
Mother Claimed Daughters Didn’t Want to See Their Father
The mother contended the father had not contacted his twin daughters since 2009. She took the position it was solely the children who did not want to have contact with him. She claimed she did not create the situation.
Support Magistrate Bloom in her decision stated pursuant to the doctrine of constructive emancipation a child who is of employable age can be constructively emancipated from the father. She found the father’s testimony to be truthful. She also took into consideration the evidence showed the mother had exhibited hatred towards the father. In her decision, Support Magistrate Bloom found the children were supporting the mother’s position against the father. She found the father’s conduct did not amount to a reasonable basis for the children to refuse to have contact with the father.
Constructive Emancipation
Support Magistrate Bloom ruled the children had constructively emancipated themselves from their father. They had taken this action without just cause or reason. They had refused to have any contact with him or allow him visitation. The father’s petition to have his child support obligations terminated was granted.
Article 78 Hearing Regarding Child Support
October 9, 2014 By
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Elliot Schlissel is a father’s rights attorney. He can be reached at 516-561-6645 or 718-350-2802.
Court Needs Consent of Father For Children To Be Adopted
October 5, 2014 By
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Elliot S. Schlissel is a father’s rights lawyer. He can be reached by telephone at 516-561-6645 or 718-350-2802, or by email to schlissel.law@att.net.
Custody Litigation
October 1, 2014 By
In custody litigation the court must determine which parent would be better at taking care of the best interests of the child or children. Best interests of the child or children involves which parent can provide a life situation where the child will thrive and grow emotionally, intellectually, spiritually and physically. The large majority of custody issues are resolved out of court in custody agreements between the parties. However a small number of custody matters require a judge to make a decision as to which parent would be better suited to being the residential custodial parent of the child.
Preparing for Custody Litigation
Each litigant in a custody case will seek to prove it is in the child’s best interest for the child to reside with them. In order to accomplish this goal, a litigant in a custody case should obtain documentation supporting his or her claims. This documentation should show the involvement of that parent in the child’s medical needs, school, work, after school activities, family and social events, and other issues which would lead a judge to believe that parent was the primary, caring individual involved with raising the child and promoting the child’s best interests. A parent seeking custody should show his or her residence provides appropriate accommodations for the child, is within a reasonable distance of the child’s school, and the living environment the child would be exposed to is conducive to raising a child. Photographs of the place the child will live, his room, the accommodations of the home should be available to present to the court.
Who The Child Seeks to Live With
In the State of New York, in custody battles, an attorney is appointed to represent the child. The attorney for the child is supposed to meet with the child and take into consideration the child’s desires as to who he or she would seek to live with. It is this author’s opinion the child’s position as to who should be the residential custodial parent should only be considered with mature children. Unfortunately, this is not the law in New York. I have had numerous cases where attorneys for a child have come into court and advised the court who the 4 or 5 year old they interviewed would seek to live with. 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 year olds often change their minds, sometimes 3 or 4 times during a 15 minute span.
Support System
Parents seeking custody of a child should be able to make a presentation to the court who will be taking care of the child, supervising the child, and meeting the child’s needs 7 days a week. If the parent works, he or she must present to the court a support system which would nurture the child, protect the child, and properly supervise the child when that parent is unavailable due to employment or other reasons.
The More Available Parent
Some parents have employment situations which are more flexible than others. The parent with the more flexible position can make a presentation to the judge that he or she would be available to be there for the child during school programs, after school activities, and help with homework. Judges do take a parent’s availability to nurture a child into consideration when custody issues are presented to them.
Elliot Schlissel is a father’s rights lawyer practicing law within the Metropolitan New York area for more than 35 years. 
Rights of the Stay at Home Father
September 19, 2014 By
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Elliot S. Schlissel is a father’s rights advocate. He can be reached at 1-800-344-6431 or by email at schlissel.law@att.net
Father Challenges Child Support Arrangement
September 12, 2014 By
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Elliot S. Schlissel, Esq. is a father’s rights attorney. He can be reached at 1-800-344-6431 or by email at schlissel.law@att.net.
Father Seeks to Provide Child Support In the Form of Eggs, Produce and Vegetables
August 27, 2014 By
In a case from Upstate New York, Justice Robert Muller sitting in Essex County, New York, Supreme Court had a new and interesting argument presented to him. The case involved a wife who had left the marital residence with the parties’ three children. Two other children of the parties continued to reside with the father.
Custody Issues
Justice Muller was presented with custody issues within the confines of a divorce case. The mother wanted child support for the children living with her and spousal maintenance (alimony). There were arguments made between the husband and the wife with regard to how much each party was earning. Eventually the court ruled the husband should pay the wife temporary maintenance in the sum of $370 per month.
Father Lives on a Farm
The husband advised the court there was a farm located on the land where the marital residence was located. He sought to have the maintenance paid to the wife in the form of meat, eggs, and vegetables from the farm. The father requested the court allow him to pay the child support and maintenance with regard to the various items grown or maintained on the farm.
Judge Robert Muller found this to be an interesting argument. However, the attorney for the father was unable to produce any precedent which authorized one party to pay maintenance and child support payments with food instead of money. The father’s request to pay the child support payments with food was denied.
Conclusion
For those of us who live in the Metropolitan New York area, this seems like a humorous case. However, in Upstate New York, in rural communities, where cash flow on farms can be difficult to obtain, the argument of getting credit for providing food, eggs, produce, meat and vegetables to a spouse to allow her to feed her children, is an interesting argument. Although I don’t believe the entire child support payment should be allowed to be made in food, it is not inconceivable a court in Upstate New York might someday allow child support payments to be made, with regard to parties living on a farm, with a portion of the food, produce and meat raised on the farm.
Elliot Schlissel is a father’s rights attorney. He represents fathers in divorces, custody and child support proceedings.
Halle Berry Paying $16,000 Per Month For Child Support Payments
July 24, 2014 By
Halle Berry has been involved in a long, drawn out litigation involving child custody and child support. She was recently ordered to pay $16,000 in child support payments to Gabriel Aubrey with regard to supporting the parties’ six year old daughter, Nahla. This child support has to be paid by her each month until Nahla is 19 years old or graduates high school, whichever event should occur first. In addition, Halle Berry was ordered to pay $300,000 in legal fees to Gabriel Aubrey and $115,000 in retroactive child support payments. It is reported these sums are pursuant to a settlement of a case involving Ms. Berry and Mr. Aubrey which had been pending in Los Angeles Superior Court.
History Between the Parties
Halle met Gabriel in 2005. Halle Berry is an Academy Award winning actress and Gabriel Aubrey is a Canadian model.
Relocating to France
At one point during their legal battles, Halle Berry brought a proceeding to relocate her daughter to France. She was unsuccessful in this proceeding. At the present time, both Berry and Aubrey have joint custody of the parties’ six year old daughter. However, Aubrey is the residential custodial parent.
Last year, Ms. Berry gave birth to another child with her current husband, Oliver Martinez.
Elliot Schlissel is a father’s rights attorney. He represents fathers in custody litigation, child support litigation, and issues involving visitation rights and parenting time.
