http://www.wben.com/Texting–Tweets—Facebook–The-New-Tools-of-Divor/8607356

Buffalo, NY (WBEN) — Think your soon-to-be-ex-spouse’s divorce attorney can’t find what you’ve “hidden” in your Facebook account?

Think again.

Information from social networking sites – including Facebook and Twitter, emails, text messages, and search engines is more and more frequently being used as evidence in court proceedings.

“It is a new phenomenon. We’re seeing its impact at a variety of levels,” Nelson Zakia, chair of Matrimonial Law for Hogan Willig, P.C. told WBEN’s Sandy Beach on Thursday. (more…)

Tags: divorce, emails, facebook, marital conduct, text messages, twitter

It has long been rumored that the divorce rate in America has reached an all-time high with a predicted 50% of marriages ending in divorce.  In New York State, the process of divorce has been especially renowned to be complicated, emotionally and financially damaging, and torturously long.  This characterization seems well deserved considering, as NBC New York points out, New York was the only state in America lacking no-fault divorce legislation.  However, (more…)

Tags: divorce, new york state, Protecting Women with No-Fault Divorce

HoganWillig is pleased to welcome Thomas R. Cassano as Executive Counsel to our firm’s Matrimonial and Family Law Department. Mr. Cassano has limited his practice almost exclusively in the area of matrimonial and family law for more than thirty years. He was recently appointed to the New York State Matrimonial Law Advisory Committee and serves on the Executive Committee of the Family Law Section of the New York State Bar Association. Since 1981, Mr. Cassano has been a Certified Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and a former Vice President of the organization’s New York Chapter. He has also been named as one of the “Best Lawyers in America” in the area of family law every year since 1993.

Tags: Executive Counsel, Matrimonial and Family Law Department, Thomas R. Cassano

Domestic violence is a far more prevalent problem than most people realize. By some estimates, as many as one in three women have been abused by an intimate partner. While domestic abuse occurs more commonly against women, men can be victimized as well.

Domestic violence is not limited to physical and sexual assaults. Abuse between intimate partners can take many forms, including (more…)

Tags: domestic abuse, domestic violence, Family Justice Center of Erie County, safety plan

Did you know that your educational degree or professional license can be considered marital property within the meaning of the Domestic Relations Law of New York State?

It’s true, if acquired during your marriage and before the commencement of a divorce action or the execution of a separation agreement, your degree or license can be subject to equitable distribution. This simply means that your spouse may be entitled to share in part of the value that your license or degree represents, or in other words, the value of your enhanced earning capacity. (more…)

Tags: divorce action, enchanced earnings, enhanced earning capacity, equitable distribution, marital asset, martial property, McGowan v. McGowan, O'Brien v O'Brien, separation agreement

You might be surprised to find out that despite your level of income or assets, you may need a prenuptial agreement.

Many people fail to consider signing a prenuptial agreement because they mistakenly assume that such agreements are only appropriate or necessary for especially wealthy individuals or couples. Others overlook the option of executing such an agreement simply because the topic is a difficult one to broach and they do not want to risk offending their future spouse. In reality, (more…)

Tags: antenuptial agreement, premarital agreement, prenup, prenuptial agreement, prenuptial contact

I recently had an opportunity to sit down with a potential client who had acknowledged with her spouse a need to achieve at least a legal separation and possibly a divorce.  Her main questions were focused on how that process would work as she had some ideas regarding traditional divorce litigation, mediation and collaborative law.  Her case was not unlike pretty much all others in that (more…)

Tags: collaborative law, dispute resolution model, divorce, divorce litigation, divorce mediation, Family law, legal separation, Matrimonial Law