FAQs

Yes. We charge our hourly rates for an initial interview.

Our practice includes divorce, alimony, child custody and support, property division, parenting and visitation, relocation, pre-marital and postnuptial agreements, jurisdictional disputes, legal separation, international family matters, post-judgment modification of financial and custody orders, and post-judgment enforcement of court orders.

Edward Nusbaum 40 years
Harold W. Haldeman 19 years

There is no typical time for a divorce because each divorce differs from every other divorce depending upon, among other factors: the financial issues of the marital estate, the reasonableness of the respective parties and the Court’s schedule.

Our firm’s top priority is client service. We are accessible and responsive to your needs, providing regular communication, real-time updates and prompt legal counseling on issues that arise in your particular circumstances.

As seasoned negotiators and capable litigators, we apply our skill and diligent preparation to resolve your case by agreement while always prepared to litigate when necessary.

Other law firms recognize our expertise in family law by hiring us as co-counsel in cases.

We work to serve your needs, to research the legal issues in your case, and to devise the best course of action given the facts of your case in an effort to provide you with sufficient information to make important decisions.

When both spouses are represented by attorneys, we are proponents of a mediation process that calls upon the services of a select, agreed-upon professional mediator who meets privately with the spouses and their attorneys to forge, through an informal process, but with the benefits of professional advocacy on both sides, a fair and equitable resolution of the support, asset and liability distribution issues in the case. This avoids the expenses, uncertainties, inconveniences, emotional stresses and public exposure of a trial in the Superior Court.

We do not advise clients to engage in the mediation divorce process where neither spouse has individual representation and the spouses work with one attorney who, while not representing either spouse’s individual interests, mediates their attempt to reach agreement. This is fraught with risks. The process may not account for unequal financial sophistication or unequal negotiation skills of the parties. It often loses sight of a fair and equitable result as the primary goal. In many instances, moreover, spouses are left to rely on the other spouse’s good faith representations concerning financial matters, which omits the benefit of due diligence through discovery to determine the true condition of their respective incomes, expenses, assets and liabilities. These weaknesses in the process become apparent when, as advised by the mediator and resulting in additional legal fees, the parties each hire independent counsel to review their mediated agreement. When one or both independent counsels advise against the agreement for lack of fair disclosure, or for unfair or inequitable provision for support or distribution of assets and liabilities, the parties find themselves starting the process again.

The collaborative divorce process involves lawyers who refuse to litigate any aspect of a divorce if settlement negotiations fail. Oftentimes, one spouse in a collaborative divorce setting is disadvantaged because of unequal bargaining power. Furthermore, the collaborative process deprives each party of the litigation alternative to resolve their disputes. Additionally, in those instances when collaboration fails, clients are forced to hire new lawyers who are unfamiliar with their case and start over in a litigation setting, or, in the alternative, settle the case on less favorable terms to bring their divorce to a conclusion.

We settle most of our cases by agreement, but the option of litigation is necessary to reach an equitable result when other methods have failed. We possess the necessary litigation tools to litigate a case as a last resort.

When necessary, we work with proven and trusted outside professionals such as tax experts, valuation experts, forensic accountants, custody and psychological evaluators, substance abuse experts and information technology experts.

Detailed preparation of your financial affidavit.

Preparation of a comprehensive marital summary – a history of your marriage.

Preparation of a parenting plan to determine accessibility of each parent to their children on issues such as visitation, vacations, holidays and residence.

Response to interrogatories or production requests from the other side.

Patience and perseverance as you work with us in preparation of your case.