by Robert E. Hornberger, Esq | May 10, 2022
4 Issues That Make Divorce More Complex on Long Island
Getting a divorce on Long Island can be an emotionally and financially devastating experience. If your divorce becomes complicated, it can drain you of time, energy, and financial and emotional resources. This can make it even more difficult to recover after the divorce is finalized, especially if you have a limited stream of income once you’re single.
Here are some of the top issues that will complicate the dissolution of your marriage and how you can get legal support from an experienced New York family lawyer.
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by Robert E. Hornberger, Esq | Apr 5, 2022
What Affect Does & Divorce Have on Probate & Intestate Succession?
Getting a divorce is complex and involves managing multiple aspects of your current life and future at the same time. One of those things is what will happen to your property and assets in the event of your death now that you are going to be divorced. If this happens, two things may occur — either probate or both intestate succession and probate. Here’s what to know about intestate succession and how to get assistance with estate planning after divorce and navigating the many difficult facets of dissolving your marriage.
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by Robert E. Hornberger, Esq | Mar 29, 2022
Why You Need Estate Planning Help When Getting Divorced
If you are a middle-aged or older adult, chances are you have carefully planned for your future. If you are married, this generally involves planning for your spouse as well. You have likely created a will and established a trust to protect your assets and property after the death of you and your spouse. You may have even made decisions about who will care for your children if you have them, should something happen to both you and your spouse before your children reach the age of 18. Together, you and your spouse have likely purchased insurance policies that protect your family in the event of your disability or death. However, you might not have planned for divorce.
Getting a divorce means you will probably need to make several changes to your estate plan, especially if you have or will have another spouse. Should this be done with the help of a dedicated estate planning lawyer? Here’s what you need to know.
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by Robert E. Hornberger, Esq | Mar 22, 2022
How To Protect Yourself from Dishonest Divorce Tactics
Getting a divorce on Long Island, or anywhere else for that matter, is a life-changing experience. Unfortunately, few divorces are completely amicable and often, spouses are at odds with each other during the process of dissolving their marriage. Sometimes, frustration, fear, and the desire for revenge go too far and one spouse may use unscrupulous tactics to try to control the divorce narrative. To help you protect yourself, following are some of the sneakiest divorce tactics and how a Long Island family attorney can help protect you from a spouse that tries to use them against you.
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by Robert E. Hornberger, Esq | Mar 15, 2022
What You Need to Know About DROs and QDROs
When you get married in New York, assets that you or your spouse obtain afterward the date of the marriage are considered marital property and are subject to equitable distribution laws. This includes retirement benefits. If your spouse contributed to a retirement plan during the course of your marriage, you may be eligible to receive a portion of those benefits under equitable distribution. To do this, you will need a Domestic Relations Order, a DRO or a Qualified Domestic Relations Order, or QRDO. Here’s what to know about DROs and how an experienced Long Island divorce attorney can help you obtain a fair divorce settlement.
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by Robert E. Hornberger, Esq | Mar 8, 2022
How to Keep Your Divorce From Ruining Your Credit Score
Getting a divorce on Long Island, or anywhere else for that matter, doesn’t have a direct impact on your credit score by itself, however, your credit can be affected by common divorce issues like splitting up bank accounts or dividing debt. Here’s what to know about divorce and your credit score and how to get legal help from an experienced New York divorce attorney to minimize any impact your divorce will have on your credit.
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by Robert E. Hornberger, Esq | Mar 1, 2022
How Does Paternity Effect Child Support & Child Custody?
Typically, paternity on Long Island is determined before a child custody or child support order is finalized. However, there are occasionally cases in which a temporary custody order has already been arranged and paternity is established later. In rare cases, a married couple may even find that the husband is not the child’s biological father later on in the marriage, sometimes years later.
If a paternity test proves the father is not the child’s biological parent, will the custody order become invalid? Here’s what you should know.
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by Robert E. Hornberger, Esq | Feb 22, 2022
Why You Need An Experienced Divorce Lawyer
There are numerous benefits of hiring a Long Island divorce lawyer to help with your family legal issues. Most people already know about the major ones, like protecting your rights and increasing your chances of a favorable outcome. Learn more about why you need an experienced lawyer for your divorce. Below, you’ll learn about some not-so-obvious benefits of having experienced legal advocacy during a divorce or other family legal matter, and how to get in touch with an knowledgeable lawyer in your area.
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by Robert E. Hornberger, Esq | Jan 2, 2013
Your Social Media Posts Can Help / Hurt Your Divorce
Social Media such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, MySpace, etc., are becoming ever more important in Long Island divorce and family court cases. Both litigants (the parties involved in the case) and practitioners (lawyers, attorneys, etc.) need to be aware of the ramifications of anything you or your client or the opposing party posts to social media sites.
Social Media Posts Can Be Used Against You
Your social media posts can be used against you or the opposing party or counsel and can have a critical effect, either negative or positive, on your divorce or family law case. Both Nassau County and Suffolk County Family Courts have admitted social media posts or statements as evidence for and against litigants in the case.
Criminal versus Civil Cases
There is a very important major distinction between criminal and civil cases of which most litigants are unaware:
- In Civil Cases, such as Divorce and Family Law, a defendant does not have a right not to testify. In other words, you can be required to testify against yourself. You, as either a plaintiff or a defendant, can be called as a witness.
- In Criminal Cases, the defendant has a right not to testify and can refuse to be a witness against him or herself.
‘Hearsay’ Can Be Used in Civil Cases
We’ve all seen lawyers on TV cry, “Objection: Hearsay!” to get oral evidence made in court disregarded by the judge and jury. But what exactly is hearsay and when is it not admissible? Hearsay is loosely defined as any out of court statement made by a party or witness that is being introduced during the course of a hearing or trial to prove the truth of the out of court statement. Generally, hearsay is not admissible during the course of a hearing or trial because of its inherent unreliability, however, there are exceptions. A major exception to the hearsay rule is that a statement made out of court by a party to an action is deemed admissible, because, that party has the ability to take the stand during the hearing or trial to refute the statement. This is where Social Media comes in. In a civil case, Social Media is admissible against a litigant because the litigant has an opportunity to refute the statement in court.
Be Careful What You Post on Social Media
Parties to civil actions, particularly divorce and family court matters, need to know that the statements they make on social media such as Facebook and Twitter can be used against them at the ultimate hearing or trial. For instance, a party to a divorce action wherein spousal support is an issue may not want to brag on social media that they recently received a raise at work. Or, in a custody case, a parent seeking custody may not want to brag how they went out drinking while their child(ren) were in their custody. The examples are endless.
In conclusion, parties to civil actions, particularly divorce and family court matters on Long Island and throughout New York, need to curtail and be very careful about what they post on social media sites. Attorneys representing clients in these types of matters should try to ethically and carefully discover the social media statements made by the other party. Be aware that every jurisdiction has its own ethical rules to which lawyers must adhere when attempting to acquire these types of statements.
The attorneys at Hornberger Verbitsky, P.C. are conscientious about staying abreast of the latest trends in legal matters in Nassau County and Suffolk County Divorce and Family Law Courts on Long Island, NY and are available to answer your questions regarding these matters at any time. For a free private consultation about your needs, contact the experienced attorneys at Robert E. Hornberger, PC at 631-923-1910 or fill out the form on this page and we’ll get right back to you.
