The Durst Firm

Why should I hire a divorce attorney?When faced with the reality of a divorce many people question whether or not it makes sense to hire an experienced family law attorney and incur the related costs. I know it may come across as self-serving, but I truly believe that individuals are bestserved and can obtain optimum results when they make the imvestment to hire an attorney who is focused on family law. 
The initial allure of obtaining a low cost divorce from an on-line source or a strip mall “divorce center” is strong. I get it. But the long term costs can significantly outweigh the initial benefit. 
Recently The Durst Firm was hired by a client who used on of the popular low cost divorce options. Now that post-judgment issues have arisen several years later, neither I, the executive-spouses attorney, or the judge are offered much guidance from the underlying documents. The consequence is the need for a time consuming and expensive plenary hearing. The moral of the story is that it’s better to do it right the first time. 
Years of experience have enabled me to address concerns that will likely arise. Doing so can be of great assistance in minimizing post-divorce conflict and expense. 

A word about “special” daysThis weekend is Mothers Day. Fathers Day is around the corner. For parents and children going through a divorce these events can be stressful. 
For the parents, be flexible. Remember that although you may no longer be spouses, you are still parents. Respect the importance these special days hold and make sure the appropriate parent has time on “their” day. Keep in mind that these celebrations are important for the children as well. Make sure they feel comfortable celebrating the other parent. Showing your kids you can work together and respect one another is an invaluable lesson. 
In the custody and parenting time agreements I draft for clients the treatment of holidays are given significant attention. Work with your attorney to indentify the holidays and special times that are most import to you. One parent cannot monopolize the holidays. Working together helps insure everyone has special times with the children. 

In New Jersey, child support and alimony obligation’s can be paid directly to the recipient or they can be processed by the county probation department by way of a payroll garnishment. When I firstinform clients that the garnishment may be imposed against them many try to avoid this from happening.

The fact of the matter is that under New Jersey law a garnishment will be implemented if that is what the recipient wishes to have happen. Truth be told, there are many benefits to the payor having support garnishment. First, there can be no question over whether or not payments were made were made on time. Second, in the event of a dispute arises the probation department will have an independent verification of all payments that were made were missed.

And employer can take no action against an employee for having a child support or alimony wage garnishment implemented. It will be a process just like any other deduction. 

If you have questions about the payment of your support obligations or would like to have your support paid through probation, contact The Durst Firm for help.

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When dealing with the reality of a divorce, one of the first questions many litigants deal with is whether

or not they should incur the expense of hiring a skilled and experienced divorce attorney. It may come across a self-serving, my answer is almost always “yes”  

While the allure of using low cost on the line resources or one of the heavily advertised strip mall divorce centers is understandable, I would caution everyone about the unforeseen consequences of this approach.  

Recently The Durst Firm was hired by someone who used one of these low-cost options do not provide individualized legal services to address a wide range of post judgement issues.  Once we started addressing the issues, became clear that the underlying documents offered little guidance in how these subsequent issues should be resolved. A properly drafted settlement agreement will set forth not only the resolutions, but also the factual underpinnings of served to lead to those results. In this recent case, no such information was provided and the result was that the judge was compelled to order a time-consuming and expensive plenary hearing. This all could have been avoided, or at least greatly minimized, if the job was done right the first time.