stamp "Evidence"It is understandable that parents who “cannot afford” a lawyer will attempt to represent themselves in Family Court child support proceedings. Moreover, the Family Court is remarkably able to apply the law and make its determinations of issues presented by unrepresented parties. However, the fact that a party does not have a lawyer does not excuse following the rules nor presenting the proof needed by the Court to make those determinations.

Take the recent child support decision in Matter of Carol A.S. v. Mark H. There, the mother commenced a proceeding against a father in Kings County Family Court in order to establish his paternity of a college-attending daughter (under 21) and to provide support for the child. (A DNA test established was administered that established the father’s paternity.)

The decision of Judge Xavier E. Vargas went to pains to discuss the history of the case, noting the various adjournments that were granted in order to allow both parents the opportunity to gather the documentation the court needed for each party to establish his or her positions. The mother wanted the father to reimburse her for the college expenses paid for the daughter. The father claimed he regularly had been giving the daughter $600 per month by depositing that sum directly to the daughter’s account. He wanted credit for making those payments.Continue Reading Representing Yourself In Child Support Proceedings Has Its Risks

Lying childIn his February, 2016 TED talk, developmental researcher Kang Lee tells us that adults cannot tell whether children are lying.

As part of his research, Dr. Lee asked children to guess the numbers on two face-down cards. The children were told that if could do that, they would get a big prize. In the middle of the game with a child, the monitor leaves the room, telling the child not to peek at the cards. Hidden cameras record the actions.

More than 90 percent of children will peek as soon as the proctor leaves the room. The more important question for Dr. Lee was when the proctor returned, would the child confess or lie about cheating? By age 4 and up, at least 80% of the children lie.

However, Dr. Lee also wanted to know if we, adults, can tell when a child is lying or telling the truth. Dr. Lee played videos of these types of games for many, many adults from all walks of life. In half of the videos, the children lied. In the other half of the videos, the children told the truth. Recognizing that if the adults guessed randomly, there would be a 50% chance of them being right, an adult whose accuracy was around 50% was a terrible detector of children’s lies.

Spoiler Alert (although the title of this blog post gives it away): Please watch the video before proceeding.

Continue Reading If The Pros Can't Tell When Children Lie, How Can Courts Decide Custody?

At a divorce trial, testimony by Skype will be allowed for the appraiser of an Oslo apartment. So held New York County Supreme Court Special Referee Louis Crespo in his April 3, 2014 decision in Steineger v. Perkins.

Among other discovery-related applications after the matter had been placed on the trial calendar, Referee Crespo,