In 2011, after the parties separated, the mother received sole custody of the parties’ only child, who resided with her. The father was awarded access every weekend. The father subsequently filed a petition seeking increased access. After a hearing, Kings County Family Court Judge Maria Arias denied the pro se father’s petition.

The father appealed, contending that the Family Court should have granted his request for a copy of a forensic report prepared by a court-appointed forensic evaluator, and that the court erred in admitting the forensic report into evidence. In its July 10, 2019 opinion in Raymond v. Raymond, the Second Department affirmed.Continue Reading Pro Se Father Denied Copy of Forensic Report Although Received in Evidence

The Appellate Division, Second Department, has held in its June 15, 2016 decision in Schiero v. Perrotta, that a mother’s testimony was a sufficient foundation for the admission in evidence of her children’s medical bills and her proof of payment of those bills.

The mother had filed a violation petition alleging that the father had failed to pay his pro rata share of the children’s unreimbursed medical expenses. At the ensuing hearing, the mother testified that she had incurred $980 in medical expenses for the children. She attempted to offer into evidence copies of medical bills and proof of payment.

Support Magistrate Rachelle C. Kaufman, however, refused to admit the medical invoices into evidence on the ground that the medical invoices were hearsay, and were not admissible through the mother’s testimony. Magistrate Kaufman then held that the mother failed to demonstrate the amounts of each individual medical expense, or when they were incurred. The Magistrate dismissed that branch of her petition. The mother filed objections, which were denied by Rockland County Family Court Judge Sherri L. Eisenpress.Continue Reading Mother’s Testimony Sufficient Foundation for Receipt in Evidence of Health Care Invoices and Payment Records

“Estoppel” is the principle that precludes a person from asserting something contrary to that inconsistent with a previous statement, position or ruling. Two decisions last month bringing the principal and to focus.

First, the June 4, 2014 decision  of Kings County Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey S. Sunshine in Zito v. Zito primarily resolved the wife’s motion for temporary relief in a divorce action commenced by the husband on June 7, 2011. The parties had been married 10 years before that, and had a daughter (then 5) and a son (then 3).

The husband works in the family-owned Smiling Pizzeria. The wife, although a licensed pharmacist, alleged that she had been a full-time homemaker since the children were born. Those children attend private school and participate in a number of organized activities.

However, in addition to the wife’s motion for temporary relief, Smiling Pizzeria, itself, had moved to be allowed to intervene in the divorce action. The pizzeria wanted to establish that it was owned only by the husband’s father; that the husband had no ownership interest. Without an ownership interest of the husband, it was argued, it could not be subject to equitable distribution.Continue Reading Being Bound by Statements in Tax Returns and Court Papers

Filing income tax returns as “single” for the 11 years before a decedent’s death, did not, as a matter of law, estop a woman from claiming to be the decedent’s surviving spouse in contested estate proceedings. So held New York County Surrogate Nora S. Anderson in the May 22, 2014 decision in Estate of Tran (pdf).

Sang Kim Nguyen filed a petition to be appointed Administratrix of the Estate of Truong Dinh Tran. Ms. Nguyen claimed to be Mr. Truong’s widow under the common law of Vietnam. Separate cross-petitions for appointment were filed Mr. Truong’s alleged son, duaghter’s and grandson, who all sought summary dismissal of Ms. Nguyen’s petition.

Mr. Truong died at the age of 80 on May 6, 2012, leaving an estate that has been estimated to be worth more than $100 million.

According to Wikipedia, Truong was the principal owner of the Vishipco Line, the largest shipping company in South Vietnam in the 1970s. As a shipowner, he earned millions of dollars hauling cargo for the United States military. Truong left Vietnam on April 30, 1975, the day that Saigon fell to the communists. Truong boarded one of his eleven ships and traveled to the United States with two suitcases of gold.Continue Reading Filing Tax Returns as “Single” May Not Estop Claim to Be Decedent’s Widow

Mom with daughter homework.jpgThe November/December issue of Scientific American Mind magazine presents the article, What Makes a Good Parent? A growing body of research conducted over the past 50 years shows fairly clearly that some parenting practices produce better relationships between parent and child and happier, healthier, better functioning children.

A new study by the article’s author, Robert

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If a spouse wilfully fails to provide financial information during the discovery phase of a divorce action, one remedy may be an order of preclusion under C.P.L.R. §3126.  Thus, an August, 2010 decision of the Appellate Division, Second Department, in Raville v. Elnomany, affirmed the preclusion of the husband “from offering financial evidence at