DIVORCE AND THE RESULTING CASUALTIES

Divorce is a dissolution of the marital partnership. The end result is that the parties will no longer live together. An unnecessary and tragic consequence is the loss of a parent, and that parent’s family to the children “left behind”. The loss is by legal death and usually results from the Residential Parent’s desire to win at all costs. The loser is the child who grows up without the noncustodial parent. The loser is the child (through a process of parental alienation) who wants nothing to do with the noncustodial parent. The law recognizes the need for the primary custodial parent to foster a relationship with the noncustodial parent and the Court has the authority to reverse custody, something that rarely occurs . A good fight is costly as justice is not cheap. The fight can include therapeutic visitation, forensic evaluation and and supervised visitation; all very costly. As a lawyer whose practice is limited to matrimonial and family law and as an active member of the Matrimonial Bar I welcome suggestions that I will try to pass on to my colleges who include judges and legislators. I welcome your comments. My goal is, wherever possible, for children of divorced parents to have two actively involved parents. We are trying to help. As a caveat, there are exceptions.