MEASURES FOR REFORM – OUTLINE

KEY MEASURES FOR MATRIMONIAL REFORM:1)             Eliminate arbitrary results by emphasizing the importance of clear standards for determining child custody/support/equitable distribution, i.e., custody and time-sharing based on history of parenting prior to marital break up (such as the PROXIMATION RULE guideline called for by the American Law Institute).  2)             Speed up the court process ­ Complete the legal [...]

FAMILIES FOR JUSTICE

Families for Justice is a non-profit organization that assists children and their parents experiencing the trauma of marital dissolution in the court system.  We provide advice and advocacy to ensure justice for families caught up in the matrimonial and family courts.  We are working for a faster, less costly, less distressing and less difficult system.  [...]

Newsweek – Battered Spouses take aim at Custody Strategy

Fighting Over the Kidshttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14870310/site/newsweek/  Battered spouses take aim at a controversial custody strategy.By Sarah ChildressNewsweekSept. 25, 2006 issue – It took 6 years for Genia Shockome to gather the courage to leave her husband, Tim. He pushed her, kicked her and insulted her almost from the moment they married in 1994, she says. She tried [...]

TIPS FOR DADS

The Importance of Fathers in the Healthy Development of Children. User Manual Series Author(s):  Office on Child Abuse and Neglect Rosenberg, Wilcox Year Published:  2006 Appendix E – Tips for Dads Twenty Long Distance Activities for Dads at a DistanceThe Dads at a Distance Web site has been designed to help fathers who are business travelers, military [...]

BREAKING THE SILENCE

Thursday, October 20, 2005 at 10 pm ET on PBS (check local listings) This powerful new PBS documentary chronicles the impact of domestic violence on children and the recurring failings of family courts across the country to protect them from their abusers. In stark and often poignant interviews, children and battered mothers tell their stories of [...]

PRESS CLIPS

PRESS CLIPS ON REFORM:Richard Schwartz is a Daily News columnist.Look out, divorce court It’s circle-the-wagons time at state matrimonial court. Or that’s the clear impression one gets looking at the membership of a powerful panel that will decide what should be done to mend this bent, if not broken, branch of New York’s judiciary. The [...]

MATRIMONIAL REFORM COMMISSION HEARINGS

TESTIMONY OF PATRICIA DUFF(Transcript of remarks.)MS. DUFF: Good afternoon. My name is Patricia Duff. I want to thank the commission for allowing me to appear today and for attempting the Herculean task of fixing a very broken system.Over the last year, as more scandal and news of various problems with the court system had begun [...]