MATRIMONIAL & FAMILY LAW
As part of our matrimonial and family law practice, Harriette M. Steinberg, P.C.
Attorney & Counselor-at-Law is known for bringing excellence, as well as experience,
to assist you in all facets of this area of the law. Our services include representation
of individuals in preparing pre-nuptial/post-nuptial agreements, separation agreements,
contested and uncontested divorces, adoptions, contested custody proceedings, contested
visitation agreements and support matters. When a prospective client comes to our office
needing representation in one of the aforementioned areas, the focus of the consultation
is on process. That is, there are three processes available to clients that they can use
to resolve their matrimonial or family law issues. These areas involve and include litigation, mediation and collaboration.
Unfortunately, some personalities are such that one can neither negotiate nor reason
with an individual. When we are representing someone who has a spouse or partner that is
of this mind set, we may guide this client towards proceedings in a litigated setting and
allowing a judge to decide the outcome. It is the firm's philosophy that parties will
ultimately be happiest when they get to control the outcome; we are also tenacious
litigators who will vigorously advocate for our client's rights when this process has been
selected.
Harriette M. Steinberg is a trained and experienced mediator. Being trained mediator
allows Harriette to offer her services to those clients wanting to proceed in a mediated
setting. That is, acting as a neutral-mediator between parties; or assisting as an advisor
in connection with a mediation proceeding. While we encourage people to consider mediation
as an alternative to litigation, it is important that a person enters the mediation
process informed about the law; knowledgeable about the issues that need to be resolved;
and having clearly identified individual goals. In acting as your advisor, Harriette can
facilitate your thinking about these matters in a way that a neutral-mediator cannot
because mediation is driven by the parties to the mediation. We have found that clients
who enter the mediation process, with an advisor, tend to be more likely to have a lasting
and satisfactory agreement.
Collaborative Practice can best be described as an interest-based negotiation that
occurs between the parties. This process is best suited for those who would like to
proceed in a non litigational environment but who want representation in that process and
who want to create an all-inclusive plan for how they will proceed as they enter the next
phase of their life. The Collaborative Process can be the processed used, i.e. in
preparing a pre/post-nuptial agreement; to dissolve a marriage; to create a domestic
partnership agreement; and to resolve disputes centered on custody or visitation during a
divorce.
In the Collaborative Process, the individuals will be informed as to the law concerning
each issue; however, the law may or may not be the standard that the parties choose to use
to resolve issues between them.
As part of the Collaborative Process, we work with a team of health care professionals and
financial neutrals. The health care professionals are licensed health care professionals
that are often able to identify impediments to the process and/or raise certain emotional
concerns that need to be addressed. The financial neutral assists the parties in analyzing
current spending and saving practices and prepare future budgets for the two new
households that will need to be supported.
In resolving family-related disputes in the collaborative model, the parties are most
often able to achieve results that may, at first, appear to be mutually exclusive.
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