Berkman Bottger Newman & Rodd, LLP

Overview:

Berkman Bottger Newman & Rodd, LLP is a New York matrimonial and divorce law firm based in Manhattan and serving clients throughout the New York city area. The firm’s attorneys have had years of experience helping clients navigate even the most complex divorce issues, and prioritize communication with their clients. Whatever the case, the attorneys at Berkman Bottger Newman & Rodd can help you to protect your rights, your property, and your family.

The practice is entirely devoted to handling matrimonial and divorce matters. Whether the case is a collaborative matter or requires a trial, the firm is well prepared to handle each. The firm is also capable of helping clients with issues involving prenuptial and postnuptial agreements.

If you are going through a divorce, effective legal representation can make all of the difference in your case. The attorneys at Berkman Bottger Newman & Rodd are reliable, understanding, and have had experience in a wide range of divorce matters. Consider working with the firm to help you achieve a favorable outcome for your case.

Languages: English

Areas of Law

Additional Areas of Law: Negotiation; Postnuptial Agreements; Spousal Maintenance; Property Division; Modification Enforcement.

Areas of Law Description

Our family law practice includes:

– Litigation

In litigation, the skill, experience and effectiveness of the attorneys are of paramount importance. The attorneys representing you should possess the ability to clearly educate clients. They should have a thorough knowledge of the law and of procedure and evidence. They should have facility with numbers and the ability to unravel complex financial issues.

– Uncontested Divorce

Many couples are able to resolve their differences without undue acrimony and without professional help. But the process of reducing their agreement to paper and the further step of obtaining a divorce based upon their agreement is more than they are able or willing to undertake.

– Appeals

If you believe there was a mistake or the judge did not apply the law fairly during your family law or divorce proceedings, speak with our New York appellate attorneys at Berkman Bottger Newman & Rodd, LLP as soon as possible. A notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days. If you miss that deadline, you lose your opportunity to appeal.

– Child Custody

Child custody laws in NY distinguish between legal and physical custody of a child. Legal custody refers to the responsibility to make major life decisions for a child, and physical custody refers to where a child will primarily reside. When determining the type of custody arrangement that is in a child’s best interest, courts look at many factors.

– Child Support

Our child support lawyers help clients determine child support payments at the time of divorce, and also help clients modify or enforce child support arrangements after a divorce has been finalized. With decades of divorce and family law experience, we are able to explain how child support in New York is calculated, and effectively assert the rights of custodial and non-custodial parents.

– Spousal Maintenance

If spouses are in the midst of divorce, a spouse who earns less than his or her spouse may be eligible for temporary spousal maintenance, or spousal support, while the divorce case continues. A law was passed in 2010 that provides a formula and factors for courts to consider in calculating temporary spousal maintenance, with many of the factors the same as or similar to those determining spousal maintenance after a divorce.

– Modification Enforcement

Our attorneys have substantial experience assisting clients in the modification of child custody, support, and spousal maintenance orders, as well as the enforcement of court orders when a parent or former spouse is not meeting his or her custody or support obligations.

– Property Division

Our attorneys have significant experience assisting high net worth clients through the divorce process. When substantial assets are involved in a divorce, property division can become extremely complex. Our NYC property division lawyers thoroughly understand both the legal and financial aspects of identifying, characterizing, valuing, and dividing property upon divorce.

– Advanced Negotiations

Where the expectations or desires of the respective parties are too far apart to effect an easy resolution, and where neither formal mediation nor collaborative law are desired, separate retention of attorneys to engage in negotiations may be called for. Such negotiations need not lead to court, but the attorneys are retained with that possibility in mind.

– Collaborative Law

Collaborative law refers to a matrimonial dispute resolution process whereby both parties and counsel commit themselves to resolving their differences fairly and equitably without resort or threat of resort to the courts. In recent years more and more matrimonial attorneys and divorcing couples have been drawn to this process as a cost-efficient, effective and amicable way of reaching agreements which works for both of the parties and their families.

– Mediation

For many divorcing couples, mediation has become a viable alternative to the financial costs and emotional toll of traditional adversarial legal representation. Sensibly used, mediation provides the opportunity to find fair and realistic solutions to the economic and practical issues facing the family and also helps to heal the psychological rift.

– Prenuptial Agreements

Money problems are one of the primary causes of the breakup of marriages. Discussing these issues ahead of time can prevent disputes over money from arising later on. If you want to head off financial problems before you get married, a prenuptial agreement is a good place to start. Berkman Bottger Newman & Rodd, LLP can guide you through the decisions that need to be made.

– Postnuptial Agreements

Like a prenuptial agreement, a postnuptial agreement can head off disputes over money by forcing the spouses to think about and agree upon these matters before disputes arise. Pre- and postnuptial agreements should spell out what will happen if the marriage breaks up.