NY Divorce Consultants Fighting the corrupt New York Divorce Industry!

Who will fight the Divorce Industry of New York?

As I send out my analysis of the Divorce Industry and pray for someone with the funding and power to take an action I'm left wondering who that person could be. The problem is that the notion of Divorce has so many connotations religiously, legally, practically, etc. It takes a person with a lot of intelligence to see through the fact that we aren't discussing the merits of divorce or divorce laws of New York when we look at the problems of the Divorce Industry. We are looking at plain old government-backed corruption. We are looking at a system that destroys lives of people who have no civil rights protections - the middle class and children. We are looking at a network of unsupervised elected officials awash in limitless powers over citizens in their courtrooms. Besides death there aren't many other punishments that a Supreme Court Judge in Divorce can't order in a divorce court in NY without any questions at all from their supervisors or the judicial system.

The Divorce Industry is a network that has unlimited access to the assets of their customers. They have incredible court powers to order fees and punish critics and those who don't comply with the system. The rulings of the Divorce Industry can't be undone in any court in New York or Federal Court so they have incredible power. We have systems of ethical enforcement that are secretive and not under the jurisdiction of any law enforcement body in New York besides secretive Grievance Committees that answer to no one but their own insular bodies. So with huge billings, unsupervised elected officials and Grievance Committees that prosecute less than a half percent of attorneys in New York in a year we have a free for all and the losers are families of New York and innocent children whose lives are destroyed for many years or permanently after entering the system.

So who will give a crap about this? Frankly, it seems that no one really cares at all. The insular Divorce Industry is stuck debating esoteric legal issues and ignoring the big picture. The Divorce Industry reform actions are like a doctor putting a band aid on the little toe of a person who was shot in the chest. They miss the point. It's the victims, stupid. It aint about protecting an old corrupt system that tramples civil rights and destroys unwitting citizens, it's about protecting the integrity of the court system, the US Constitution and public integrity. It's about ending the license to steal that the Divorce Industry has, not about the merits of a fault system or other esoteric legal issues.

So the simple answer to me is that the person who will make a difference is the person that will control the flow of money into the Industry. This person will make litigants declare the source of legal funds prior to action and will heavily penalize those who use illegal or undeclared assets in divorce. The person will have to look at the record of pro se litigants and the Judges who ruled in pro se cases to find patterns of discrimination. The person will have to look at some specific cases and ask big questions - why was one person allowed to spend $500,000 of undeclared money on lawyers while the other had no representation and lost their kids in a trial without representation? How can we allow a State to take children from loving parents without representation? How can we have a court system devoid of due process that clogs its dockets with meritless cases by litigants who can't really afford the costs? Why is a State government ordering litigants to make terrible financial decisions that liquidate assets and ruin the future of children? Shouldn't we be protecting children and not taking an active roll in their demise?

So in short we need a big thinker who can see past the niggling details of divorce law, turn a blind eye to the insular industry and listen to victims. The person must be in the federal government or a private attorney who wants to sue New York State to demand some answers on pro se, court ordered fees relative to client assets, judicial ruling records and Supreme Court processes that are violating the civil rights of those who can't afford court access.

Who is that person? It ain't little old me, but I hope my typing helps the situation one day.

Divorce – The Shame of New York

After much thought and frustration with the laws of New York Divorce I sincerely hope that my extensive paper attached to this post will be read. I have many valid suggestions for reforming the corrupt New York State Divorce Industry. We must end the culture of dishonesty and corruption that has taken root in the New York State Supreme Court and New York must start defending families, not the greedy divorce industry.

Divorce, The Shame of New York

Comments are appreciated!!

US Supreme Court hears Turner vs. Price – Do civil rights apply in divorce?

First of all I must say that if you read my rants I have frequently pointed out that the New York State Divorce laws clearly violate civil rights. The courts force those who can't afford counsel into biased 'trials' and basically railroad the poor sucker stuck in Supreme Court of NY. There is no legal assistance available for one stuck in these crooked court rooms. There is no way out if the other side can keep paying. You can lose your kids, your money, your property and you can be imprisoned. These courts have infinite unchecked powers in NY. Appeals are impossible as pro se and if you are facing jail for other obligations, paying a lawyer for appeal doesn't really seem like a good use of money.

We were supposed to be protected from this type of government abuse by the Constitution. Well it took some guy in South Carolina, my hero, Mr. Turner in Turner vs. Price, to take his case to the US Supreme Court to answer this question. Turner was broke and he couldn't afford his support payments. He also couldn't afford a lawyer and no one would help him as he wallowed in the court system. Turner ended up getting sentenced to a year in jail for not paying. He appealed on the grounds that he was entitled to a lawyer since he was facing the loss of his liberty - Substantive Due Process. I'm not a lawyer but this smart one explains the case in legal terms.

I pray that the Supreme Court disagrees with South Carolina and sets precedent for the entire country that those of us facing the loss of our liberty and property are protected under the rights of Substantive Due Process of the 14th amendment. We are entitled to counsel when we are facing penalties that will deny us our basic freedom guaranteed in the Constitution.

Albany – The Nation’s Capital for Unethical Attorneys

According to the recently released 2009 American Bar Association Survey on Lawyer Discipline Systems 29% of the nations attorney ethics violations occur in Albany, making the 3rd Judicial Department of New York (Albany area) the nations capital for unethical attorneys. Across the US in 2009 a mere 5,502 attorneys out of over 1.4 million attorneys were disciplined for ethical violations, or .39% of attorneys, yet in Albany there were 1,596 ethics violations from only 44,674 attorneys. 7% of attorneys in Albany have been disciplined for ethical violations, nearly 20 times the national average.

Besides leading the nation in unethical attorneys, New York is one of the last two States in the country to fund attorney discipline committees directly from legislative appropriated tax dollars. Across the nation, attorney behavior is governed by ethics codes created by State Bar Associations, but enforcement and funding of discipline committees vary widely from state to state. New York spent approximately $8.3 million of legislative appropriated tax dollars to oversee 191,000 lawyers in 2009 as compared to over $52 million of Bar Association assessed fees that California spent to discipline 169,000 lawyers or $11 million that New Jersey spent from Supreme Court user fees to oversee 68,000 attorneys. Unfortunately there is no correlation between the amount of money spent on attorney discipline and the effectiveness of such programs. For example, while California outspent New York by over $41 million on attorney discipline only 350 attorneys out of 161,000 (.21%) were disciplined in 2009.

While funding models for attorney discipline vary widely between states, one thing thing that is clear when looking at that national statistics is that attorney's have little to fear for unethical, non-criminal behavior in the US. With a paltry %0.39 of attorneys facing a disciplinary action across the nation clearly ethics enforcement is ineffective in the US. A fair court system is an underpinning of our democracy and clearly the US needs to step up its enforcement of the ethical behavior of attorneys. A discipline system that only punishes less than .5% of its population is not a deterrent to unethical behavior nor is it offering effective discipline of its members. Considering that many large corporations try to shed their bottom 5% performers each year and 3.1% of adults in the U.S are in the jail or parole it is inconceivable that only 0.39% of attorneys across the nation behave unethically. If there is a statistic that shows why attorney’s are so maligned in the US the fact that less than 0.5% of attorneys will face a disciplinary action in a year shows that attorneys have little to fear for unethical behavior - except in Albany, the nation's capital for unethical attorneys.

Kangaroo court definition most apt describes NY State Supreme Court matrimony part

From Wikipedia, couldn't have said it better myself! This is exactly what I experienced in New York State Supreme Court.

A kangaroo court or kangaroo trial is a colloquial term for a sham legal proceeding or court. The outcome of a trial by kangaroo court is essentially determined in advance, usually for the purpose of ensuring conviction, either by going through the motions of manipulated procedure or by allowing no defense at all.

A kangaroo court's proceedings deny due process rights in the name of expediency. Such rights include the right to summon witnesses, the right of cross-examination, the right not to incriminate oneself, the right not to be tried on secret evidence, the right to control one's own defense, the right to exclude evidence that is improperly obtained, irrelevant or inherently inadmissible, e.g., hearsay, the right to exclude judges or jurors on the grounds of partiality or conflict of interest, and the right of appeal.

Dear Janet DiFiore, why in the hell is everyone so afraid of the New York Bar?

Here is a letter that I'm mailing to Janet DiFiore, the Westchester County District Attorney. My new question of the times is as follows "Why in the hell is everyone in law enforcement afraid of the New York Bar?" The New York Bar is the ultimate regulator of New York Matrimony Attorneys and through dreadful self-regulation we are left with a hugely corrupt system that ruins the lives of hundreds of thousands of children and regular New Yorkers who fall into its grips. As I ask about attorney regulation to the Attorney General, the Court of Appeals, the NYCLU and others it is clear that everyone is petrified of the New York Bar. Everyone knows there's a problem with attorney ethics in matrimony law in New York but no in power one wants to do anything about it. It's the same psychology that promoted the Nazi party, Apartheid, slavery, you name it. We know what's going on but we simply turn the other way out of fear and complacency. Of course a local DA can't do anything about the behavior of attorneys and judges but here's the letter to Ms. DiFiore anyway.

Janet DiFiore
Westchester County District Attorney's Office
Richard J. Daronco Courthouse
111 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
White Plains, New York 10601

October 27, 2010

Dear Ms. DiFiore,
I am a resident of Westchester County and I have had my life wrecked by criminal behavior of a member of the Bar Association and collusion of a Judge during a trial in Supreme Court in Westchester. I will spare you the details because I know your answer already – “It ain’t my problem.” Your office will tell me to file a grievance or make an appeal, etc. etc. etc. I am well aware that you have no jurisdiction over corruption and illegal activities of the employees in the building you work in. I am well aware of the remedies in such a situation but as a motivated citizen for change, and as someone who lacks the financial means to pursue appeals I am asking people of influence in New York law enforcement a very simple question, Why is law enforcement so afraid of the NY Bar Association?

It seems to me, as someone whose life has been wrecked by criminal acts of a lawyer, that New York has given the Bar Association, and Supreme Court Judges for that matter, a free pass to be above the law. There are absolutely no penalties for their malfeasance and if someone can’t afford an attorney during one of the sham trials that happen in Supreme Court Matrimony Part, the 14th amendment, which guarantees due process in State proceedings, as well as CPLR rules are tossed out the window. The net result is that citizens of Westchester have their lives wrecked by criminal behavior and there is no chance for law enforcement to right the crimes. If we are pro se and face losing all our assets or our children we get less assistance in trial than if we stole a candy bar from the court snack bar. The penalties we face in Supreme Court far exceed the majority of crimes that a non-violent person would encounter in their lives and the courts are full of collusion, corruption and outright lawlessness. The court's decisions are sold to the highest bidder. What amazes me is that the lawlessness occurs in the very building where it should be prosecuted but there is an amnesty zone for unethical behavior.

I have dealt with the discipline committees for both judges and lawyers and I can tell you that the ‘investigations’ they conduct are as laughable as the ‘trials’ that were conducted. The investigations into criminal behavior don’t include testimony, examination of evidence, examination of court record and are opaque with no explanations, appeals or public minutes. It is a system that lacks accountability. I understand that these people have an air of dignity as judges and lawyers but as a citizen I am left asking the question, What the F is going on here? Why the free pass of self-regulation when the power these people have over citizens is so immense?

We don’t give contractors or bankers or teachers or accountants or business owners the privileges to avoid law enforcement, why do lawyers and judges get the free ride of self-regulation in the Supreme Court system? Why are discipline committees opaque and off-limits to law enforcement? The consequences of unethical lawyers and judges go far beyond what an unreliable contractor can inflict yet New York cowers to the NY Bar, while vigorously prosecuting contractors or other professionals who commit criminal acts. The divorce industry destroys the lives of children and families, impoverishes their clients with frivolous proceedings and turn ordinary citizens into criminals in a court that has no due process, no standards of evidence and is full of collusion.

In Westchester, we fully endorse criminality in our courthouse and we have legislated amnesty for the Judges and Attorneys that commit crimes against citizens. It is quite unbelievable to me because everyone I speak with from the Attorney General to the discipline committees to my State Senator are absolutely afraid to break any glass or enforce the laws of the State. The stink of the matrimony bar is well known yet we have institutionalized looking the other way in New York. Everyone is afraid of the Bar Association and no one will stand up for the citizens of New York and start enforcing the law against this billion dollar industry. Frankly, it is the same psychology that promoted slavery, the Nazi party or scores of other unseemly institutionalized behaviors, we all know it’s wrong but we simply turn the other way. This needs to end in New York. Most every other state has taken steps to regulate their divorce industry but we give these people a free ride to destroy the lives of their unwitting customers. Our legislature is inept but in the meantime we already have laws on the books that are regularly broken and they should be enforced until the legislature wakes up, which may be never given the strength of the Bar Association lobby. Even a cursory reading of the ‘Divorce Reform act of 2010’ clearly show that this was written for the Bar Association members and does nothing to address the wholesale corruption that exists in the system.
I know you can’t do a thing about this and I doubt I will hear an answer. I have purposely not even supplied any details of my case because I know that this will go straight to the circular file or be forwarded to the pathetic discipline committees that provide amnesty to lawyers and judges who violate the law. Regardless I choose to write you because I do think that your career will advance and possibly you will be the one that asks the simple questions one day.
Why the hell is everyone so afraid of calling the Bar Association to task for their members? Why don’t we prosecute lawyers who commit perjury in courts as criminals? Why do we allows lawyers to pillage the assets of their unwitting customers when we have laws that protect citizens against financial professional, contractors or other professionals who try to take advantage of their customers? Why do we let the divorce industry self-regulate when self-regulation has so obviously failed? Why do we support a system of court-appointed ‘neutrals’ that instantly abandon their neutrality and sell their services to the monied party in a trial? Isn’t this the most glaring conflict of interest that could exist in ‘neutrality’, switching sides to the monied party after your ‘neutral’ report is finished? Why don’t we punish those who lie on sworn documents such as the Statement of Net Worth?
There are many questions to ask but all of the answers will point to the fact that this is a corrupt industry that stays that way because of self-regulation and institutionalized protectionism. This industry ignores the 14th amendment and ignores any sense of decency in conduct and the result is disastrous for citizens. Someone needs to take a stand, ignore the smokescreen issue of ‘fault’ in divorce and address the wholesale fraud that is pervasive in the divorce industry. I’m hoping that person is you.

Regards,
A regular New Yorker

Will Andrew Cuomo be bold enough to attack the corrupt divorce industry?

While we are in the heat of elections in New York for Governor I sincerely hope that somehow Andrew Cuomo's team will hear the call to take on the corrupt divorce industry. Suzi Oppenheimer's divorce reform bill of 2010 is a gift for the corrupt matrimony bar, harms countless families and children and doesn't address any of the real issues of New York Divorce. Fault, the supposed villain of New York Divorce, is only an issue in very few divorces as statistics like this show, http://bit.ly/b77JOY. Very few can't agree on fault. The real issues in New York Divorce stem from a self-regulated bar association, immense conflicts of interest in the system of custody and forensic 'neutral' evaluators, lack of electronic standards for the statement of net worth and wholesale civil rights abuses against pro se and poor litigants.

In the hopes of an Andrew Cuomo online seeker finding this post here is the shortest list I can muster to fix this corrupt industry. This industry destroys countless lives of children, pillages the assets of their unwitting customers and then hides behind opaque and half-hearted 'disciplinary committees' that neither carry out legit investigations nor exact any punishments on obvious offenders of their self-established, oft-ignored ethics laws. It is a billion dollar industry in New York alone and they fight any attempt at legislative change to protect their gravy train but at the expense of destroying the lives of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who are caught in their grip. So here's the short list:

1) Ignore the 'fault' issue. New York had a chance to abolish it and didn't, they simply added another of no-fault. Stop wasting tax payer money debating this non-issue.

2) The 14th amendment guarantees due process when a state is taking your liberty or property, however, in matrimony court, pro se or poor litigants are thrown to the wolves and without representation or due process lose their children, their homes, their assets and their financial future. Judges routinely throw away the trial rule book when a financed attorney is facing a penniless adversary. Unrepresented, in a court free of due process, outside observers or effective disciplinary committees children are sold to the party willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars while defenseless parties lose everything nearly 100% of the time in New York matrimony courts. This has to end. The poor are denied access to New York Supreme Court for Divorce, the place constitutionally prescribed for divorce, since there is zero, ZERO, free legal assistance for those facing the loss of everything in corrupt NY State Courts.

3) Put some teeth into the Statements of Net Worth. Judges let lawyers and litigants lie, exaggerate and misrepresent on these documents without penalty because they are a gravy train for lawyers. These cost in excess of $10,000 in legal bills in many cases but they are sheer fabrications many times. New York doesn't require simple things like credit reports or inexpensive background checks that could easily reveal lies on these documents and show the true financial health of an individual. New York doesn't punish dishonest attorneys who abuse this document and we need to.

4) NY has no standards for custody evaluators or forensic evaluators. Anyone who plays the political game to get close to a divorce lawyer or judge can ride this gravy train and bill at 2 to 3 times what many of these flunkies could make in private practices and get paid with the full muscle of the court behind their fees. Court appointed neutrals are chosen by attorneys and judges and they pick their friends. They need standards of education and conduct and they need to be chosen at random. Neutrals regularly switch sides to the monied party who can pay their extended fees and they need to be banned from becoming plaintiff or defendant witnesses as they currently due. They are clearly incented to support the monied party and this leads to an immense conflict of interest and ultimately immense emotional pain for the children caught in the middle of this money grab.

5) The majority of disciplinary complaints supposedly are against the matrimony bar yet these cases are pursued in painfully slow, secretive proceedings that yield nothing but hand-slaps, or absolutely nothing, in most cases. New York needs to end self-regulation of matrimony attorneys and institute new disciplinary committees that must expose their investigative practices and institute the same type of standardized punishments that exist for criminals. The results of their malfeasance can be the complete loss of children, poverty for families, incarceration for litigants and a life time of problems for many. Appeals are impossible for the poor and there is no remedy for those whose lives are destroyed by corrupt attorneys and judges.

These are the top issues in divorce in New York in my view and I hope that Andrew Cuomo will find this information and restore credibility to the New York State Court System. The abuse of civil rights in New York Matrimony courts should not be acceptable in this country but we all turn the other way and let the corrupt legal bar have their way. It's time for someone to stand up for justice in New York Courts and let's hope that it's Cuomo. As Attorney General he did absolutely nothing to police this corrupt industry so let's hope it gets on his radar screen as governor. Same goes for Bob Cohen in his campaign against Suzi Oppenheimer, call her to task for all the damage she has done to New York families with here abomination of legislation.