Entries by Cheryl Stein

Are You an Indian Giver: Understanding Gifts During Marriage

One of the hallmarks of courtship is gift giving. Like love itself, bestowing presents goes back to the beginning of time. If you look beyond our culture and century, cultures around the world have regarded gift giving as a prominent facet of marriage since ancient times. These offerings are often expensive, luxury items and jewels. […]

How the Mediated Russian Prisoner Exchange Can Inform Divorce Mediation

In the recent prisoner exchange with Russia, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was critical to the negotiations. The prisoner exchange was taking place behind the scenes for a long period, but timing was crucial for the end result. The Right Person In the hostage deal, the pivotal player was Scholz.  When selecting a mediator, it’s important […]

Required Reading for Involved Grandparents

Recommended reading: “Well Into Adulthood and Still Getting Money From Their Parents” Wall Street Journal, January 26th, 2024. In order to help their family thrive, many grandparents financially support their adult children and grandchildren. For example, let’s think about a couple that lives in Manhattan with an income of $350,000 – $400,000 a year. In many […]

The Interplay Between Divorce and Immigration: Part 2

In last month’s article, we spoke about the intersection between matrimonial law and immigration in broad brushstroke terms. In this article, we parse out specific red flags and nuances to look out for in cases where immigration is a factor.  Prenuptial Agreements:   Many citizens who marry immigrants choose to have a Prenuptial Agreement in place […]

The Interplay Between Divorce and Immigration: Part 1

With the upcoming presidential election, crisis at the border, flood of migrants, and New York City being a sanctuary city, the topic of immigration has been getting a lot of air time, with all its inherent controversies and polar view-points.   The magnified “crisis” is confined in scope to the illegal immigration issue.   Untarnished by the […]

Protecting Your Business Partners from Your Marital Fallout

Most people are prepared to undergo intense scrutiny and background checks when entering into a business partnership or for consideration to high-level corporate and finance positions.  It’s a common occurrence meant to unearth skeletons and expose red flags in your life.  The business partners or corporation want to know how your problems may become their […]

Title Doesn’t Matter

In marriage, title doesn’t matter. Titles to houses, cars, accounts and businesses can all get overridden by the statute and court system in a divorce.   I often do consultations where people say things like, “I’m married, but we keep everything separate.” They operate under the assumption that, because each party has assets in their own […]

It Ain’t Over ‘Til the Fat Lady Sings

A basic tenet of “fight or flight” is that when people are in an extreme state of anxiety, they’ll do nearly anything to relieve that immediate pressure and discomfort to get themselves to a more bearable state. This describes what divorced people go through quite well. People crave resolution and a path forward. There’s this […]

Divorcing an Addict

I’ve had many situations where one party is an addict and the other party has to deal with the repercussions or where both parties are addicts but one is more functional. In several cases, the parties actually met at AA. I’ve represented the addict spouse, the non-addict spouse, and neutrally mediated many cases involving addiction. […]

Empowerment Is the Best Deal

In our last post, we discussed the fallout that happens when a husband is accused of sexual harassment in the workplace. I had another interesting situation where my unmarried client was having an affair — for 15 years — with a married man from work without knowing he was married because he hid it well […]