Brooklyn Contested Divorce Lawyer

Trial-Tested & Proven When it Matters Most

Over the course of our practice, Coffinas & Lusthaus, P.C. has managed many acrimonious divorces. Many of our clients confide that when things got ugly, they “never saw it coming.” Fortunately, our team can and does see it coming. We have almost 50 combined years of experience fighting contested divorces in negotiations, court hearings, and on appeal.

If you need a Brooklyn divorce lawyer to assert your rights and protect your interests, you should know that we're:

• Established — We've built a successful track record and a strong reputation for ethics and professionalism. Judges and opposing counsel respect us as honest brokers of our clients' interests. Our satisfied clients often refer us to their friends and families.
• Innovative — We combine a thorough knowledge of the law with creative thinking to advance negotiations and win arguments at trial and on appeal. Many of our appellate arguments have set precedent for New York courts deciding family law issues.
• Effective — By deliberately limiting our caseload, our attorneys can concentrate their time and our firm's resources on the details of your case. The more we know about the facts of your situation and your goals for your life after divorce, the better we can steer negotiations or litigation in that direction. Our effective trial lawyers are also accomplished appellate attorneys. We've been making compelling arguments in the higher courts since 1997.

How the Contested Divorce Process Works

A contested divorce happens whenever the parties cannot come to a complete agreement that settles every issue of their divorce. Even in a no-fault divorce, the parties could disagree on any issue from marital property to child custody. In fact, both spouses may intend their divorce to sail through uncontested, but they get stuck on some issue and need the court to intervene. After filing for divorce in New York, your contested case proceeds in this way:

• Request for Judicial Intervention (RJI): A party files an RJI no later than 45 days after the summons was served. This gives notice to the court that you need assistance to break the logjam.
• Statement of net worth: You must file and exchange with your spouse a statement of net worth no later than 10 days before your preliminary conference.
• Preliminary conference: Within 45 days of the RJI, the judge assigned to your case addresses you and your spouse.
• Compliance conference: The judge again addresses you and your spouse regarding compliance with the court's rules of procedure.
• Discovery: The process by which you and your spouse disclose pertinent information to each other is to be completed no later than six months from the preliminary conference (in theory, but more complicated marital estates naturally take longer). Discovery can include exchange of documents, answering written questions about finances, and / or deposition (oral questions under oath) about finances. It can also include forensic evaluations of complex assets and / or forensic child custody evaluations.
• Trial: Your trial is scheduled to start no later than six months from the date of your preliminary conference. (again, in theory, because more complex cases take more time).

Using Tough Tactics to Keep You Out of Court

During the pretrial period, it's your attorney's job to resolve as many issues as possible so there is less to litigate in court. Coffinas & Lusthaus, P.C. works hard to explore every avenue to a reasonable and mutually beneficial settlement. Our reputation for strong trial advocacy puts us in a solid negotiating position. If we can keep you out of court, we will. When we must go to court, we go there to win.

Trust our Brooklyn-tough, Manhattan-smart attorneys!

Coffinas & Lusthaus, P.C. is an established divorce law firm employing innovative and effective strategies in court throughout the five boroughs, Westchester, and Nassau. We dedicated to helping you get through one of life’s toughest struggles.

We limit our caseloads, so call our firm at (718) 717-1005!