Legal Question in Family Law in New York

Divorce judgment

I had written a couple times before since my boyfriend had been going through a ridiculous contested divorce where his (ex) wife was contesting on grounds even though they were apart for many years and every other issue had already been settled via family court. As advised everything pretty much worked out in favor of my boyfriend and finally the divorce was granted. However, it has now been a little over two months and he still has not received the final divorce decree. Now the judge,(who was pretty upset herself that the divorce even came into her court room and the length of time the process had ALREADY taken) did stipulate a time frame within which the decree is supposed to be issued, but my question is: What happens if the time runs out and the decree still isn't written up and issued to my bf's lawyer? Does that mean that we have to go through this again? We don't know if her lawyer is just really busy and unable to get to it or with her history of delaying everything, if his ex has just not paid her to complete the process. Ultimately, we can't afford to go thru this again, so any advice that you can give us will be really helpful. Thank you


Asked on 10/23/05, 11:44 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Seth Kaufman Kaufman PLLC

Re: Divorce judgment

Your boyfriend should formally consult with an attorney himself to address his case in adequate detail.

Usually, the attorney directed to settle on notice has sixty days to do so. A late filing of the judgment may necessitate a motion to get it signed. Your boyfriend should call his attorney, or opposing counsel directly if your boyfriend was unrespresented, to find out what's going on. If he hears something he doesn't like, or if a couple of weeks pass and no progress is evident, he should then send a a certified letter laying out his take on the situation and requesting a written response. Your boyfriend should be cordial, business-like and stick to the point in all communications. Ultimately, he may need to hire (new) counsel and/or contact the Court directly.

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Answered on 10/24/05, 1:30 am


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