Sadly, too many women go from an abusive relationship with their husbands to an abusive relationship with their lawyers. Too often, these abusive lawyers refuse to explain even the most basic principles of divorce law. They dictate rather than explain, harass and demand ever increasing amounts of money. These abusive lawyers do little and suck their clients financially dry. These problem lawyers create problem divorces, and ultimately problems for the client. Your divorce lawyer should be working to resolve your divorce, not inflate billing, abuse women and create chaos.

How do we know about these problems with lawyers? We're divorce lawyers who have often been called in to clean up the mess, or more tell the abused client that it's too late to do anything.

To help, we created this forum to educate, provide advice and to create a community of support. We will provide you with answers to questions your attorneys refuse to answer. We will tell you things your lawyer never told you. In addition to discussing child support, equitable distribution, alimony/maintenance, and child custody, we will provide you with information on filing a complaint against your lawyer and how to dispute your lawyer's bill.

In the end, it's your life and your divorce. You make the decisions, not your lawyer.

In this forum you will be meet other people who have gone through what you have and are going through it now. By exchanging information and supporting each other, we hope you will all grow stronger.

I was astounded to hear the stories of women who are at the end of their rope. More surprising was the stories of lawyers who did nothing and billed for it. I told another friend about the meeting. She then launched into her tale of a 3 year divorce, which is still not over, and the over $60,000 she spent. In our discussion, I was surprised by what her attorney didn't tell her. She didn't even know the basics of child support, pension or property division. Her attorney even sent out settlement proposals without even discussing them first.

Around this time, I joined Facebook and got into contact with a High School friend. She told me about a 10 year divorce, where she spent over $120,000. Although her husband made over $250,000 a year, her attorney never got the man's tax returns, and allowed him to claim an income of only $130,000 for child support. Further, she didn't get her marital share of his pension. She then told me that when she went to my divorce information website, www.NYDivorcefacts.com and read about her rights, she got sick to her stomach.

I admit, I didn't realize the extent or depth of the problem. My assistant, Valerie Calderon, suggested that we start a website/forum to address the issues that we've been seeing.  That's why I started this site. While my information website does just that, provide information, we realized that there needed to be a website to provide women with not only information, but advice and support. With Valerie's assistance, we set up this website.

So, why me?

My father had been an old time family lawyer. If you look at the movies from the 30's and 40's, you'll see the kindly old family lawyer, who took the time to protect his clients, and dispense with old fashioned good advise. He and the family doctor were familiar figures in American life. My father's example inspired me. I try to live up to his ideals and example.

In the 19th and early 20th century, the neighbors would gather around the general store. Conversation would be had, advice dispensed, and community support would be extended. While there's no general store for me around to dispense advice, there is the internet. So, join me in the modern equivalent of the town's general store, as we gather round the old stove, share our problems and give each other support.