Author of the book just published this January titled “New Rules of Divorce”
Jacqueline Newman NYC divorce attorney to the stars and the powerful has shared her newfound knowledge of dealing with family matters during the quarantine isolation period.
Jaqueline Newman shared her inside of what is going on within the family court system and choices we must make to survive the unnatural circumstances we are in right now.
Since Beginning of the Quarantine period the courts have adjusted their operations from total shutdown to emergency hearings and first written decision just published this week in NYC.
FSHN- How do you find yourself managing giving help to your clients with limited access to the court availability to make decisions for couples that disagree?
JN- The process of working with clients has been disrupted by force, to abandon the office space for meeting with clients and infrastructure of legal office resources. We now work from home, and conduct meetings on a computer screen via Zoom, Google meet of Skype with somewhat unpredictable connectivity of internet or Apps itself.
FSHN- What is possible now to ask for within family law court?
JN- Right now the NYC courts have made emergency hearings possible via internet meetings for child support and visitations with increasing domestic violence incidences.
FSHN- What you cannot ask the courts for within family law?
JN- You cannot ask for a divorce. That means you cannot file a motion to commence divorce at this time.
FSHN- Given the inability to run away from the marriage under quarantine stay at home order. What would you recommend to the couple to do?
JN- First I would ask them to find a way to make their marriage work again, and not be emotionally reactive to run away from it. To learn about the divorce itself and see if it is truly what they want?
FSHN- how can they educate themselves about the consequences of going through the divorce?
JN- I wrote the book titled “New Rules of Divorce” to help couples make educated life decision from a place of maturity. They once had love and appreciation for each other, and it is good to remind ourselves what that was and still is. The unprecedented amount of time couples now spends with each other and children put added stress and need for new routines to make things work for everyone including the children.
FSHN- do you find couples understand that simple changes to the daily routine can make things smoother for all of them?
JN- I think that this generation is expecting not to change routines even with a changing world that even courts needed to upgrade from as well. Now we have e-filing and Skype meeting which has never happened before in NYC. The old fashion way of in-person court appearances and in-person fillings was the standard, now is no longer possible due to isolation. This is how new normal is created even in the traditional system of law.
FSHN-Do you see parents adopting New Standard for being parents now?
JN- I think that it needs to happen. This is how I see it would work best for the children in the long run; parents need to communicate directly and not look for courts to make decisions for their family. They need to go beyond hurt, anger and spite to look at the long run of consequences to their children emotional and social development. Ultimately finding a way to a sable transition between both parents is recommended. Children adapt much better when both parents agree. Feeling of hopelessness is detrimental and should not be part of a child’s life.
FSHN- what do you think is the opportunity that this unprecedented time has for families?
JN- I see the two-fold opportunity here. For many, this is the second honeymoon and they are home spending time together in an undisturbed environment from the work schedule of travel away from each other. Second, are couples that maybe got married but did not know each other well and now have the opportunity to get to know one another in an authentic way to make their bond stronger or break it clean. Either way at the end of this quarantine we will be left with a new blueprint of the future no matter where we are today. Maybe now when thinking of marriage the question should be “Can I be in the apartment with this person for months and still love them and like being with them?”
