Anthony Gerard Buono’s Guides

In a New York Family Court proceeding when a party does not testify to rebut allegations against him or her the Family Court is permitted "to draw the strongest inference against him as the opposing evidence would allow." This is because the right against self-incrimination and o...

In neglect and custody proceedings a child's out-of-court statement claiming abuse or neglect may be admissible if it is corroborated sufficiently. As with the types of circumstances that give rise to this exception to the hearsay rule, the definition of corroboration is very bro...

Proving in court child abuse or mistreatment can be difficult. Often we only have a child's out-of-court statements to a parent or a third party and very little other proof. An evidentiary problem arises in this situation since out-of-court statements are hearsay. Hearsay stateme...

Visitation with a non-custodial parent is presumed to be in the best interests of a child. The denial of visitation is justified only for a compelling reason. This may include a variety of situations where visitation has been detrimental to the child or could be detrimental or da...

In order for the State of New York to have jurisdiction over the parties to a divorce action the residency requirements of Domestic Relations Law section 230 must be satisfied. There are a number of ways that they can be. The most common and simplest way is that the grounds upon...

The other day I had a client come in to see me about a divorce. He brought with him the Uncontested Divorce Form Packet and Instructions Packet from the New York Unified Court System. His estranged Wife had given him the packets and told him to figure out how to do their divorce....

In New York a court must consider all of a parents resources in determining an appropriate amount of child support. So an inheritance or a gift can be counted as income or as a resource available for purposes of calculating child support. This is done more often in cases where th...

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Facebook is a complex trap for divorce litigants. Even if you do not post on Facebook and you just watch what your friends are doing on Facebook, you can still fan the flames of discord in your divorce. The Like button has become an issue in some divorces that I have seen. So bef...

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In a New York divorce action any property purchased or acquired by a party after the commencement date of the divorce action is their separate property. Separate property, is not subject to equitable distribution. So if you purchase a house while your divorce action is pending, i...

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In some support cases or divorces we encounter a situation where a party is self-employed or has cash income and they fail to report all of their income on their income tax returns. In these cases it is a real challenge to prove what their true income is. There are a few ways to ...

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