Laurence Scott Margolin

Upon the tragic passing of my teenage daughter’s mother, my daughter, with whom I had a close relationship, came to live with me. My daughter’s maternal grandmother wanted my daughter to live with her and commenced two petitions in Family Court, one seeking full and sole custody of my daughter, an...d the second one seeking to be the legal guardian of my daughter. I thought I could handle the cases myself because I was the only surviving parent to my daughter, who was 14 years old. I was wrong. Suddenly I found myself in an absurdly vicious custody battle for my own daughter. I felt discouraged, overwhelmed and intimidated by all the attorneys and the court process. After a few months, the Court set a trial date. I was in shock that I had to go to trial over my own daughter as her natural parent and felt the Court system was against me. When all hope seemed lost, I sent an email two days before the trial to Mr. Margolin. Mr. Margolin immediately responded to me and was able to keep the trial from proceeding by filing a motion to dismiss the grandmother’s petition. When the grandmother’s attorneys filed an emergency motion seeking to get immediate custody of my daughter under the guise of some trumped up emergency, Mr. Margolin wrote a fantastic set of opposition papers showing there was no emergency situation, laid out the facts showing the many false claims of the grandmother, laid out the legal authority and showed that there was no basis that I, as the father, would lose my parental rights, which were superior to the grandmother’s rights. I was very impressed with Mr. Margolin’s legal talent and courtroom command during the trial. Mr. Margolin gave a winning opening statement and I could see the judge come to the realization that based upon the controlling law in New York State, the grandmother could not take my daughter away from me simply because she thought it would be in my daughter’s best interest to live with her. When the grandmother took the witness stand and her attorney asked questions for an hour that had nothing to do with the legal standards, Mr. Margolin made repeated objections and the judge agreed. After the grandmother put in her case, the judge asked the grandmother to withdraw her petition. The grandmother refused and wanted to continue with the trial. Before the next trial date, Mr. Margolin filed a motion to dismiss the petition without a hearing. The Court granted the motion and the case was over. Mr. Margolin’s legal writings were superb. He saved my peace of mind those three years and I did not lose my daughter, which I believe would have happened had I not hired Mr. Margolin. I am very grateful that I hired a confident, capable and professional legal team. I was at the end of the road but his firm boosted my life and made my daughter and I a stronger union. I am highly satisfied with Mr. Margolin and recommend him.