Elliott Scheinberg

September 30, 2005 | New York Law Journal

Elliott Scheinberg, a solo practitioner in New York City, writes that a recent decision, in contravention of statutory, legislative and decisional pronouncements regarding this issue, untenably blocked the payment of child support arrears to the estate of a custodial parent as being against the best interests of the children, handing a ready trophy, a new judicially-crafted affirmative defense, to deadbeat parents.

By Elliott Scheinberg

11 minute read

April 28, 2006 | New York Law Journal

Elliott Scheinberg, a solo practitioner in matrimonial law, reviews two recent decisions that have upset the applecart regarding the issue of who bears the burden of proof of showing contribution towards appreciated separate property, inexplicably shifting that burden to the titled spouse to show that the nontitled spouse's indirect efforts did not contribute to the appreciation in value of the titled spouse's separate property, even when that appreciation was entirely passive.

By Elliott Scheinberg

12 minute read

June 17, 2011 | New York Law Journal

Elliott Scheinberg, a matrimonial appellate attorney, writes: An anticlimactic issue gnaws through the Domestic Relations Law: whether the Supreme Court is constrained to grant indefinite spousal support under Family Court Act §442 when a §236B(2)(a) action is dismissed, or may it also consider finite spousal support. While logic dictates that this seemingly silly question should not even exist as a question, much less rise to the level of an issue worthy of a column, the answer is unanticipatedly complex as the case law is inconsistent even in the same Department.

By Elliott Scheinberg

14 minute read

December 01, 2004 | New York Law Journal

Elliott Scheinberg, a Manhattan attorney, analyzes cases concerning New York's Domestic Relations Law �236B(3), which provides that pre- and post-nuptial agreements must satisfy three procedural formalities.

By Elliott Scheinberg

11 minute read

January 09, 2006 | New York Law Journal

Elliott Scheinberg, a solo practitioner in New York City, reviews the history of the professional reliability rule and a recent Court of Appeals decision that potentially transports that rule back to its 1974 status before the Court ever built any safeguards into it.

By Elliott Scheinberg

12 minute read

March 15, 2010 | New York Law Journal

Elliott Scheinberg writes that an erroneous inference from a recent ruling he calls seriously flawed is that, barring an immediate joint liquidation of a Ponzi account where both parties face mutual exposure, the only protection in such a situation, is a contractual hold harmless clause allowing rescission or reformation.

By Elliott Scheinberg

15 minute read

December 22, 2009 | New York Law Journal

Elliott Scheinberg writes that the Appellate Division, Second Department, in two discrete rulings, simultaneously amplified and upset the equilibrium of the equitable distribution universe. The first ruling dramatically relaxed the strict burden of proof upon the party asserting a separate property claim, to wit, the failure to proffer independent expert testimony or evidence was not deemed fatal to the application. Next, it reached the troublesome conclusion that the Legislature intended to exclude compensation for lost earnings arising from a personal injury claim, under Domestic Relations Law (DRL) �236B(1)(d)(2), from the marital estate.

By Elliott Scheinberg

15 minute read

July 03, 2006 | New York Law Journal

Elliott Scheinberg, a solo practitioner, writes that, notwithstanding black letter statute and long-settled common law, which confer upon matrimonial litigants the unequivocal right to seek an accelerated review or enforcement of agreements by moving within the action, during the pendency of the action, and prior to the entry of final judgment, these litigants are denied such expeditious procedural relief and are rerouted instead to proceed by way of protracted plenary proceeding.

By Elliott Scheinberg

10 minute read

January 28, 2005 | New York Law Journal

Elliott Scheinberg, a solo practitioner in New York City, writes that the Legislature's elimination of fault from DRL �236B has seemingly desensitized judicial intolerance to otherwise disturbing spousal behavior.

By Elliott Scheinberg

12 minute read

January 11, 2007 | New York Law Journal

Elliott Scheinberg, a consultant to the bar in matrimonial matters, writes: I admit that when first reading Kojovic, I joined the chorus of frustration at another challenge to a settlement agreement. After reading the record on appeal through an unpredisposed lens, I recognized the established principles of contract doctrine that were implicated but nevertheless glossed over in the decision as well as Kojovic's potential resculpting of the settlement landscape.

By Elliott Scheinberg

12 minute read