Timothy M Tippins

November 03, 2011 | New York Law Journal

In his Matrimonial Practice column, Timothy M. Tippins, an adjunct professor at Albany Law School, writes: Eighteen years after the U.S. Supreme Court enunciated a heightened standard of scrutiny to be applied to expert testimony in Daubert, New York continues to cling to the myopic "general acceptance" standard announced in Frye nearly a century ago. A recent decision from the Fourth Department dramatically illustrates the severe limitations of the Frye standard as a measure of reliability.

By Timothy M. Tippins

13 minute read

January 05, 2012 | New York Law Journal

In his Matrimonial Practice column, American Academy of Forensic Psychology faculty member Timothy M. Tippins discusses the Frye Standard and how recent revelations underscore the need for more incisive and critical examinations of the principles and methods underlying expert testimony and conclusions.

By Timothy M. Tippins

11 minute read

January 04, 2013 | New York Law Journal

Timothy M. Tippins, an adjunct professor at Albany Law School, writes that the behavioral science field can be of immense assistance to the custody court in providing relevant information, but it cannot resolve the policy judgments that are committed squarely to judicial authority.

By Timothy M. Tippins

13 minute read

March 01, 2012 | New York Law Journal

In his Matrimonial Practice column, Timothy M. Tippins, an adjunct professor at Albany Law School, writes: Given that the Legislature may be poised to extend a formulaic approach to post-divorce maintenance, as it recently did to temporary maintenance, this is a propitious point to consider the history of spousal support as well as its underlying rationale, an exercise that underscores the truly radical nature of the method under consideration.

By Timothy M. Tippins

12 minute read

July 08, 2013 | New York Law Journal

In his Matrimonial Practice column, Timothy M. Tippins, an adjunct professor at Albany Law School, argues that there is an urgent need for the legal system to impose mandatory and enforceable standards of performance upon those mental health professionals who offer potentially life-altering opinions in the custody court.

By Timothy M. Tippins

13 minute read

May 02, 2013 | New York Law Journal

In his Matrimonial Practice column, Timothy M. Tippins, an adjunct professor at Albany Law School, writes that the courts are currently considering an array of reforms in the family law arena, a move to allow the parties to matrimonial and custody proceedings to depose expert witnesses in advance of trial.

By Timothy M. Tippins

12 minute read

September 05, 2013 | New York Law Journal

In his Matrimonial Practice column, Timothy M. Tippins, an adjunct professor at Albany Law School, writes: A few rays of promise broke through the clouds this past spring with word that the OCA Administrative Board was seeking public comment on a number of reform proposals aimed at the disparate and deficient disclosure rules that have beclouded the custody terrain for decades. Now the word comes down that makes one wonder whether the promise of springtime was real or merely an illusion.

By Timothy M. Tippins

12 minute read

September 06, 2012 | New York Law Journal

In his Matrimonial Practice column, Timothy M. Tippins, an adjunct professor at Albany Law School, writes that a recent decision from the Appellate Division, First Department, revisited the relationship between expert disclosure and the due process imperative that the party opposing the expert be provided with all relevant information required to prepare a comprehensive and meaningful cross-examination.

By Timothy M. Tippins

12 minute read

November 05, 2009 | New York Law Journal

Timothy M. Tippins, an adjunct professor at Albany Law School, writes one of the more complex and controversial issues in the equitable distribution arena is the allocation of marital and separate property components of assets that contain both categories of property. A disability benefit payment, he notes, sometimes derived from employer-sponsored plans, sometimes from private insurance policies, and sometimes from exceptional sources, is one such hybrid asset.

By Timothy M. Tippins

12 minute read

July 07, 2006 | New York Law Journal

Timothy M. Tippins, an adjunct professor of law at Albany Law School, writes that virtually all expert opinion rests upon hearsay at its most foundational level, i.e., the scientific or specialized knowledge that forms the major premise or premises that support the expert's opinion. That very scientific or specialized knowledge that the expert presumably brings to the courtroom � and which in fact is the raison d'�tre for his or her presence on the witness stand � is largely acquired via hearsay.

By Timothy M. Tippins

13 minute read