The evolution of Family Law over the past half a century has been the result of “inspiration” that has found its source in the ever evolving patterns of family development amidst the angst that accompanies discord, disharmony and disputes among spouses, co-parents, life partners, non-related caregivers, governmental and non-profit social service agencies, public interest organizations, etc. One of the definitions of “inspiration” and perhaps the oldest is “a divine influence directly and immediately exerted upon the mind or soul.” Dictionary.com. The past few decades have seen boldly inspired initiatives in the world of New York family lawyers such as child support guidelines, rules governing the conduct of attorneys for children and training for those attorneys, no fault divorce, Integrated Domestic Violence Parts in the Courts, spousal maintenance guidelines, the establishment of lists of qualified forensic custody evaluators, etc.
Each new development in the family law field, combined with changes in our society’s views of the rights of parents, spouses, non-custodial caregivers, life partners, etc., has been the springboard of inspiration for the next step in the evolution of the ever expanding and changing methods of addressing and, hopefully, solving the myriad of issues confronted by combatants locked in litigation. Witness, for example, the legislative adoption of spousal maintenance guidelines as an outgrowth of the battles over the passage of no fault divorce, which, itself, found its origin in the Women’s Rights Movement of the 1960s that led to the passage of equitable distribution of marital property laws in New York and other jurisdictions.
