Family Court is a busy court whose resources can be stretched thin because of the high case volumes that it handles.  The judge and the other attorneys in the case such as a law guardian for a child and attorneys for the Department of Social Services cannot advocate for you.  Your best interests are served by retaining an attorney to represent your interests in court.  Family Court handles petitions regarding domestic violence (family offense and orders of protection), child abuse and neglect, child support, child support enforcement and support modification, child custody and visitation, paternity, juvenile delinquency, PINS and adoption.

Domestic Violence:  Petitions alleging a family offense often result in the issuance of an order of protection. An order of protection is a court order which directs a respondent to refrain from specific actions, such as staying away from another person or place or to not engage in certain behavior (family offense) which would normally constitute criminal behavior.  Failure to obey an order of protection can result in immediate arrest and possible incarceration.  From time to time I hear from people who are sorry that they agreed to the order of protection as they did not fully understand the ramifications of the order and the potentially severe consequences of being found to have violated an order of protection. Orders of protection may be part of a criminal proceeding or as part of a civil proceeding in Supreme or Family Court.  An order of protection can be requested in Family Court or in Criminal Court, or both. Supreme Court also has the authority to issue an order of protection. When the parties to a family offense matter are in front of two or more judges in Supreme Court, Family Court, or Criminal Court, their case may be referred to the integrated domestic violence part and consolidated before one judge.

When two or more judges are involved for the same parties or for a divorce where domestic violence is alleged, the matter will be transferred to the integrated domestic violence court, and one judge will hear all matters between the parties. Thus one judge will hear the divorce, custody, visitation, support and orders of protection. Prior to the IDV court, it was not uncommon to have a divorce before a Supreme Court justice, family offense matters before a Family Court judge, and criminal matters pending in Criminal Court. The result was conflicting orders, and judges dealing with issues piecemeal. The IDV court is designed to provide  consistency from one court on what was once considered separate legal issues.

A child protective proceeding is begun when it appears that a child less than eighteen (18) years of age has been abused or neglected or is in danger of being abused or neglected.  A petition may be filed by a child-protective agency asking  Family Court to assist in protecting the child.  It is important to have an attorney represent your interests as the attorneys for the Department of Social Services advocates for Child Protective Services, not you.  Failure to comply with the Dispositional Plan can adversely impact on your legal rights to your child. Often there is an issue of whether a person is complying with a Dispositional Plan.  Only your lawyer can advocate that you are in fact in substantial compliance.

Child Support:  A child is entitled in New York State to be supported by his or her parents until the age of 21. However, if the child is under 21 years of age, and is married, or self-supporting, or in the military, the child is considered to be “emancipated” and the parents’ support obligation ends. A child may also be considered “emancipated” if he or she is between 17 and 21, leaves the parents’ home and refuses to obey the parents’ reasonable commands.  If you are responsible for support of the child, an attorney can represent you in a proceeding to terminate the order of support.  The fact that the child is “emancipated” does not automatically terminate the order of support and you are responsible for payment of support until it is terminated.

When the parents are not together, and one of them has legal custody of the child, that parent can file a petition in Family Court to ask the other parent to pay child support.

A person can file a “Violation” petition in Family Court for willful failure to pay child support as ordered.  There will be a hearing to determine if the non-payment was willful if the violation is not admitted.  A person who is alleged to have willfully violated the order of support needs legal representation since the court can invoke punitive sanctions if the violation is proved.  A petition for modification of the order of support can also be filed based on a substantial change of circumstances.

Custody & Visitation:  There are two parts to custody. One is the right and responsibility to make decisions for a child (legal custody). The other is where a child will live (residential or physical custody).  In joint custody, the parents make major decisions about the child together; decisions about education, health, and religion, for example. The smaller, day-to-day decisions in joint custody are made by the parent who is physically caring for the child at the time. In sole custody, just one parent has the right to make the major decisions. Today’s courts are not supposed to favor either parent based on gender. A court is obligated to make a custody award based on what’s best for the child.

A parent seeking to visit with a child may file a petition in Family Court against the custodial parents of the child for visitation.  Custody and visitation matters are often heard together within the same hearing, but a visitation petition may also be filed as a separate matter.  Other family members, such as grandparents or siblings, may also file a petition seeking an order of visitation.  The court will order visitation if it is in the child’s best interests.

Paternity:  When a child is born to parents who are not married to each other, the biological father is not considered the child’s legal parent unless the father has signed an “Acknowledgment of Paternity” (usually done at the hospital at the time of the child’s birth) declaring himself to be the child’s father, or an “order of filiation”, which is a court order that declares that person to be the legal father, has been made. A petition may be filed in Family Court seeking an order of filiation.  Only after determination of paternity does the father acquire legal rights and obligations with the child such such as the right to ask the court for visitation or custody.  The legal obligation for support for the child also begins with the establishment of paternity.

Juvenile Delinquency:  When a person who is under 16 years old, but is at least 7 years old, commits an act which would be a “crime” if he or she were an adult, and is then found to be in need of supervision, treatment or confinement, the person is called a “juvenile delinquent”. The act committed is called a “delinquent act”. All juvenile delinquency cases are heard in Family Court. Children who are 13, 14 and 15 years old who commit more serious or violent acts may be treated as adults. These cases may be heard in Supreme Court, but may sometimes be transferred to the Family Court. If found guilty, the child is called a “juvenile offender”, and is subject to more serious penalties than a juvenile delinquent.

“PINS” stands for Person In Need of Supervision.  A PINS proceeding involves a child under the age of 18 who does not attend school, or behaves in a way that is dangerous or out of control, or often disobeys his or her parents, guardians or other authorities.  Such a child may be found by the court to be a Person In Need of Supervision or “PINS”. All PINS proceedings are heard in Family Court.

There are two types of adoptions in Family Court: “private placement” and “agency”. It should be noted that adoption petitions are sometimes filed and heard in the Surrogate’s Court.  When a child’s parents have died, when the parents cannot continue to provide for the care or custody of their child, or when the parents’ right for the care and custody of their child has been terminated by the court, the child may be “adopted”. In an adoption, the natural parents’ rights are ended, and the court gives permanent legal responsibility for the child to other persons who then become the child’s parents. A child fourteen years of age or older must approve of his or her own adoption.

The Constitution and other laws place limits on how far the police can use their substantial power.  As the videotaped beating of motorist Rodney King in Los Angeles and the arrest of Emily Goode in Rochester for videotaping from her home a police vehicle stop  illustrate, police officers sometimes go too far, violating the rights of citizens.  When this happens, the victim of the misconduct may have recourse through federal and state laws.  A statute known as Section 1983 is the primary civil rights law that victims of police misconduct use as basis to recover damages for police misconduct that has caused injury.  Police misconduct may take the form of excessive force, false arrest, fabrication of evidence and malicious prosecution.  A primary purpose of the nation’s civil rights laws is to protect citizens from abuses by government, including police misconduct.  Unfortunately there are hundreds of reported cases where the police have exceeded their powers and caused injuries to citizens.

Since these cases to a certain degree challenge the “system”, they are difficult and can only succeed where the proof of misconduct is overwhelming.  The standard for a violation of a constitutional right through Section 1983 requires more than a mistake and more than mere negligence.  A prevailing party who proves the constitutional violation is entitled to reasonable attorney fees under the Lodestar formula.

The use of Section 1983 is not confined to police misconduct and has had many different applications; land use and local zoning regulations have been challenged in the courts by Section 1983 lawsuits.  Plaintiffs have used Section 1983 to sue for violations of public employee expressions and speech.   Similarly, plaintiffs have used Section 1983 to sue for violations of free speech in public schools.  The development of the use of Section 1983 in the courts is ongoing.

I have represented many injured clients and recovered substantial damages for their personal injuries

Negligence and intentional acts causing personal injury are known as “torts”.  Generally the time to bring an action for an intentional tort is only one year from the date of the intentional act causing injury and three years from the date of the negligence causing injury unless you have a medical malpractice claim in which the time to bring suit is two and a half years from the date of the medical malpractice.  Damages may be obtained for both out of pocket (economic damages such as lost wages and non-covered medical bills) and non-economic damages, known as “pain and suffering” proximately caused by the negligent party. Pain and suffering is a type of non- economic damages that includes the  “physical and emotional consequences of the injury” and loss of enjoyment of life.  

In New York State, a person must have sustained a “serious injury” (a shifting standard subject to continuing judicial revision) under §5102 of the Insurance Law in order to recover non-economic damages for his or her injuries resulting from the operation of a motor vehicle (see * below for the definition of serious injury if you dare).  A person who has been injured due to negligence needs to consult with an attorney to see if the serious injury threshold has been met.  It is critical that a person who sustains serious injuries in a car crash treat with a doctor after the accident or as soon as possible thereafter so that the doctor or hospital can document the objective nature of the complaints and injuries that may satisfy the serious injury threshold.  It is not a good idea for an injured person to decline medical care or down play his injuries as an injured person needs competent medical care to recover and documentation of the injuries caused by the accident at the time of the accident, not a month and a half later. Often a person believes that they cannot have sustained serious injuries because the vehicles are not badly damaged. Irrespective of the amount of damage to the vehicles, you should go to your doctor or hospital ED for treatment after the accident.  Do not be a martyr and ignore your body and not get competent medical car after the accident. I know of many cases where a seemingly minor accident resulted in serious injuries.  Many times the pain  from an injury will increase over time after the accident.  Be safe and get medical care after an motor vehicle accident.

A personal injury claim can also involve a claim for damages caused by intentional acts such as a false arrest, battery or excessive use of force by a person “acting under color of law” such as a police officer in violation of a person’s constitutional rights under the 4^th Amendment.  In that situation, a person has both state law tort and constitutional violation claims.  We successfully handled a jail wrongful death case under state and federal law when we recovered $450,000 from the municipality and its private health care provider (http://www.corrections.com/articles/9043).  We also obtained a $650,000 verdict in federal court after two weeks of trial based on a malicious prosecution for grand larceny that was initiated by a business against a former employee.

Many cases can be settled without “going to court”.  A personal injury court case is started through a civil court proceeding that seeks to find others legally responsible (negligent) through a judicial judgment that determines fault and awards money damages.  Many such claims may be resolved by settlement before a case goes to court.  We negotiated payment of the liability insurance policy limits of $100,000 for a client’s fractured vertebrae from a motor vehicle crash caused by a drunk driver without having to litigate the case.

* New York State Insurance Law § 5102(d) provides:

“Serious injury” means a personal injury which results in death; dismemberment; significant disfigurement; a fracture; loss of a fetus; permanent loss of use of a body organ, member, function or system; permanent consequential limitation of use of a body organ or member; significant limitation of use of a body function or system, or a medically determined injury or impairment of a non permanent nature which prevents the injured person from performing substantially all of the material acts which constitute such person’s usual and customary daily activities for not less that ninety days during the one hundred eighty days immediately following the occurrence of the injury or impairment.

A person who has not answered charges alleging a violation of the Vehicle and Traffic Law, generally in the form of a “ticket”, more formally known as a Uniform Traffic Ticket, will have their license suspended for not answering the ticket.  A license can be suspended for not answering a ticket even if the charge is not a crime.  Many tickets issued to drivers carry points that can result in the suspension of the license.  A client who wants to clear  license suspensions needs to get a copy of his or her Abstract of Driving Record from the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles if you are unsure of the tickets leading to the suspension.  Once I am retained I will contact the individual courts to advise them that I am appearing on your behalf to answer the charges.  As your attorney I work to clear your license suspensions by dealing directly with the courts and the prosecutors.   If an acceptable disposition can’t be reached, a person always has the right to go to trial and have the government prove the alleged violations.

In our American criminal justice system, the right to counsel for the accused is paramount.  It is important to hire a Rochester criminal defense attorney who will look critically at the facts and the criminal allegation made against you, the defendant.  It is not the job of the prosecutor, police officer or Judge to advocate for the accused – only an attorney looking out for his client can do that!  Often a satisfactory plea bargain is reached without the need to go to trial.  I represent those charged with crimes in Monroe County Supreme Court, Monroe County Court, Rochester City Court, Town Courts such as Brighton, Chili, Clarkson, Gates, Greece, Hamlin, Henrietta, Irondequoit, Ogden, Parma,  Penfield, Perinton, Pittsford, Riga and Rush and and Village Courts such as East Rochester and Fairport in Monroe County. I also practice outside of Monroe County on a case by case basis. I have helped many clients by reaching successful outcomes on their cases.  Please contact my office to see how I can help you.

Criminal law is the branch of law that defines a criminal conduct and provides for punishment that can include probation, payment of a substantial fine and/or incarceration.  In New York State, most crimes are set out in the N.Y.S. Penal Law.  Most of the crimes associated with the use of a motor vehicle such as driving while intoxicated (D.W.I.) and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle are found in the Vehicle and Traffic Law. I represent clients on D.W.I., D.W.A.I., D.W.A.I. by drugs,  aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, speeding and all other related motor vehicle offenses in addition to crimes under the Penal Law such as assault, burglary, larceny, harassment, public lewdness, endangering the welfare of a child and drug sale and possession cases.

When looking for a Rochester criminal defense attorney an individual should look for a lawyer who has the knowledge and experience to fully protect your rights. You should trust the lawyer and feel good about who is representing you.

The corporate structure of your business will provide shelter for your personal assets. There are several events that will cause a judge to disregard the corporate entity or “pierce the corporate veil.” There are several reasons why the corporate veil may be pierced. There are also several easy steps you can do to avoid the corporate veil from being pierced.

The corporate veil can be pierced if a party is tricked or misled into dealing with the corporation rather than an individual. Whenever the corporation does correspondence with a third party, the officers and directors of that company need to make it clear that they are acting on behalf of the corporation and not themselves individually. All the documents need to clearly be entered into on behalf of the corporation otherwise there may be a conflict that could arise that would pierce the corporate veil.

If the corporation is set up to never make a profit or always be insolvent it is considered too “thinly” capitalized. This could be when the corporation is formed without sufficient capital to meet potential liabilities and debts. This often occurs when an individual or group of people uses a corporation as a form of shield from liabilities instead of a legitimate business.

When the corporation fails to follow corporate formalities where the corporation is located, it can be pierced. A few of the corporate formalities are meetings, minutes, stock ledger. If the corporate entity fails to do some of these duties the judge can rule that it is not a proper corporation.

The biggest mistake small corporations usually make is not keeping separate accounts for the corporation. If an individual moves funds from their bank account into the corporate bank account, and vise versa then the court will disregard the corporate entity.

If the corporation is engaged in illegal enterprise where it is ruled that the corporation was setup as a sole means for those involved to partake in an illegal activity, the corporate veil can be pierced. For instance, a corporation will not be tried for murder. The individuals responsible will be tried for it. The same thing can be applied for all kinds of cases such as drug trafficking, etc.

While it is possible for the corporate veil to be pierced, if you take the proper precautions when setting up your corporation you will help to protect your own personal assets. A few of the steps to protecting your personal assets are quite simple and some are even common sense. The important thing is that you take care when operating a business, and you get sound legal advice before doing anything questionable.

Author Bio
Tyler Weaver is a writer for Lawyer Locater and has written many articles on the subject of corporations.