If you’re in the planning stage, your advice to someone that lives in Suffolk County might be a little bit different if that person lives in Nassau County?

Yes, you really want to position yourself the right way with the least amount of surprises through the whole divorce action. For example, judges in Suffolk County generally speaking, are less female friendly when it comes to issues like maintenance, which most people know as alimony, than Judges in Nassau, Manhattan or Westchester.

I’ll give you a different example. Let’s assume you have relatively young children and you’re the wife, and you have relatives in Florida. And although you’re living in New York, you would prefer to be in Florida, which would involve relocating with the children. Again, your chances of success are somewhat dependent on which Judge is assigned to your case, as each of them bring their own life experience into their decisions.

However, if you live in Queens County as an example, it is useful to know that there are only three Judges in Queens that handle divorces for the entire County. In Nassau and Suffolk, there are approximately seven Judges in each county assigned exclusively to handle divorce cases. Obviously, because there are less Judges assigned to handle divorce cases in Queens, experienced divorce attorneys know that things take much longer there, unless your attorney can resolve issues pertaining to your divorce without the necessity of judicial involvement.

More importantly, experienced divorce attorneys get to know how particular judges view certain issues and how to frame their arguments to a particular judge so as to have the best opportunity for obtaining the result you desire.