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403 Pages·2005·0.48 MB·English

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1
2 SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
COUNTY OF NEW YORK
3 -------------------------------------------------X
4
THE NEW YORK STATE MATRIMONIAL COMMISSION
5 Public Hearing - New York City
6 -------------------------------------------------X
100 Vesey Street
7 New York, New York
May 9, 2005
8 Before:
HON. SONDRA MILLER,
9 Chairperson, and the following
commission members
10
HON. DAMIEN J. AMODEO
11 SUSAN L. BENDER, ESQ.
HELENE K. BREZINSKY, ESQ.
12 HON. TONDRA DAWSON:
BRIAN F. DeJOSEPH, ESQ.
13 MICHAEL DIKMAN, ESQ.
MARCIA C. GOLDSTEIN, ESQ.
14 HON. Michael V. COCCOMA
ELEANOR M. DE COURSEY, ESQ.
15 JOHN R. JOHNSON, CPA:
JANET E. JOHNSON, ESQ.
16 HON. DAVID F. JUNG
CHARLOTTE CHO-LAN LEE, ESQ.
17 LAURENCE LOEB, MD
ALLAN MAYEFSKY, ESQ.
18 KAREN DAWN McGUIRE, ESQ.
PATRICK O'REILLY, ESQ.
19 CARLA PALUMBO, ESQ.
ROSEMONDE PIERRE-LOUIS, ESQ.
20 SHEILA GINSBURG-REISEL, ESQ.
LAURA RUSSELL, ESQ.
21 HON. ROBERT A. ROSS, ESQ.
HON. EDWARD O. SPAIN, ESQ.
22 HON. ROBERT A. SPOLZINO, ESQ.
DAN WEITZ, ESQ.
23 HARRIET WEINBERGER, ESQ.
HON. JEFFREY SUNSHINE
24 HOWARD B. TEICH, ESQ.
25 Michael Barfield
Barbara Stroh
26 Official Court Reporters
Proceedings 2
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2 CHAIRPERSON MILLER: Good afternoon, everyone.
3 Can you hear me? Yes?
4 First of all, I would like to welcome all of
5 you, our speakers, our attendees, the press and others to
6 this, the fourth public hearing conducted by the
7 matrimonial commission, on the 10th anniversary of a our
8 predecessor commission to examine these issues and
9 recognizing the important strides made based on that
10 commission's work.
11 Chief Judge Judith Kaye who, as we all know, is
12 a tireless crusader on behalf of the families and children
13 of this state, acknowledges that still more can and must
14 be done to further improve the practice of matrimonial and
15 family law in New York State. She has charged this
16 thirty-two member state-wide panel with a very broad and
17 important mandate. We are to take a global look at the
18 area of the family and matrimonial law as it is practiced
19 in New York. We are to look at all stake holders inside
20 and outside of the system for input and guidance. We are
21 to think globally, holistically and innovatively to
22 address and resolve three main areas; to reduce and
23 eliminate trauma to parties, and most significantly to
24 their children; we are to avoid unreasonable expense to
25 the parties; and we are to reduce and eliminate all
26 unnecessary delay.
Proceedings 3
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2 This commission recognizes the urgency and the
3 importance of our mission and considers its mandate a
4 great challenge and a great opportunity. We intend and we
5 expect to recommend significant reforms. And we assure
6 you that our chief judge has pledged to do all that she
7 can possibly do to effectuate reasonable recommendations
8 that will serve to improve the lives of those who appear
9 before our matrimonial and family courts.
10 To those of you who have been assigned a time to
11 speak, please be sure that you have signed in at the desk
12 outside. As a courtesy to the other individuals scheduled
13 to speak today, please remember that your remarks are
14 limited to ten minutes. Anyone who has written material
15 to submit for the commission's consideration should leave
16 at least two copies with the commission's staff at the
17 sign-in table. No material will be handed up to the
18 commission during the course of this hearing. Note that I
19 on behalf of the commission may at times interrupt to you
20 ask a question or to seek clarification of the point. I
21 will strive to keep this to a minimum as we are most
22 interested in hearing from you about your experiences and
23 your recommendations for improving the system.
24 As stated on the notice of the public hearings,
25 the commission cannot take testimony from any individual
26 who has a case currently pending in New York State courts.
Mr. Rodriguez 4
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2 This is necessary in order to protect the integrity of a
3 pending case and the work of this commission. However,
4 such individuals are encouraged to submit their comments
5 and suggestions in writing to the commission no later than
6 June 30th. Any identifying details contained therein will
7 be redacted by commission staff. However, the substance
8 of this submission will remain intact.
9 Before we begin, I ask all of you to please turn
10 off your cell phones, pagers and any other devices and
11 that you refrain from interrupting speakers with comments
12 or abuse as we are on a very tight schedule and do not
13 want to deny any speaker their full allotment of time.
14 We are now ready to begin.
15 Mr. Efrain Rodriguez.
16 MR. RODRIGUEZ: Is this working? Can you hear
17 me? Nobody did a sound check before we start.
18 I haven't seen a crowd like this since I was the
19 salutatorian of PPS 106 42 years ago, so I am, like,
20 scared.
21 Members of the commission, I am Efrain Rodriguez
22 Jr. and I am the president of the Father's Rights
23 Association of New York State, a non-profit group that
24 works to keep parents and their children together after
25 divorce and separation. What sets us apart from all other
26 groups out there is simply this; we help the non-custodial
Mr. Rodriguez 5
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2 as well as that parents' extended and blended families,
3 and we actively assist women as well as men in trying to
4 negotiate and understand the Family Court industry.
5 I am humbled to be standing within these walls
6 where so many have passed through beginning their careers
7 as lawyers and becoming some of this country's greatest
8 leaders. I wish to begin my testimony with a question.
9 If I pay my child support then why can't I see my
10 children? Why if I have an agreement with the child's
11 mother and a schedule of shared parenting time, why can't
12 I see my children? Why is it when their mother
13 interferes, obstructs or otherwise denies me my children
14 is there no one that any parent can go to for immediate
15 relief?
16 As a New York City civil servant with 29 years
17 of service to this city as a nurse, a paramedic and a
18 police officer, I have seen all sides of this dilemma.
19 And as divorced dad I am also one of its victims. But
20 less about me and more about the group.
21 Nary a Friday passes after 5 p.m. where we don't
22 get a phone call on our hotline from a distraught parent
23 who says he went to get his children and was met with the
24 all too common phrase, no, you are not getting your kids.
25 This dad then calls the police who arrive on the scene and
26 after interviewing all the parties tells that dad, sorry,
Mr. Rodriguez 6
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2 there is nothing we can do for you except take a report
3 and refer to you court. Then, he becomes the victim of
4 what we call the trifecta of family law. He is served
5 with an order of protection, an order of custody and
6 support and an application for a divorce. This often
7 times used tactics designed to give the petitioner in any
8 divorce proceeding because now the father has to be in 3
9 courts, the support court, the Family Court, and the
10 divorce court, and maybe even the criminal court if that
11 parent chooses to take the order of protection to both
12 family and criminal, which they have a right to do, and if
13 it is not a divorce we just throw out the divorce part.
14 But the affect remains the same. That is having to fight
15 a system that presumes all men are batterers until that
16 parent is so beat down that he just takes the deal.
17 Usually to his detriment. But he still continues to pay
18 his child support.
19 Now, his children have a law guardian who asks
20 for supervised visitation because the law guardian
21 assigned to the case doesn't want to be the next Duckman
22 and make the wrong call, errs on the side of caution. Now
23 that parent has to pay to see his child. On top of the
24 support he pays or the children and whether. And whether
25 the mother shows up with the kids or not, he still has to
26 pay. Again, he has no recourse. Who is he going to call?
Mr. Rodriguez 7
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2 The law guardian?
3 He goes back into court without an attorney
4 because he can't afford one in many cases. He has no idea
5 how the system works, so he doesn't say anything or in
6 many cases says what he heard somebody say on the Jerry
7 Springer show. And then that angers the judge who has a
8 hundred cases before them, tells them all to come back in
9 three months, he still can't see his kids, but he is still
10 paying the child support.
11 The courts are supposed to be user friendly,
12 where litigants go to get help and relief for their issues
13 in a timely manner. There is nothing timely about a
14 situation based on lies and deceit where a person is
15 presumed guilty until proven innocent and the falsely
16 accused get no relief when they are exonerated of the
17 allegations against them. But they still pay their
18 support.
19 What I am trying to get at is this. Many
20 parents do not mind paying the support. I pay my support.
21 I am sure there is many other parents here who pay their
22 support. In fact, according to New York State stats, over
23 80% of the fathers do pay on time the full amount every
24 month. But there is an interesting statistic that's never
25 mentioned and that is 75% of women with child support
26 orders don't pay. And you never hear about a deadbeat mom
Mr. Rodriguez 8
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2 sweep.
3 The single thing that infuriates dads is what I
4 asked in the beginning. If I pay, then why can't I see?
5 We wish the commission to consider a provision in both the
6 Family and the Domestic Relations Law as follows: That
7 upon the finding that a parent willfully and deliberately
8 interferes, obstructs or deceives the court and any other
9 social service with false allegations of physical,
10 emotional or sexual abuse which deny one parent the right
11 to see their children, that the offending parent plainly
12 and simply loses custody. This parent is not acting in
13 the child's best interests. We would like to see the
14 parents at the time of the stipulation and agreement sign
15 that they agree to abide by this and if they fail to do so
16 they can be found guilty of contempt of court and be given
17 a Class D felony or what it is now a Class A misdemeanor.
18 But this law is already on the books. You look
19 at any complaint report in any police department or you
20 look at the bottom of the domestic incident report and
21 there is a statement there; "false statements made here
22 are punishable as Class A misdemeanor." Who is going to
23 prosecute that? I personally have gone to the D.A.'s of
24 several counties, including them in New York. I ask them
25 what are you going to do about this? And I was told by
26 one D.A. off the record, "Family Court is the third rail
Mr. Rodriguez 9
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2 of the judicial system. You try and change it and you
3 die. And besides, we have bigger fish to try." And that
4 parent who hadn't seen his kids is still paying his child
5 support.
6 We would like to ask the commission to make it a
7 mandatory part of every divorce or custody agreement that
8 should any parent be found to knowingly and willfully make
9 a false statement, not only will they lose custody but
10 they will lose any parenting time until they have attended
11 parenting classes. We have parents who have to attend
12 parenting classes based on an allegation. After they have
13 done their class, after they have gone to batterers, after
14 they have gone to AA, after they have gone to NA, 2 years
15 down the road they still can't see their kid because,
16 bottom line, the mother just won't let him.
17 We also ask that if you cannot see your child
18 and it has been proven that you are willfully denied
19 access to that child that the child support be suspended.
20 Or that the money that you pay for the child support
21 either be taxable or that the non-custodial parent be
22 permitted to claim the child on their income taxes. That
23 will take away that bitter taste of having to pay and not
24 see.
25 The board commission, you can do this. It is
26 called an on consent. It is done all the time in court.
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2 Parents agree, you sign. To wait for the legislature to
3 enact this, it will never happen.
4 We have had bills before the board for years and
5 they all get shot down. So we in the Father's Rights
6 teach our people how to understand, navigate the system,
7 and we ask that the panel investigate these as possible
8 alternatives to getting around the waiting for the
9 legislature to provide the type of relief that we seek.
10 CHAIRPERSON MILLER: Mr. Rodriguez, thank you
11 very much. Your time is up.
12 I would like to ask you one question on behalf
13 of the Commission.
14 You had some interesting statistics about the
15 effect of paying child support, fathers 85% pay and
16 mother's do not. Where did that come from?
17 MR. RODRIGUEZ: I got that from the 2000 U.S.
18 Census from the OCSE report on support compliance in 2001.
19 And there was another report in 1996 from the U.S. Census.
20 And the U.S. --
21 CHAIRPERSON MILLER: It said that 85% of the
22 fathers pay. And what percentage of mother's don't?
23 MR. RODRIGUEZ: 75. But New York State I
24 believe it is 83% compliance with the men. And of those
25 men who can't pay, ma'am, I just want to say, the ones who
26 cannot pay are either indigent, incarcerated or dead.