From: udcrusd@meaddata.com (Sylvia D'Cruz)
Subject: News Report: Divorce, NY-Style
Organization: Mead Data Central, Dayton OH
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1992 18:42:11 GMT
Distribution: soc.culture.indian

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                         Copyright 1992 Newsday, Inc.
                                    Newsday

              April  4, 1992, Saturday, NASSAU AND SUFFOLK EDITION

Divorce, NY-Style;
State marital laws enrich lawyers at the expense of couples who are splitting
up.

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   If enough people read a recent report by New York City's Department of
Consumer Affairs, it could do a lot to keep families together. It's called
"Women in Divorce: Lawyers, Ethics, Fees & Fairness," and the horror stories it
contains would make anyone - but especially women - think twice before filing
for divorce.

   Consumer Affairs Commissioner Mark Green deserves credit for taking on a
subject that certain lawyers think is none of his business. Some of the abuses
his department's report describes are enough to make the blood boil.
Unfortunately, though, it's much better at identifying problems than it is at
devising solutions to them. Its most valuable recommendation is the one that
calls for further study by that last refuge of a frustrated reformer, a
blue-ribbon panel to propose changes in the system.

   The report argues that the mandate to divide assets equitably under the
state's 1980 divorce law encourages "enormous legal fees and the financial
exploitation of vulnerable clients." A contested divorce in the city can
typically cost $ 50,000, with the result that le- gal representation "has become
largely unaffordable for the middle class."

   In other words, if you want a divorce and your spouse doesn't, you can
probably plan on turning over most of your assets to your lawyer. And if you're
a woman, the probability approaches the level of certainty.

   A few of the report's horror stories:

   One lawyer refused to refund any portion of a $ 15,000 retainer to a couple
who reconciled before he had done five hours' work on the case. Fortunately, a
State Supreme Court justice in Nassau County ruled for the clients.

   A woman met with a lawyer for a total of two hours and was told that he
couldn't handle her case. He billed her for $ 2,500.

   Another woman paid her lawyer $ 2,500 for six weeks of work. Without her
knowledge, he then asked her husband for an additional $ 10,000, promising to
get her to settle the case. When she refused, he billed her $ 35,000.

   And what are Consumer Affairs' remedies for outrages like these? Requiring
lawyers to hand out a consumer bill of rights for divorce clients (already
available from the department itself). Mandating arbitration of fee disputes
with lawyers (but only at the client's option, since the process would still be
controlled by lawyers). Insisting on full itemization of fees, showing hourly
rates for everyone who worked on the case (at additional cost, no doubt, for
time spent compiling and copying the information). Granting fees to lawyers for
both sides from the one that has the money (inviting unscrupulous lawyers to use
the same unconscionable delaying tactics on men that are now mostly used on
women).

   Lawyers who complain that Consumer Affairs isn't empowered to regulate
lawyers have a point: The legal profession is empowered to regulate itself,
under judicial supervision. But if this closed system can't devise a way to let
couples divorce without reducing themselves to adversarial shreds, it shouldn't
complain when somebody else tries.

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Sylvia D. D'Cruz                                
Mead Data Central                               Systems & Product Technology
Bldg. VI, 9595 Springboro Pike                          udcrusd@meaddata.com
Miamisburg, Ohio 45342                                        (513) 865-6800   
                                               
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