The
Legal Project
Pro
Bono Corner
Lisa A. Frisch, Executive Director
No
Fault Divorce and Domestic Violence
Ellen Schell,
Legal Director of The Legal Project, recently wrote the following regarding
our support of changing existing New York State divorce laws.
We strongly believe,
based on our clients' experiences, that New York MUST enact no-fault
divorce. Some believe that fault-based divorce protects victims from
being unceremoniously dumped by an abusive husband, losing health insurance,
pension and Social Security rights, and general financial security.
In our view, this belief does not jibe with the realities faced by our
clients -- including the complete lack of ability to get a divorce under
some circumstances and increased danger to victims who must prove fault
in order to get divorced.
The clients we see
are generally women who have been victims of domestic violence and want
to be legally free of the control their husbands are able to exert over
them due to marriage. The legal status of marriage, in their eyes, provides
them no safety, no security, no privilege. It does nothing but provide
the abuser with more ways to abuse, control, dominate, and manipulate.
We have clients
who are simply unable to get divorced in New York. When the abuser will
not cooperate, and/or grounds are not available for any of a number
of reasons, they may be legally stuck. Their responses to this news
are almost always complete disbelief, followed by hopelessness. To these
clients, New York's divorce laws are cruel and inhuman. Some people
end up going to neighboring states and establishing residency so they
can obtain divorces, seeing no other way out. Yet if there are children,
this avenue, too is likely closed to them.
Virtually all of
the clients we represent WANT, sometimes desperately, to be divorced.
For many of them, there is undoubtedly enough evidence, within the proper
time framework, to prove fault. Here's the rub - in order to get the
divorce a client must, in essence, poke a stick into a hornet's nest
by serving the abuser with papers that state, in detail,the things he
did to treat her cruelly and inhumanly. And it has to be pleaded in
enough detail that a judge will grant the divorce, even if the abuser
does not contest. Judges may, and do, refuse to grant even uncontested
divorces if they believe the grounds are not strong enough.
Leaving an abuser
greatly increases danger to victims. Despite this, we see many clients
who have gotten away and found some physical safety for themselves and
their children. Yet they want to get divorced. They no longer wish to
be legally tied to an abusive spouse. When we explain how the divorce
process works, however, they begin to see that they may jeopardize their
tenuous, hard-won safety by having to prove grounds. They are often
afraid to take that risk.
The sad truth is
that victims of domestic violence will be abused and controlled by abusers
using whatever tools are available - whether those are guns, fists,
or divorce laws. Making it impossible for some victims to get divorced
in order to prevent others from being abused through divorce does not
make sense and is bad public policy.
We have to find
a better way to allow people who need it to get divorced, and to protect
those against whom divorce will be used as a weapon. New York's current
fault-based divorce laws are often used by abusive spouses to continue
to control and manipulate victims. Having to plead fault in order to
get divorced may cause an escalation in violence, or resumption of violence
that was on hiatus, creating serious safety concerns for victims.
Victims of domestic
violence need safety and independence, and our current system of divorce
laws does not reliably provide them with either. It is time for New
York to recognize that fault-based divorce may serve a few people who
have assets or benefits to protect, but it creates insurmountable barriers
to safety and independence for many others. It is time for this to change.
Meet
the Legal Project Staff
Our staff provide the structure that keeps our program going and many
of you may not know all of the staff who are dedicated to support our
pro bono panel, as well as provide direct legal services to domestic
violence victims in the community. We will regularly use this column
to introduce you to our staff, so you will recognize them when out and
about, and put a name with a face on the phone.
 Carla
Brogoch, Staff Attorney
Carla
Brogoch grew up in Belgium, Indonesia, and Taiwan and has traveled to
over twenty countries. She has a B.A. from Oberlin College, where she
majored in Politics and East Asian Studies with concentrations in International
Relations and Mandarin Chinese. After graduating from college, Carla
spent a year in New York City working as a paralegal and then returned
to Taiwan to teach English at a pre-school. Upon her return to the United
States, Carla enrolled at Cornell Law School. She began working with
domestic violence victims at Cornell's Legal Aid Clinic. As she became
more interested in this type of law, she stumbled upon the Legal Project
while looking for a public interest internship during her second summer
of law school. She liked it here so much that after receiving her law
degree she became a full time Staff Attorney. Carla has quickly become
known as a sensitive, caring but sharp-as-a-tack attorney. We recently
got an evaluation from a client who wrote "Carla Brogoch has a
brilliant mind…she's professional and was always cheerful, optimistic
but realistic about potential pitfalls of my case. She's an inspiration
for those of us who feel hopeless. I can't thank her or your organization
enough!"
Thanks for taking
cases in March!
Legally Speaking
Pamela Robich
Domestic Violence
Legal Connection
Sandy Allen
Douglas Broda
Stacie Brunet
Camille Siano-Enders
Ellie DeCoursey
Galina German
Jo Katz (2)
David Kellogg
Milinda Reed (2)
Michael Weinstein
AHAA
Fatima Goodman
Anne Reynolds Copps
Pamela Robich
Kenneth Schwartz
Ann Sharpe
Legal Clinics
YWCA
Arthur Casey
Jennifer Purcell
Patricia Rodriguez
Philip Schuyler
Coordinators - Carla Brogoch and
Jessica Strugibenetti
Janet Axelrod
Gayle Hartz
Unity House
Coordinator - Abe Bolgatz
Thomas Kenney
Jill Nagy
Mechanicville
Anne Reynolds Copps
South End
Coordinator - Vickie Smith-Moyo
Katherine Levitan
John McBride
Meredith Savitt
Equinox
Coordinator - Stephanie Hollner
David Levy
Heena Shaikh
Joann Sternheimer
Margaret Vella
HIV/AIDS Wills Project
Anne Reynolds Copps (2)
Heena Shaikh
Robert Swidler
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