Rubinstein Law Firm, PLLC

04/15/2024

Sadly, those who have never been abused, make light of the issue with false claims and manipulate the court system.

How our reaction to marital violence after years of neglect has went too far.

02/14/2024

Did your spouse disappoint you on Valentine’s Day? Feel like this is the final straw?

Feel free to call our office for a consult we can help and will work to get you the house, the kids and to never have another conversation with your in-laws.

06/09/2023

My podcast is back! We talk about the interactions between divorce law and bankruptcy law with bankruptcy expert Btzalel Hirschhorn

Join us!

Btzalel Hirschhorn https://sbagk.com/btzalel-hirschhorn/ Chair of the Bankruptcy Practice at Shiryak, Bowman, Anderson, Gill & Kadochnikov LLP is a brilliant bankruptcy litigator. Join us as he educates us on some of the interactions between bankruptcy and divorce. Also, Btzalel uses that great a**l...

01/13/2023

Should my firm start a line of products?

01/12/2023

We're back people! Reviewing 8 of the documents that are filed in uncontested divorces.

01/12/2023

To say I was a wild kid, would be to insult other wild children by putting us in the same category. As people needed to react to my actions, actions it was natural to conjure up very negative thoughts about myself. This is especially true, when like anyone in pre or grade school, at that stage we know so little about the big picture.

At 7, the rabbi of the synagogue my parents attended decided to take me under his wing. Yes, I had great parents, but like many struggling kids and adults, that's not enough. Case-in-point, ,y dad used to drop me off at his office once a week, after long days at work, and we would learn. Every interaction we had whether we studied together or chatted about life did so much to offset so many wrongful conclusions I made about myself. He passed when I was 20, but we maintained a close relationship to the very end.

When I was in Israel for the year, we spoke once a week having in depth conversations about what I was learning. In fact, 4 days before his passing, it was evident to all that the day was coming soon. I pulled up next to him on his hospital bed and asked him as many questions as I could about his thoughts in regard to my future. His mind was pretty strong till the end and he told me things I still think about often.

A few years ago, a friend of mind pointed me to Rita Pierson's Ted Talk https://www.ted.com/talks/rita_pierson_every_kid_needs_a_champion.

What's eerie about this speech is that she delivered it in May 2013 and passed just one month later. Clearly she had a message to deliver before she left us, all too soon.

The title says more than I can to describe the speech but it's worth a watch to see and hear Rita's passion. Fortunately, I had my champion for almost two decades when I needed it most. Today its not just children who need a champion, adults need it too.

People don't believe in themselves, people are hard on their luck, people feel alone and being there one time or thrice a day can change a life. Who will you champion today?

Rita Pierson 40 éve tanít, egyszer egy kollégája azt mondta: "Nem azért fizetnek, hogy szeressem a gyerekeket." Erre ő azt válaszolta: "A gyerekek nem tanulnak olyantól, akit nem kedvelnek." Egy lelkesítő felhívás minden oktatónak, hogy higgyenek a diákjaikban és alakítsanak ki velü...

01/11/2023

Parents have religious differences! One of the major hot button issues, when it's a divorce in my world.

In Weichman v. Weichman, 199 A.D.3d 865 (Second Dept. 2021) the lower court found that Wife (1) did not obtain decision-making regarding child's education and (2) during her visitation she shall not expose the child to an activity, direct quote here, "that violates rules, practices, traditions and culture of the child’s Orthodox Jewish Chasidic Faith."

This Court decided to struck the second provision above.

Parties had one child. The child was raised in accordance with Chasidic tradition and attended a corresponding yeshiva from the age of 2. Wife identifies as a member of LGBTQ community, and considers herself an Orthodox Jew. The Court had awarded husband sole custody, with Wife to have specified periods of visitation as mentioned above. Wife was to ensure that child can follow rules of Shabbos, Jewish Holidays, Kosher food, and rules of the Mosdos Chasidic Square.

Wife challenges only Court’s failure to award her decision-making rights on child’s education.

Ordinarily, without an agreement, custodial parent can make educational decisions for a child. Still, it may be appropriate, depending on circumstances, to award some decision-making to the noncustodial parent. Here, there was a sound and substantial basis for Court’s determination to award Wife decision-making authority on child’s education. Child was enrolled in the same yeshiva since he was two, where he was excelling, and Wife could not prove that her desired plan of enrolling child in a different institution would be in child’s best interests.

However, during her visitation, she has more latitude of where to take child. However, a court oversteps when it involves itself with religion. Thus, where the effect of a religious upbringing provision is to compel a parent to practice a religion, rather than directing parent to provide the child with a religious setting, the provision must be stricken.

Here, this restriction does not expressly require Wife to comply with the rules of Chasidic faith during periods of parental access. Still, Court found that the breadth of the clause in forbidding her to expose child to any activities which violate child’s faith goes too far.

The only way for Wife to ensure her compliance with the clause is to comply with all religious standards of child’s faith during visitation. Husband's testimony supports this conclusion and demonstrates that he expected Wife to act in accordance with child's faith.

Husband was especially concerned that child would be exposed to those living an LGBT lifestyle and testified that, if Wife started a relationship with or married a woman, he would ask that partner not be present during visitation as same-sex relationships are inconsistent with Chasidism. Such restrictions go beyond requiring a noncustodial parent to support and enable the child’s religious practices.

01/11/2023

One of my favorite questions as a professional, why should I choose you over anyone else?

a) I have no interest in self-promoting. Let's talk and if you have a good vibe about me, let's sign a retainer, if not, go to another one of the endless law firms on Long Island. It's not like comparing two food processors where I can say we provide more widgets or chop faster. I can provide the same list of answers everyone else does "no one cares more" "no one is more hard-working" "we are the most dedicated" "best track record" "we use technology to automate processes", you get the drift. Most answers will not be objective or easily proven, especially in family or transactional law where no one wins or loses.

b) You got me either through a referral or found me online. You made the trouble during the work day to take time out to commute and meet with me. Why don't you tell me what you're doing here?

If that's your question, I prefer you choose someone who will waste your time and their breath fabricating nonsense. Talk to the potential service provider, use some intuition, make your own determination or ask around. You can ask questions about someone's process or present a fact but asking someone for accolades is just, well, ridiculous.

01/11/2023

Ok, I have news for you, DoNotPay, many of my adversaries have intelligence that is artificial at best and sound like robots repeating the same nonsense arguments regardless of the facts. You are not innovators but rather recreating the wheel.

AI-creation will hear arguments and make responses in real-time for defendant in traffic ticket case.

01/10/2023

Shoot for the stars! It never hurts to ask! Put your best foot forward on the interview and figure it out later! Fake it, till you make it!

If you haven't heard the above, you probably have not spent much time on LinkedIn and certainly have not heard many speeches on interviewing or entrepreneurship. Usually good mantras, but there are exceptions to every rule.

In walks, shortstop Carlos Correa, ordinarily, with a team sports athlete, I would list the team for whom he plays. For the instant and last season, he is a Minnesota Twin, however, this by no means may be the end of this saga.

To put things in perspective, at 23, he won the World Series with the Houston Astros. If you ask historic baseball fans who are the five greatest hitters ever, most will mention two on the list are Ted Williams and Ty Cobb. Both men never donned a World Series ring. The greatest shortstop ever, according to many, Ernie Banks, also never got that ring.

Correa has also won awards as an outstanding fielder (including a Platinum Glove his last season, as an Astro, 2021), has two all-star appearances and just turned 28, not a bad resume. While in general a solid hitter, he is especially known for clutch hits, in moments where his team needs them most.

His background is so attractive that on Dec. 14, the Giants offered him more than 1/3 of a billion dollars to wear their uniform for 13 years. Six days later, he failed the physical and lost the agreement. The next day, the Mets made him the same offer minus $35 million, not too shabby.
Three days later, he hits the same snag with his new team.

Today, he signed with the team that signed his checks in 2022 for 6 years worth $200 million, pending a physical. Will history repeat itself? Only time will tell. However, his legacy will forever be tarnished.

If he had started negotiations with, hey, I've got a bummed leg, what's the best you can do for me? Someone would have paid him a lot of money for a long time, without the negative spin. Sometimes in business it pays to only solicit reasonable expectations and it almost always pays to be transparent.

01/10/2023

Every job has unique challenges. About a month after I decided to open my firm in close proximity to my home, I ran into an old friend who is now a dentist locally. He said, I saw your WhatsApp status, it looks like you are focusing on divorce locally? Big mistake! If there was any way for me to undo working here, I would.

People stop me in temple, open their kid's mouth and ask me a question. In the supermarket, want to reschedule their appointment, as opposed to calling the office. You just started, its not too late to switch gears. G-d knows what your questions will be.

His words certainly would have resonated with me, but this was not a shot in the dark. I gave this hours of thought, performed endless research and spoken to close to three digits of people. I wouldn't change my field for anything, it means too much to me. However, the DDS was on the ball to some extent.

The first sabbath following taking on my first client (who lived about 3 miles from me), I had an interesting visitor. You see, apparently, this man asked around and found out where I prayed. As we cannot use motor transportation on this day, he walked an hour, to meet me during my service of G-d. We had a discussion late Friday afternoon about his wife's 401(k) and he had a follow-up question. In my understanding of Jewish law, part of my observance of this sacred day is not discussing business matters. I told him that, he turned around and walked an hour home.

Last March, I got a call from a neighborhood person. In the interest of space and human decency, I will abridge, censor and paraphrase what follows. He asked if I knew that I was representing the face of evil and suggested I drop the case (turns out I was representing his brother's wife). He told me, he's aware that I'm single and will circulate exactly the kind of person, I am. and impede my ability to marry. In my insular community, everyone knows everyone and asks around prior to agreeing to meet a potential match. I asked this kind soul, if he was finished, he told me he was and I moved on.

So yes, I have had a bad experience or two, but it comes with the territory. Every job carries risks. If you're in finance, there might be AML concerns, if you're in construction, you or a coworker may get injured. Yes, there are degrees of danger, selling widgets online, is usually less frightening that being a member of the police force, but every line of work has its challenges. However, if you love what you do, these are all just hiccups and the more experience you gain, the more you know what to expect.

I am so grateful to have a line of work that I am excited to jump into when I arise in the morning, how much more can I ask for?

01/09/2023

I was sitting with my dad the Sunday before Thanksgiving, with kids running around in the background, I mentioned that my laptop had been a good soldier but after 2 years of loyal service, it was beyond evident that it was time to move on. I desperately needed something new.

My dad mentioned he saw a great pre-Black Friday deal. When I arrived home, he sent me the link and a few of the computers were attractive. I did a lot of research and determined that a certain model would be a PERFECT fit.

After a few days of using my legendary deal, the touchpad started glitching. I called customer support and they walked me through it. A week later, it started again. I was not in the mood to spend 45 minutes, I did not have, again, with a guy for whom English is his fourth language. I googled it and found a fix. Two weeks later, it started again. I then found forums with many people having the same issue. One cited an article saying 40% of this model while new, encountered a similar issue.

Having saved about $250 from what I thought I would have to spend, I invested another $15 into a wireless mouse from Target and the whole saga is over.

I found it to be a good reminder for me. Sometimes when I am frustrated, all I need to do is pivot a drop and the problem is solved.