THE RISKS OF DIVORCE LITIGATION

Some cases are made troublesome by other counsel and some are made troublesome by the litigants. This case was sent to me from several matrimonial listservs and can be summed as as follows:

"This case highlights the difficulties that arise when one party uses their self-represented status as both a sword and a shield in an attempt to gain undue advantage and behaves in a manner that the court would never tolerate from an attorney. The manner in which the defendant presented his minimal evidence, fueled by his own emotional agenda, lacked direction, reason and oftentimes was totally devoid of probative value. As a result of the defendant's lack of clarity in his presentation of evidence and the rambling nature of his post trial memorandum, the court was required to order numerous days of trial testimony in an effort to search the record for any evidence supporting the defendant's amorphous positions, thereby delaying this decision."

See G.T. v A.T., 2014 NY Slip Op 24035, Decided on February 10, 2014 , Supreme Court, Suffolk County