The Wild Side of Family Law

New York, NYFamily law is fraught with issues that are not for the faint of heart, and not easily resolved. Family attorneys are integral to a good resolution, and a qualified family law firm will have a broad cross section of skill sets amongst its professionals, so you are guided towards an amicable resolution, rather then led down the garden path.

And talk about complications! There was the fellow, long divorced from his wife, who was suing to recover his child support payments after it was revealed that the child he thought was his, wasn't. His wife, it turns out, had had an extra marital affair (which, it was reported, she couldn't even remember), a relationship that yielded a child, which was always assumed to be fathered by the woman's husband, not by the woman's lover.

Angered, the divorced husband who had supported the child throughout the years according to a divorce agreement, basically wanted his money back. He lost his case, given the judge's decree that since the husband was the only father the child had ever known, it was appropriate that he had supported the child, regardless of who actually fathered the child.

The latest case that has everybody talking is the man from New York State who is demanding his kidney back—or $1.5 million, whichever is easiest.

At issue is the visitation agreement previously hammered out when Dr. Richard Batista and his estranged wife Dawnell divorced. Mrs. Batista filed for the divorce, and soon reneged on a previously agreed-upon visitation arrangement with regard to the couple's three children, ranging in age from 14, to 8.

When his former wife attempted to block his visitation rights, Batista filed a countersuit in 2005. Most recently, however, the man updated the terms—$1.5 million, or the return of the kidney he had donated to his wife in 2001.

Either pay up, or send back the kidney, if you please.

Of course, medical ethicists know that Batista has little ground to stand on where the donated kidney is concerned. "It's illegal for an organ to be exchanged for anything of value," said Robert Veatch, a medical ethicist at Georgetown University's Kennedy Institute of Ethics in comments given to United Press International. "When you give something, you can't get it back."

A sensational case, indeed. What this illustrates is the complexity that accompanies any family court proceeding. And there are various legal precedents, and even some legal biases that can result in a disservice to a responsible, deserving parent, but will nonetheless have a bearing on the outcome of the case.

That's why it's imperative, when you have a case requiring family law that you seek out the family attorneys of a reputable family law firm that can best represent your unique case. Every case is unique after all, just as every family is unique. A qualified attorney can ensure that you stand the best chance of realizing a fair, and reasonable outcome that's best for everybody—and especially for the children.