Practice Areas

Adoptions

Domestic Agency Adoptions

Many families choose to work with a licensed adoption agency to pursue adoption. The agency qualifies adoptive parents, and provides education and support services to both adoptive and birth parents. The agency will then match birth parents with wait… Read More

Domestic Private Adoptions

Families in New York can pursue adoption by identifying birth parents on their own, without using an agency. The adoptive parents and birth parents locate each other, initiate communication, and come to the decision that they intend to make an adopti… Read More

Foster Care Adoptions

Adopting from the foster care system can be a wonderful way to build a family. State agencies have custody of children of all ages, and children are occasionally placed at birth. Adoptive parents apply for a foster care license, are screened, and rec… Read More

International Adoptions

The landscape of international adoption has been changing rapidly over the last several years. International adoptions are governed primarily by the laws and practices of the sending country – and those laws vary significantly country to country. Y… Read More

Step and Second Parent Adoptions

Second-parent Adoption A second-parent adoption permits an unmarried or married partner to adopt the child of his or her partner, without terminating the rights of the consenting parent. The need for a second-parent adoption can arise where only one… Read More

Assisted Reproduction

Donation Agreements

Many families rely on donated eggs, sperm, and embryos to get pregnant. Donors may be known to each other in advance of the donation, or may remain anonymous. Egg, sperm and embryo donation agreements are important for the protection of both donors a… Read More

Surrogacy

Surrogacy has been growing in popularity as a means for couples and single people, known as intended parents, to build their families. Gestational surrogacy (in which the woman who acts as the surrogate has no biological relationship to the child she… Read More

LGBT Families

The legal landscape for LGBT families has been changing so rapidly that couples and families need a lawyer to help them navigate this exciting, but still confusing, time. While some states, New York among them, are favorable to families headed by LGB… Read More

Estate Planning

A properly executed, comprehensive plan for the future helps you prepare for the unforeseen, preserve your assets, and protect your family. It can be difficult to think about these things, but good estate planning eases the burden on your family shou… Read More