What is a Lis Pendens and Why Do I Need One?

03 Thursday Apr 2014

Posted by Regina Wexler in Divorce, Regina M. Wexler

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Connecticut, Divorce, Lis Pendens, Real Estate Issues in Divorce, Real Property, Regina M. Wexler, Regina M. Wexler Esq., Regina Wexler

Clients often ask, “What the heck is a lis pendens and why do we have to do it?”

Lis pendens is a Latin term meaning “litigation pending.” It’s a notice filed on land records in a town where a party has an interest in real estate, after any type of lawsuit, including a divorce action, is served. The purpose of a lis pendens is to put the world on notice that an interest in a property may be subject to distribution by the court. It’s a form of attachment of real property. Continue reading →

Come to Court with Clean Hands

24 Monday Feb 2014

Posted by Regina Wexler in Divorce

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Animated Monkey, Clean Hands Doctrine, Connecticut, Divorce, Equitable Relief, Evidentiary Hearing, Keep Your Hands Clean, Motion for Contempt, Negative Behavior, Positive Behavior, Regina M. Wexler, The High Road

In law, there is a concept called the “clean hands” doctrine. It requires that, when seeking equitable relief from the court, one party cannot request help from the court if their own behavior in the matter has been negative.

Equitable relief is when a party asks the court to order another party to either do something, or prevent a party from doing something.

When people see that their spouse may or may not be following the judge’s rulings to the letter, it can be very frustrating, yet my advice is always the same: “Take the high road. No matter what, take the high road.” Whether the action complained of is worth bringing to the court’s attention via a Motion for Contempt or not, ultimately, having clean hands preserves your credibility in court.

Case Study: Continue reading →

Electronically Stored Information – The New “Smoking Gun”

17 Tuesday Dec 2013

Posted by Regina Wexler in Divorce, Regina M. Wexler

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Class D Felony, College, Communication, Destruction of Evidence, Divorce, Electronic Information, Electronically Stored Information, Employers, Evidence, Facebook, Password, Private Investigator, Regina M. Wexler, Right to Privacy, Shared Computer, Smoking Gun, Social Media, Social Networks, Unprotected Information, Wexler Family Law

The new ways in which we communicate in the 21st century have presented our society with a brand new set of challenges that affect all areas of our lives – especially our legal affairs. Where a private investigator may have once spent nights out in the street taking pictures, now the incriminating evidence is voluntarily shared across social networks.

Electronically Stored Information has become the new “smoking gun” of many divorces.

Case Study: A married couple decides on a divorce. Part of the wife’s argument for why she should have full custody of the children is her husband’s chronic drinking. He claims he has quit drinking. On Facebook, she comes across a picture one of his friends took showing him guzzling beer, dated recently. Additionally, Geo-tracking on the husband’s friend’s phone tagged the picture with his exact location, and it was somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be.

This picture may become evidence to be used in the divorce proceedings.

Continue reading →