Results-Oriented Representation

More than 90% of family law cases are resolved through settlement. Our attorneys are capable of negotiating for our clients in all areas. But, in the event that a case can’t be settled outside of the courtroom, our clients can rest assured that we have the knowledge and skills of seasoned litigators plus the resources of our corporate, tax, trust and estates, real estate and bankruptcy departments.

In fact, our attorneys have argued:

• Reported cases before the Superior and Supreme Courts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and California.
• Federal court cases under the Hague Convention to deter parental kidnapping from the country of habitual residence.

A sampling of the many matters we have handled includes:

• Represented a successful entrepreneur in a high-value divorce following the sale of his business to a publicly traded company for more than $100 million, requiring resolution of complex valuation, tax, and estate planning issues across a diversified portfolio that included commercial real estate and mineral rights.
• Guided a business owner through the sale of his company and the accompanying divorce, negotiating deferred compensation, carried equity interests, and multiple promissory notes while managing the tax consequences of a multimillion-dollar transaction. 
• Handled a cross-border divorce and custody dispute for a pharmaceutical industry executive with ties to the United Kingdom, coordinating testimony from immigration attorneys, psychologists, and social workers to resolve a complex, internationally connected custody matter.
• Represented the spouse of a globally recognized technology founder in a multibillion-dollar divorce involving the unauthorized transfer of company stock, coordinating with counsel across multiple jurisdictions in an ongoing, high-profile international dispute.
• Represented a well-known musician in a divorce requiring the valuation of a substantial catalogue of intellectual property, illustrating the firm's ability to handle matters involving unique creative and royalty-generating assets.
• Defended a client with significant family wealth living abroad in an international appeal involving the enforceability of a premarital agreement and assets located across multiple countries, requiring coordination with foreign counsel on cross-border enforcement strategy.
• Litigated the enforceability of a decades-old premarital agreement against a backdrop of a client's declining health and capacity, using the likelihood of the agreement's validity to secure a favorable settlement.
• Negotiated and drafted a premarital agreement protecting more than $100 million in premarital assets for a client entering a new marriage, reflecting sophisticated planning for ultra-high-net-worth individuals.
• Litigated a scheme in which a spouse and his attorney induced a client to sign trust documents transferring the majority of the couple's wealth, leading to litigation over trust validity, equitable distribution, and related issues; assisted client in obtaining policy limit settlement in her case against the trust lawyer.
• Represented a client in a divorce between two elderly spouses in a second marriage, involving novel questions about the enforceability of mutual estate promises and an unequal division of assets sought as a result of said promises.
• Represented the spouse of a senior technology executive in a nine-figure divorce, uncovering approximately $70 million in concealed marital assets through relentless discovery efforts.
• Took over trial representation in a contentious divorce requiring dueling expert valuations of a professional practice and a custom residence, ultimately securing a substantial alimony award after a long trial that was affirmed on appeal.
• Represent a high-net-worth private equity executive and investor in a complex divorce requiring the identification, valuation, and equitable division of interests in multiple private equity funds, as well as an extensive portfolio of residential and commercial real estate holdings located both domestically and internationally.
• Represented the chief financial officer of a multinational publicly traded corporation in a high-stakes divorce involving the analysis and division of a highly complex executive compensation structure, including restricted stock units, performance stock units, and long-term incentive plans requiring sophisticated valuation methodologies.
• Represented the spouse of a retired multinational private equity fund founder in a complex international divorce, navigating the enforceability of a foreign post-nuptial agreement and securing an equitable division of substantial global financial holdings and real estate assets spanning multiple jurisdictions.
• Represented a client in a complex divorce involving the valuation of a medical practice with an unconventional ownership and payout structure, navigating novel legal questions about valuing a professional practice as a going concern. 
• Handled an appeal involving a religious arbitration framework for resolving a couple's parenting disputes, addressing intersecting questions of constitutional law, contract interpretation, and religious legal tradition.
• Secured the appointment of an independent guardian to protect a client's interests after a medical crisis affected his capacity during a contested divorce, ultimately achieving a majority share of the marital estate on the client's behalf.
• Represented a business owner through binding arbitration over the valuation of a chain of professional practices, coordinating forensic accountants and real estate appraisers to reach a resolution.
• Represented a founder of a trading firm in a two-decade marriage, resolving complex questions about whether post-separation investment gains in an actively managed fund should be shared with the other spouse.
• Successfully settled a landmark palimony case (Maeker v. Ross) that precluded palimony cases from being brought unless the agreement was in writing, even if the oral promise or relationship predated the palimony amendment to the statute of frauds.
• Settled a Pennsylvania Superior Court case (Karp v. Karp) regarding what constitutes reasonable levels of child support. The case had been appealed and argued before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
• Set a precedent in Pennsylvania when, in Mascaro, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court sustained Fox Rothschild’s position that its client should not have to prove expenses in order to justify support. This law remains in effect today.
• Obtained a New York Supreme Court decision that the plaintiff was entitled to divorce on the grounds of cruel and inhuman treatment and that post-trial changes in marital property value were to be treated as irrelevant.
• Successfully wrote the Petition for Certification that brought the issue of grandparent visitation before the New Jersey Supreme Court. In this case, the court decided that when parents refuse visitation, the statute was construed to require the grandparents to demonstrate that such visitation was “necessary to avoid harm to the child.”
• Counseled the mother in a New Jersey Supreme Court case that upheld a lower court’s decision that it was not in the child’s best interest to be moved out of the state by the father since it would adversely affect visitation rights.
• Successfully represented a prominent athlete in a California Supreme Court victory upholding the validity of a prenuptial agreement.
• Counseled a father in his successful petition under the Hague Convention to return his children from the United States to the Czech Republic, which was the children’s habitual residence, and proved that the mother had taken the children without the father’s consent.
• Served as trial counsel in Pascale, where the New Jersey Supreme Court defined child visitation rules as they affect child support and the role of the primary caregiver to minor children.
• Successfully obtained a Pennsylvania Superior court decision in an adoption and custody case in favor of the grandparents. The Superior Court upheld the lower court’s decision to dismiss the aunt and uncle’s petition for adoption on the grounds that notice of the adoption was not provided and adoption would relinquish the grandparents’ custody rights, limiting the child’s relationship with the grandparents.
• Represented a surrogate mother who sued her surrogate agency in the wrongful death case Huddleston v. ICA. The appellate court concluded that the agency must be held to the highest standard of care. As a result of this case, surrogacy agencies conducting business with Pennsylvania citizens must use a high standard or risk being liable for damages in a negligence or wrongful death action.
• Successfully represented a Hollywood movie director in a matter in which the Second District Court of Appeal found that "executive goodwill" does not exist as a matter of law.