To: New York Court of Appeals and Appellate Division Second Department
N.Y. Courts of Appeals: Tell NY Judges To Obey the Law and Stop Discriminating Against the Poo...
New York’s 2nd Dept Appellate Division just ruled that only the Poor who can’t afford lawyers have to follow the law in family court and the judges, magistrates and courts can ignore the law with impunity. This ruling reaches citizens farther than those just in New York. This is not Democracy -- this is Elitism or worse, some form of Fascism.
Why is this important?
The Laws and Rules the Judges and Courts are Supposed to Follow:
Family Court Act 436(e) - Findings of fact must be delivered with every support order
22 NYCRR 205.36 (a)- Findings of fact must be written, given to the parties at the time of entry and include specific items in a specific format.
22 NYCRR 205.36 (b)- if you don’t have a lawyer, courts must provide you pro se disclosures with information on how to object, the process and deadlines and tell you how to obtain court transcripts so you don't lose your right to appeal.
Laws Applied Harshly Against the People:
Family Court Act 436(e) - A party must object to a Support Magistrate Order within 35 days of the date it is mailed or that person loses not only the right to object to a judge but also the constitutional right to appeal.
Queens Family Court - Court, magistrates and judges have a pattern and practice of not following their own rules or the laws passed by the NY legislature especially when it comes to the poor and self-represented (pro se).
Second Department's Cowardly Decision: We will strictly apply the law against the poor and be loose with the courts and the judges. They are cowards because they deny it without opining on the issues so the effect is broad-reaching and harsh but no one knows it because family court briefs are sealed. They expect that no one will care because the self-represented and poor have no voice. Yet, over 70% of family court litigants are self-represented by some statistics. Sign this Petition so we can have a voice together. See #2013-01162.
I am a single father living in Puerto Rico with custody of one of my children and I couldn’t afford to keep paying a lawyer to fight three actions in NY. I was married and divorced in PR. I am a professor and I was not poor until NY got its screws in me. I ended up self-represented and I received the magistrate's orders without a notice of entry and with no file stamp, no date of mailing and no legible post mark. There were no findings of fact and no disclosures for the self-represented. When I called the QFC, they said they don't give information over the phone. Yet the date of mailing is kept in a hidden part of the record not ever provided to the self-represented. QFC signed receipt for my objections on 11/21, less than 30 days after I got the orders even though I had no idea what to object to without findings of fact.
QFC denied my objections as too late. The orders were dated 9/18 and QFC claims the orders were mailed on 10/10. NY's Second Department affirmed without opinion despite my appellate attorney's arguments about the clerk of court’s failure to provide me the pro se disclosures, findings of fact or a notice of entry. The magistrate never even prepared findings of fact in my case. Without any mention of this in the 2nd Dept opinion, no one with any power will ever know that the 2nd Dept actually nullified the law by deciding that the poor who cannot afford an attorney have no right to the very disclosures they need to have in order to meet the deadlines applied so harshly against them.
Family Court Act 436(e) - Findings of fact must be delivered with every support order
22 NYCRR 205.36 (a)- Findings of fact must be written, given to the parties at the time of entry and include specific items in a specific format.
22 NYCRR 205.36 (b)- if you don’t have a lawyer, courts must provide you pro se disclosures with information on how to object, the process and deadlines and tell you how to obtain court transcripts so you don't lose your right to appeal.
Laws Applied Harshly Against the People:
Family Court Act 436(e) - A party must object to a Support Magistrate Order within 35 days of the date it is mailed or that person loses not only the right to object to a judge but also the constitutional right to appeal.
Queens Family Court - Court, magistrates and judges have a pattern and practice of not following their own rules or the laws passed by the NY legislature especially when it comes to the poor and self-represented (pro se).
Second Department's Cowardly Decision: We will strictly apply the law against the poor and be loose with the courts and the judges. They are cowards because they deny it without opining on the issues so the effect is broad-reaching and harsh but no one knows it because family court briefs are sealed. They expect that no one will care because the self-represented and poor have no voice. Yet, over 70% of family court litigants are self-represented by some statistics. Sign this Petition so we can have a voice together. See #2013-01162.
I am a single father living in Puerto Rico with custody of one of my children and I couldn’t afford to keep paying a lawyer to fight three actions in NY. I was married and divorced in PR. I am a professor and I was not poor until NY got its screws in me. I ended up self-represented and I received the magistrate's orders without a notice of entry and with no file stamp, no date of mailing and no legible post mark. There were no findings of fact and no disclosures for the self-represented. When I called the QFC, they said they don't give information over the phone. Yet the date of mailing is kept in a hidden part of the record not ever provided to the self-represented. QFC signed receipt for my objections on 11/21, less than 30 days after I got the orders even though I had no idea what to object to without findings of fact.
QFC denied my objections as too late. The orders were dated 9/18 and QFC claims the orders were mailed on 10/10. NY's Second Department affirmed without opinion despite my appellate attorney's arguments about the clerk of court’s failure to provide me the pro se disclosures, findings of fact or a notice of entry. The magistrate never even prepared findings of fact in my case. Without any mention of this in the 2nd Dept opinion, no one with any power will ever know that the 2nd Dept actually nullified the law by deciding that the poor who cannot afford an attorney have no right to the very disclosures they need to have in order to meet the deadlines applied so harshly against them.