Long Island LGBTQ+ Family Lawyers Supporting Clients During Divorce, Custody Issues And Other Challenges

LGBTQ+ couples can encounter unique family law problems in addition to dealing with the same legal issues every married couple must resolve. This is especially true in the areas of child custody and property division, where couples may face unique challenges.

At Bryan L. Salamone & Associates, P.C., our Long Island law firm is exclusively dedicated to family law and divorce. We are committed to providing LGBTQ+ clients with the same high-quality service and aggressive representation we give every client while also recognizing and addressing the unique challenges they face.

We Understand LGBTQ+ Family Law Priorities

While same-sex couples have had the right to marry for over a decade throughout the United States, there are still some areas of the law where rights can be cloudy.

One of these areas is child custody. Depending on your family, you may need to consider:

• Nonbiological parental rights: Generally, only a child’s parents have a right to sue for custody. This can often create challenges if one spouse in a same-sex marriage is not the biological parent of a child and has not taken legal steps to adopt the child to establish parental rights.
• Stepparent adoption: In New York, a stepparent adoption allows a spouse who is not the child’s biological parent to become the child’s legal parent. This can be especially important for same-sex couples, because it helps ensure both spouses have equal, enforceable parental rights if the relationship ends or if the family later moves to another state.
• Assisted reproduction and donor issues: When children are conceived through donor sperm/eggs or other assisted reproduction, disputes can arise if agreements and parentage steps weren’t handled properly.
• Surrogacy issues: Intended parents typically rely on agreements and court orders to establish parentage. If the surrogacy arrangement doesn’t meet legal requirements, it can become difficult to enforce the order and can endanger parents’ rights.
• Name/gender-marker documentation issues: Transgender and nonbinary parents may encounter practical hurdles if court, school or medical records do not match current identity documents, which can complicate parenting-time logistics and legal filings.

Couples who were together for years without the legal protection of marriage may also face a more complex asset division process. If you lived with your partner for some time before marriage, it is important to have an attorney who can thoroughly assess the household’s assets to reach a fair outcome.

At Bryan L. Salamone & Associates, P.C., our team can help you address the issues specific to your family’s situation and protect your rights.

An Aggressive Long Island Law Firm Fully Committed To LGBTQ+ Families

If you decide to dissolve a same-sex marriage, you must resolve all the traditional issues: alimony, child custody, child support and property division. You are entitled to equal protection of all pertinent laws, but in practice that may be difficult to achieve. Courts are human institutions, and judges and lawyers are human beings who may have a complacent attitude toward your rights.

If you have decided to dissolve your same-sex marriage, you want your rights to be fully respected and fully enforced. For that to happen, you must make sure the family law attorney you choose is fully committed to protecting those rights. At Bryan L. Salamone & Associates, P.C., you get personalized attention from attorneys who genuinely care about the outcome of your case. Our divorce lawyers provide thorough, aggressive representation to all of our clients.

Let Our Committed Divorce Lawyers Manage Your LGBTQ+ Family Law Issue. Call Us Now.

At Bryan L. Salamone & Associates, P.C., we provide personalized legal advice and aggressive representation to families in a wide variety of situations. Contact us online or call us at 631-388-6009 to schedule a free initial consultation with one of our attorneys.