Natalia Gourari

Natalia Gourari studied at the Moscow Institute of Foreign Relations Law School. After migrating to the United States she attended NYU and later entered the Cordozo Law School where she graduated with honors. In 2003 she opened her own firm specializing in matrimonial law.

She currently dedicates her energies to helping women navigate through the complicated maze of family and divorce law.

Collaborative Practice

Natalia Gourari, Esq., trained and experienced in Collaborative Practice.

While Collaborative Practice is one tool in the arsenal of lawyers practicing Family Law, it is not a perfect solution for everyone. There may be less expensive solutions where needed, and some couples are not good candidates for the process.

For more information about Collaborative Practice, please schedule an appointment with Natalia Gourari, to see if it is right for your situation.

List Of Services

• Complex Divorces
• Appeals from State and Family Court Decisions
• Objections to Family Court Orders
• Geographic relocation
• Child Support
• Spousal Support
• Child Kidnapping and Child Abduction
• Private Placement Adoptions
• Division of Property and Equitable Distribution
• Custody and Parenting Access
• Orders of Protection
• QDROs
• Divorce Agreements, Medication, Arbitration
• Divorce by Publication
• Prenuptial Agreement
• Wills, Trusts, and Estates
• Business Partnership disputes

Litigation

Much law involves the preparation of documents and providing legal advice, where the courts are not involved unless there is later a dispute regarding the documents or advice.

Litigation is the process by which matters are resolved through the courts.

Some attorneys never go to court, either because of their area of specialization or because they just don’t like the procedures, deadlines, uncertainty, or animosity. Therefore, it is important that in retaining an attorney, you inquire about that attorney’s litigation experience.

Almost all Family Law matters go through that process, ultimately ending in an order signed by a judge or a settlement agreement. Even where the parties are in agreement, the matters often have to go through the courts to be approved by Judges. Family Law (including divorce, custody, support, etc.) is a creation of statutes, and the courts are the place that resolve disputes.

What happens in courtrooms and appellate courts, however, should impact the advice they give and the documents they prepare. When you hire a lawyer to handle your family law matter, hoping for a quick, painless result and assuming the other party wants the same, you may overlook the fact that the case may ultimately end up in a court room, simply because you two don’t agree on important terms.

While it is important that you consider all means of resolving your dispute without court intervention, it is important to remember that you may need an experienced litigation attorney to finish the case. In addition, only through litigation does an attorney have the experience to tell you what judges do when faced with certain types of problems.

Each attorney on this site has several decades of court room experience, just in case the worst happens.

Practice Areas

Division of Property

• At the conclusion of almost any family law dispute, the court must issue an order setting out the parties’ rights and obligations. This may include orders deciding how property is owned, custody of children, and payment of support. It may also include restraining orders affecting property or a party to the dispute
• Be sure you understand the difference between joint and separate property.
• Separate property is the property of the party who acquired it - it is not usually divided. Separate property is usually something you had at the time of marriage, inheritances, gifts from outsiders and gifts of personal items by your spouse, or anything you earn after the spouses separate. To keep separate property "separate," it is important that title stay in the hands of the original party and that joint efforts were not used to improve, pay for, or repair separate property.
• The manner in which title has been held can also have a big impact on division, although it does not determine whether an asset is community or separate, without considering other factors. It does not matter which party earned the money to acquire the asset, so long as the earnings were the result of efforts during the marriage.
• Almost anything of value can be characterized and divided, such as life insurance, the value of a business, and tools.
• Personal jewelry and clothing generally go to the person who typically wore them.
• Most things are valued at their fair market value on the date of division, not replacement cost or purchase price. We rarely spend a lot of time or effort dividing furniture and furnishings, because they have little value by the time they are used, and in most cases the parties will divide them between themselves to avoid unnecessary cost.

Spousal Support

Spousal support is designed to assist a party in maintaining the marital standard of living or to get on his feet.

Temporary designed to maintain the status quo until the property is divided. Long term support is designed to last longer and takes into account many different factors.

The goal is that each party make reasonable efforts to become self-supporting. This is a very flexible standard, dependent on many factors, not the least of which is the opinion of the judge assigned to your case. In deciding whether a party has used those efforts, the court can consider evidence of his or her earning capacity, and order support accordingly. What income is available to the parties is an important factor as well.

Spousal support is a phrase for what many other states call "alimony." Changing names to “maintenance” has no effect.

Child Support

• Child support is governed by guidelines in virtually every state, as a result of Federal law. The formulas for guidelines differ from state to state
• The preparation of the financial documents on which support is based can be an artform. Without experience, it is difficult for anyone to advise you how income will be calculated. You should get competent advice.
• Adoption and Paternity Cases

Child Custody Visitation

One unfortunate aspect of Family Law practice is dealing with cases involving the custody of children.

In theory, the courts try to determine what is best for the children coming before them. "The best interest of the child" is a standard by which most child related matters are supposed to be measured. Litigants often make arguments couched in terms of the "best interest", but are really what is best for each litigant. Because the consequences of the decisions are so great, these are particularly difficult case.

Orders break down between legal custody and physical custody. Legal custody is the power to make major decisions for children [medical and schooling]. Physical custody is where the child lives. Either can be joint or shared, or sole custody. Sometimes the labels matter, often not.