Brooklyn will be home to matrimonial mediation pilot program
Hon. Jeffrey Sunshine, the supervising judge of the Kings County Matrimonial Court would like to see more matrimonial cases solved out of court in mediation so he, in his role in the chief administrative judge’s Matrimonial Practice Advisory and Rules Committee, has developed a pilot program for Brooklyn designed to funnel people into mediation.
“My thought is that mediation should be an additional tool in our toolbox,” Sunshine said. “You have to be careful because, like domestic violence cases show, now all cases are appropriate for mediation. However, not every case needs to go to out. This gives people the opportunity to sit down to try to talk and resolve their case outside of the courtroom. It’s a different way to resolve cases that people should be open to.”
In New York state, matrimonial mediation is not common. Sunshine explained that they are rolling out the pilot program in Brooklyn, as well as Suffolk and Erie counties to make sure implementation goes smoothly before encouraging it statewide.
Brooklyn Boro
View MoreNew York City’s most populous borough, Brooklyn, is home to nearly 2.6 million residents. If Brooklyn were an independent city it would be the fourth largest city in the United States. While Brooklyn has become the epitome of ‘cool and hip’ in recent years, for those that were born here, raised families here and improved communities over the years, Brooklyn has never been ‘uncool’.