I am Chuck Messina. Father of 2, husband of 1, mediocre hockey player, and attorney extraordinaire!
I was a paramedic for about 8 years, obtained a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree, and then went to law school. It’s been one hell of a ride! Out of Law school, I went to work for Offermann, Cassano, Greco, Slisz & Adams, LLP. There I met Tom Cassano and Joan Adams, two of the finest matrimonial attorneys in Western New York.
Honestly, I had no interest in matrimonial and family law, I just kind of fell into it. I always figured I would wind up doing medical malpractice, or some such thing. But, I started down the road to matrimonials and haven’t looked back… Funny how life throws you a curve ball every now and then.
I have a wonderful wife, Rachel, who is supportive even in my more insane ideas, and two great kids, Allison and Emma.
Ice hockey is the only real sport I play. Every Sunday morning, like clockwork, it’s off for the Sunday morning skate. If you’re local and want in, let me know, I’ll give you the info!
I guess I’m a bit of a strange one for living in Buffalo, New York… I don’t follow football, or any other sport for that matter. Some of my friends tell me that is un-Buffalonian, but hey! I like chicken wings just as much as the next guy.
So, here I am, blogging away, for the first time. I have to wonder if anyone is ever going to read this far. If you have, kudos to you! Feel free to drop me an email, I’m always available to chat.
Chuck
#1 by David Z. on January 8, 2010 - 7:41 PM
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Chuck, as a fellow traveler, practicing Matrimonial and Family Law down here in NYC, I have to say that you have far braver man then I for blogging about this stuff. Apart possibly being sucked into telling war stories that could get one in trouble privilege-wise (after all, we have some of the best war stories around), I would just be too tempted to mouth off about some the less well liked characters in the hallowed halls of the matrimonial parts. And then, when those people inevitably read them, you will have the lovely experience of having to explain yourself, when a judge says something to the effect of “Counselor, where you talking about me in your blog the other day?”
So you have my respect for going doing something that I am simply not brave enough to do.
Rock on.
#2 by Charles Messina on January 8, 2010 - 9:04 PM
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Ha! It is tempting to occasionally tell war stories, considering there is little in law that can get more weird, more quickly than a hot divorce. Nevertheless, I have no real urge to explain my blogging to a Judge, or the greivance committee, so I stay away from that type of post. Thanks for the comment!
#3 by Kelly on July 2, 2010 - 8:01 PM
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Great blog with a sense of humor. Love it, and wish more people (i.e., lawyers) would be able to communicate this way.
If you don’t mind a quick question, can a family court judge order a parent to move their children from their new, current okay school district back to their old, below average school district (in which the other parent still lives)– let’s say for 12 years? The children have no special needs being addressed at the old district, but the old district offers “advanced” classes and the new doesn’t… though it’s a lesser district.\
Thanks for your time.
#4 by Charles Messina on July 3, 2010 - 10:11 AM
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Hi Kelly!
That’s a question that is very complex, though it sounds simple. The quick and dirty answer to “can a family court judge order a parent to move their children [from one school to another]?” is YES.
But it seems to me that your question is not really whether or not the judge has the authority to order it, but was it the correct thing to do. And the answer to that deeper question is the tough part. The answer is I have no idea if it was the correct thing to do under the circumstances.
A family court judge is charged with making rulings “in the best interests of the child” above all else. That means the judge does not care about one parent’s choice of schools versus the other parent’s choice of schools. There are many things to consider in such a decision, and many of the considerations go far beyond the rating of the school district.
A judge, making such a decision, will typically consider things like the child’s history with a given school; the grades attained by the child; the child’s aptitudes and special needs; the age of the child; possibly (if the child is older) whether the child wishes to change school or not; has there been some sort of manipulation by one parent or the other; was the school changed against the wishes of one of the parents to begin with; was there an agreement as to where the child would attend school; has the child’s residence moved requiring a change in school.
As you can see, the considerations are nearly limitless and will vary with the situation, but the answer is YES, a family court judge can order a person to change the child’s school (in the right circumstances).