• Schlissel Ostrow Karabatos, PLLC Matrimonial & Family Law

  • Schlissel, Ostrow, Karabatos

    Schlissel Ostrow Karabatos, PLLC (SOK) brings the highest degree of excellence, integrity and experience to the difficult and sensitive matters presented in the practice of matrimonial and family law. SOK provides a personal approach to the law, shaping each case to the client's needs. Innovation is the firm's hallmark. Although the firm's lawyers have years of trial experience, SOK also makes every effort to address client issues by the use of all methods of dispute resolution, including collaborative law, mediation and negotiation.

    SOK's combined years of experience places it in a unique position to deal with the complicated tax, accounting and business issues involved in analyzing and addressing the valuation of businesses, real estate, professional practices and other marital assets and holdings, as well as the complicated issues presented in a custody, parental access or support matter.

    The firm has the highest ethical rating and its lawyers have served on numerous ethics and judiciary committees. Their peers have recognized the firm's lawyers by:

    • Electing five (5) lawyers as Fellows of the prestigious American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML), the national membership of which is under 1,800.
    • Including three (3) lawyers in Super Lawyers.
    • Selecting two (2) lawyers as Diplomates of the American College of Family Trial Lawyers, whose membership is limited to 100 attorneys across America.
    • Choosing two (2) lawyers for inclusion in every one of the editions of the Best Lawyers in America.
    • Consistently requesting the firm's lawyers to lecture on issues of matrimonial and family law to both members of the judiciary and their colleagues at the Bar.

    The firm brings a team approach to client representation, cultivated by their many years of working together. SOK attorneys Schlissel and Karabatos have been working together since 1984, and three of the other attorneys have been with the firm since their graduation from law school.

    Innovation is the firm's hallmark. SOK established new law when, in the mid-1980s, it succeeded in stopping a parent from smoking in the presence of her children. It has also established new law with regard to, among others, the sanctity of property settlement agreements, challenges to routine psychological testing for custody evaluations and, assuring the rights of parties to effective legal representation.

    Recognizing the harmful effect of separation and divorce on children, SOK attorneys were founders and are now among the principal presenters in one of New York State's first parent education programs, designed to help parents better understand the separation and divorce process in order to deal with it better.

    At SOK, each attorney brings her or his own unique expertise, experience and style, culminating in a full-service firm equipped to handle any matrimonial or family law matter.