Customer Reviews

File for Divorce in New York

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This book is a total waste of money.
My partner and I labored a full 5 hours just trying to fill out some of the Forms following Ms. McWhorter's instructions.
The instructions are confusing, to say the least. In many instances they are also outdated our plainly incorrect.
We soon found ourselves on the NYCourts website for help.
We also found that some of the "Ready-to-Use Forms" are outdated and incomplete. Pages are missing. And, although you have to check items on form after form, the checkboxes are missing on most of the forms.

The next day I went to Court with the two initial forms filled out according to Ms. McWorther's instructions. A kind clerk in Help Room 116 asked me where I got those forms and where I got that book. He than gave me a FREE package with the correct Forms and Filing Instructions, which my partner and I were able to fill out within 3 hours. All of them.

Shame on Sphinx Publishing for re-printing this book, which was initially published in 1968. It was probably correct and helpful than.

My wife and I agree on this one: the book is useless for an "Uncontested Divorce" thanks to incomplete instructions, an incomplete form, wrong instructions and wrong forms. One example: the author says you have to attach a certain form to every other form you submit. If you do that, the County Clerk's Office will tell you that you need to fill out just one copy of that specific form and check on it all the forms you submit. You would not be able to do so on the form in the book because it's the wrong form. And so on. For those in the city: save your money, go directly to the County Clerk at 60 Centre Street and ask for a free package of forms and instructions.

As stated above, if you go to the pro se website or to any clerk's office, there is a packet of forms available for handling your own divorce. Many legal aid-type offices also run clinics, if they don't provide representation outright, to assist with the forms and procedures.

And just to clarify, the first edition of this book was 2003. It's the author that was issued in 1968.

While the forms are readily available, I still think this book is good for laying out the issues that need to be considered and explaining the various procedures that will be required. I'd always recommend consulting a lawyer and not going solely by one of these guides, but I think this one is useful in laying the foundation to understand the process and to work more collaboratively with your lawyer and spouse (if possible).