Sunshine emphasizes the need for greater awareness of child support laws under the Child Support Standards Act. He points out the significance of matrimonial mediation in improving outcomes for couples facing marital challenges. Furthermore, he highlights the challenges in being a matrimonial judge, particularly the shortage of assigned counsel and resources for children involved in custody cases. Sunshine suggests that encouraging more lawyers to participate in these cases could alleviate some of the burdens on the court system, ultimately improving access to justice.
"People need to understand that there is a Child Support Standards Act, the New York State law that sets guidelines for determining the amount of child support owed, and if you're going to deviate from that, as some do, you have to explain why, as the court has to approve the deviation in child support."
"That's why matrimonial mediation - a process where couples who are experiencing marital difficulties meet with a neutral mediator to attempt to resolve their issues and, if possible, prevent a divorce - is so important. People who mediate their disputes have far better outcomes overall."
"We don't have enough attorneys for children. We don't have resources for supervised visitation programs, so there are long wait lists for supervised visitors. Those are all issues that affect the operation of the court and access to justice."
"Sunshine noted that this can be remedied by encouraging more lawyers to join the panels."
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