Russell & Marinucci..............................................10

Meet Marla Marinucci, Esq., MBA

ACW: How has the pandemic affected your business? Are you seeing more conflicts among your clientele?

MM: Without a doubt, there has been more conflict and it continues to increase the longer this pandemic endures. After a few months of lockdown, everyone was coming out of the woodwork wanting to get divorced. It’s a lot easier to stay married when one or both of you have jobs, errands to run, places to go, etc. But when you are both home with your children with nowhere to go, arguments can happen more frequently. When the stimulus checks started to arrive, the conflict escalated tenfold as parents fought over who should get what, especially the portion earmarked for the children. Now that there are Help Wanted signs everywhere and businesses not opening due to staff shortages, the excuse that one party cannot find a job and therefore cannot pay support, doesn’t hold weight like it did last spring, and basically the rest of 2020. The most recent conflicts are parental disputes about whether or not to get the children vaccinated. Next week it will likely be something else.

ACW: What advice would you give to someone before getting married and “merging” financials?

MM: Two words: Prenuptial Agreement. Prenups are the most underutilized contracts. (Tip: Don’t wait until two weeks before the wedding to contact an attorney for a prenup. A minimum of six to eight months prior to the wedding date is recommended.)

ACW: How has remote learning and attitudes about Covid impacted your clientele?

MM: Remote learning has been quite a challenge for all parents, myself included. The problems I see the most are issues with the technology as it relates to logging on for class and the learning curve that goes with the technological aspects of it. Something we see quite often has been one or both parents’ inability to figure out how to upload assignments, resulting in the blame game and accusations of incompetence from the other parent. As far as high school-aged kids, remote learning resulted in plummeting grades; bad attitudes, and an overall lack of interest in all things school. Another unfortunate scenario is where one parent was initially fearful of the pandemic and insisted the children remain at home; but then change course suddenly because it benefits them (not the children) in a custody battle, that the children to return to in-person learning. It’s very unfortunate when parents put themselves and what they want before considering the best interests of their children. No doubt this pandemic has brought out peoples’ true colors.

ACW: What does a typical day in the life look like for you?

MM: Since Covid, there has been no such thing as “typical.” For the past year, most days have involved jeans, flip flops and sometimes a quasi-professional top if I had virtual court scheduled. It remains unknown if another shutdown is on the horizon, or if things will continue to open up, making it even more difficult to define my “typical” day. Otherwise, I generally work 4-5 days per week in the office and work out at least four days per week to maintain my sanity.

ACW: What are some secrets are to a “successful divorce?”

MM: Just as there are successful marriages, there is such a thing as a successful divorce. This takes both parties’ cooperation and most importantly, emotional intelligence. I think it’s important to realize that a divorce is the equivalent of loss: the loss of a marriage, and it can be extremely traumatizing. The impact can be minimized, and every attempt should be made by both parties to do so when there are children involved. Sadly, some people get so wrapped up in wanting to hurt their soon-to-be ex that they don’t realize the collateral damage inflicted upon their children by these behaviors. The more children see their parents get along, the less of an impact the divorce will have on them. I speak from personal experience.