Milbank Attorney Melinda Creasman Honored for Pro Bono Work by Sanctuary for Families
NEW YORK, November 12, 2006 – Sanctuary for Families has honored Melinda Creasman, an attorney at the international law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP, for excellence in pro bono advocacy on behalf of an elderly woman whose husband denied her of financial support after 52 years of marriage. Ms. Creasman is an associate in Milbank’s Capital Markets practice group.
She was among 11 pro bono attorneys honored at the 4th Annual Sanctuary for Families Associates Committee (“SAC”) Benefit held in New York City on October 30, 2006. SAC recognized Ms. Creasman “[f]or her diligent and compassionate I representation of a 75-year old woman in a complex contested spousal support action against her husband of 52 years who has punitively denied her of financial support during her elder years.”
The case hinged on gaining the client “fair and reasonable support” from her husband based on factors such as the duration of the ongoing marriage, the client’s significant long-term contributions to the household and family income and the client’s comparatively disproportionate financial means to those of her husband. Her husband’s denial of financial support caused the client’s standard of living to decline to near poverty while her husband has enjoyed a comfortable retirement since 1979. The New York Family Court Act requires a married person possessed with sufficient means to provide “fair and reasonable support” to the other, but fails to provide guidance as to what constitutes “fair and reasonable support.” The ambiguity of the statue combined with the lack of direct case law precedent made this case particularly challenging. Moreover, the client’s preference to remain in the marriage due to religious, economic and other reasons caused the reviewing support magistrate to scrutinize the legal legitimacy of the claim as well as the client’s credibility.
Devoting enormous effort to the case, Ms Creasman conducted extensive discovery, led several settlement attempts, and argued the case at three Family Court proceedings before winning a temporary support order of $250 per month. Both parties subsequently appealed, with Ms. Creasman seeking to increase the amount of the order to $1,000 per month, make the order retroactive and secure reimbursement for the client’s out-of-pocket medical expenses. She also sought to require the client’s husband to pay the full amount of rent for the couple’s shared apartment as well as all joint healthcare premiums and prevent the husband from removing the client as primary beneficiary of his life insurance policies.
In September 2006, after a fiercely contested year-long trial, Ms. Creasman and her client achieved another victory when the support magistrate issued a permanent support order of $450 per month with retroactive support payments totaling $9,450, and requiring the husband to pay 100 percent of the client’s current and future un-reimbursed medical, dental and prescription expenses. The trial involved six Family Court appearances, comprehensive witness preparation, persistent discovery to combat unsubstantiated claims of hidden assets and numerous pre- and post-trial motions and memoranda.
Ms. Creasman recently submitted a partial appeal requesting an upward adjustment of the support amount as well as modification of certain procedural and substantive points omitted from the order that are necessary to make it optimally beneficial for the client. The support magistrate’s five page decision, which details numerous findings of fact in the client’s favor, is expected to provide a persuasive foundation for the appeals magistrate and serve as a useful precedent for subsequent cases involving similarly situated women. The final decision is expected next month.
In the meantime, Ms. Creasman commenced an enforcement proceeding to require the husband to comply with the order and remit two months of outstanding support payments. The outcome of the case has enabled the client to regain economic stability and reclaim her personal dignity by overcoming her husband’s attempts to control and punish her financially.
About Sanctuary for Families
Sanctuary for Families is the largest nonprofit in New York State dedicated exclusively to serving domestic violence victims and their children. Each year, Sanctuary helps thousands of victims and their children build independent, violence-free lives by offering a range of services to meet their complex needs. Sanctuary’s Associates Committee (SAC) is a group of young professionals who are committed to combating domestic violence and have joined together to support Sanctuary’s work. The annual SAC Benefit celebrates Sanctuary’s Center for Battered Women’s Legal Services and honors attorneys who have made a difference in the lives of domestic violence victims by providing outstanding pro bono legal advocacy and representation.
About Milbank
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP is a preeminent global law firm that for more than 140 years has provided innovative legal solutions in many of the world’s largest, most complex, “first-ever” corporate transactions and litigation. Our transactional expertise includes capital markets, corporate finance and transactions, project finance, acquisition finance, and other major fields of law practice. Milbank litigation teams resolve disputes involving mergers and acquisitions, proxy battles, financings and securities offerings, intellectual property, white collar crime, and corporate restructurings, among others. Our clients range from prominent multinational financial, industrial and commercial enterprises to governments, institutions and individuals. The Firm is headquartered in New York, with offices in Los Angeles, Washington, DC, London, Frankfurt, Munich, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and Beijing.