Harrison, New York

Deborah Hope Wayne is a divorce attorney in Westchester County serving Harrison, New York, a hamlet of Purchase and West Harrison, a neighborhood just south of Purchase. Located just 30 minutes away from New York City, Harrison is a versatile community that brings together Purchase and West Harrison into a general figure-8 shape. The State University of New York Purchase and Manhattanville College are both located in the hamlet, and Fordham University has also opened a campus in West Harrison. Major companies like Pepsico and Atlas Air are incorporated in Purchase. The area itself is unique in that Harrison is considered the Downtown of the community, while Purchase is more secluded and wooded although extremely developed, and West Harrison is quite isolated and known more for its history and beauty.

Deborah Hope Wayne is a passionate attorney who has devoted her legal practice to the areas of collaborative law and mediation. With more than twenty years of practical experience, Ms. Wayne helps to resolve family and marital disputes effectively and peacefully through the collaborative process. Collaborative law is a form of dispute resolution in which the parties work outside of the courts in order to reach an optimal settlement that is acceptable to all parties. The process discourages hostility and an adversarial environment, and instead embraces communication and cooperation. In an area with many residential families as well as high-profile businesses, Ms. Wayne understands the balance that individuals make between career and family and works with each client to ensure that an optimal solution is made for every issue. Ms. Wayne understands the complexity and emotion involved in family law matters, whether it is a pre-nuptial agreement or child matter. In addition to her practice, Ms. Wayne maintains a website in which she writes on various family law topics with general information for individuals. These blogs can be accessed at www.familylawmatters-blog.com.

In Collaborative Practice, each party signs a participation agreement describing the nature and scope of the matter. Furthermore, each party agrees to make available to the other party access to information necessary to reach important decisions. Next, both parties voluntarily disclose all material and relevant information that must be decided. Following disclosure, each party consents to use good faith efforts in his or her negotiations to reach a mutually acceptable settlement. Trained professionals in the areas of finance and psychology may also take part in the collaborative process in order to help the parties reach an agreement.

Just as the Harrison area is rich with academia, Deborah Hope Wayne enjoys training and educating other professionals about Collaborative Practice and Mediation. She teaches collaborative law at Pace University School of Law in White Plains, New York, and has lectured on collaborative law and conflict resolution at various institutions including St. John’s University, Fordham Law School and the Institute for Senior Action.

To find out more about Deborah Hope Wayne or the collaborative law process, please contact her via email at Deborah@deborahwaynelaw.com or by phone at 914.365.1200. Information is also available at www.deborahwaynelaw.com.

Ms. Wayne’s office is conveniently located in Purchase, a hamlet of Harrison.