Reviews

Used him for my divorce. He very smart. He got me primarily custody of my kids and I was able to keep my pension.

I initially hired a mediator for my divorce, when things took a turn for the worse I was referred to Ken Novenstern. Ken help me trough some of the most difficult unreasonable negotiations in and out of court. I have often referred to Ken as the big quiet man with the big stick, the stick of expert negotiating and knowledge in a court room. Ken and the rest of this outstanding legal team helped through the most difficult time in my life. I would highly recommend Ken for anyone seeking counsel for a divorce. Thank you Ken for all you have done for me.

It's a bad feeling when you can't even trust your own lawyer. It's worse when you feel misunderstood and unsupported. Ken didn't get it, and in one of my darkest hours, showed I couldn't depend on him. Many reviews here love Ken. This was certainly not my experience. Even considering a mutual acquaintance recommended him, I could not believe the shoddy/sloppy service I was offered. To be specific: early on, Ken forwarded an email to the opposing attorney, that had confidential communications between me and him; Ken routinely started our sessions late (a few minutes to 10 or more minutes.. he always apologized, and seemed very busy. Too busy to keep track of things, as he also regularly didn't have the proper paperwork in front of him, and wasn't adequately prepared for our conversations. - this despite my attempts to set agenda items beforehand At least a few times, he didn't forward key information/documents to me, that had been circulated to all parties, except me (namely: apartment appraisals, and the request for judicial information (RJI).. I learned about these developments in a surprise manner.. this is just unprofessional/too busy to attend to detail.) Finally, just about every meeting we had, he would take a phone call, or at least twice, someone came into the office to ask him a question unrelated to my case. This become normal. He always apologized, and it only took a minute, but I never liked it.) I addressed our communication issues twice with Ken. The second time I got a smirk from him, in response to communicating my genuine concerns. You're not going to take me seriously?! That's not going to fly with me. Not for $550/hour, are you kidding me!? From that moment on, I communicated to Ken that we should hold off on any communications with opposing attorney, to keep costs down, and to give me time to interview other attorneys. I didn't want him in my corner.. it didn't feel he was there anyway. Ken explicitly and brazenly, after that communication of mine to put a complete pause on all activities, in fact communicated with the lawyer. He thought he needed to, as it had "been some time". And I got charged for that communication! Unacceptable. Illegal? I don't know, about the latter. I appealed that charge, and it was removed from the bill, but the multitude of unconscionable, unprofessional, or sub-standard/sloppy acts and behaviors should be brought to others' attention. All this happened months ago (I still owe the firm $).. rarely have a felt more betrayed. (As a side note: I see Ken's response to the other negative review, outlaying detailed personal information about the reviewer, parts of which strike me as ethically questionable... let's see how Ken decides to treat this other negative review, and what that says about him, and what he's willing to say.)

Ken Novenstern expertly guided me through an extremely rough divorce and I regret nothing by choosing him and his team. I just wish I had found him sooner as I had to go through two other attorneys before stumbling upon him. Experienced, efficient, ethical. I would trust him with my life, as I already have.

I have worked with many family law attorneys in the past. Ken Noverstern is the absolute best. In one week, he came up with a recommendation, brought the parties together where others had failed and settled to the courts satisfaction a dispute that had been going on for three plus years. I cannot thank or recommend Ken and his firm enough.

I was seeking a modification to my collaborative divorce agreement, and after a failed attempt to come to an agreement through collaborative attorneys (no surprise there), my attorney recommended Ken to represent me. My ex lives in an alternative reality and her attorney was more than happy to promote her views as 'fact', but Ken was always even keeled, supportive and understanding, while also firm with me, directing me to keep my eye on the end goal and leave emotions behind (very difficult to do under the circumstances I was fighting.) I would highly recommend his services for anyone seeking counsel for a divorce.

Ken was recommended to me by a divorcée whose ex-husband he represented in a collaborative divorce. She felt that he had provided more constructive leadership, empathy and down to earth solutions than her own lawyer. My own experience working with Ken supports all of that. He is helped me navigate the entire divorce process and I am still consulting him at each fork of the road.

I needed to amend my separation agreement after 10-years of divorce. The person I used to mediate the divorce recommended Ken to me. He listened to my challenges and concerns. He offered me pragmatic, unemotional advice that was what I needed at that time. I would recommend Ken if you need an attorney who listens, and provides good advice.

This guy wuz a disaster from day one. He screwed up the warrant serving, never got me into court and when he did, allowed me to get trampled and never got me in front of a judge. When he finally sent over the divorce proposal, he asked for a bunch of religious holidays and stipulations I had never told him to put in. My ex wife wuz and still very much is a full-fledge high conflict covert narcissist. She flew off the handle, When I had amassed enuf physical evidence to expose the defendant, Mr Novenstern assured me and reassured me that I had absolutely nothing to worry about at a very big court day. He and his handpicked"attorney for kids" allowed myself and my children to get stampeded and trampled. He defended the defendant in every possible way and allowed me to get humiliated by making me agree to not drive my children around for 2 weeks based on complete obvious lies from the mother and absolutely not one shred of actual evidence to back that up. I had been driving flawlessly for sometimes 2-3 hours a day in order to try to maintain my ability and desire to be a parent to my children. I'm an idiot because that is where I should have fired him on the spot. How in the world could he allow that to happen is still the neverending question. He clearly wuz representing his own interests and I got nothing out of hiring this guy. Not one thing. He had charged me 20k up to that point and then tacked on another 45k to get me the worst divorce settlement you could ever imagine. Are you joking me? He even said it wuz terrible. Anything the defendant said, he told me to agree. Yet the only thing he seemed passionate about wuz making sure I didn't end up in a room with my ex-wifes lawyer. Why? She wiped the floor with him and me. She didn't even know for a second that she wuz defending a heartless, raging, blaming professional liar. This guy actually came highly. recommended. How? Could.not have been more displeased with the "services" of Mr. Novenstern. He s the guy you call if you want a table at Rao's or need the sheriff of a small podunk town to get somebody out of the lock up at 3 in the morning. Other than that, run for your life.......

My life experience is such that I don’t have any contact with the jurisprudence (or any other aspect of the legal “industry”) of New York state, with the exception of a real estate attorney I used a couple of times over 20 years. Come fall of 2019 I found myself in need of serious legal advice. This time it wasn’t real estate, but rather separation/divorce. Depressing stuff. Early October: Enter Ken Novenstern, whom I contacted over at Fredman,Baken&Novenstern. An initial consultation was set up at the Mt Kisco location, quickly. Without even having an official, legal, open case, Ken and his team were immediately supportive. I was advised by him, face to face, with clarity second to none. He explained to me the subsequent steps in the upcoming legal procedure in the simplest ways possible. It was magnificent help in an insurmountable task. For me (at the time) even mundane daily activities seemed to be an indecipherable puzzle with an ulterior motive on a biblical scale. So, having someone as knowledgeable and experienced as Ken stepping in to save the day was significant relief in an overwhelming situation. MOST IMPORTANTLY, however, every time the legal session was over, I received advice and guidance from him as a concerned human being. I found that to be the most respectable and healing thing. Simply acknowledging. Simply engaging and addressing emotion, once legal business was taken care of. Hats off. A toxic consequence of separation is that everything is emotionally/physically/financially draining, reality is foggy/painful and very few things make sense. Well, the epiphany I had, while I was driving back home after that first consultation, was that I realized THESE are the people I want on my side. I was about to embark on a disgusting, dreadful and undesired journey through destructive waters with powers of unknown magnitude; Ken, Liz and the rest of the team were the solution I needed through it all. For several months after that, every step of the way, their punctuality, patience and professionalism was absolutely irreproachable. My questions? Answered almost immediately. Last minute draft changes? Evaluated and processed promptly without batting an eyelash. Objectiveness? Unlimited. Defending my interests? To the “n”-th degree. Recommending outside resources as additional help? It’s as if it’s part of the contract. Evidently, the impetus of their success is the calibre of their work ethic and the extent of their knowledge derived from their experience. Hire them. I’m no authority in the matter, but I doubt you will regret hiring exceptionalism at its finest. Resolving one of the darkest times in your human condition.

Ken is a very polished and professional attorney. He builds a strategy and keeps everything in line and on time to execute that strategy. He is very calm despite the high emotions that can occur in a divorce. He was great at bringing my case to settlement and was very mindful of my budget constraints. Probably one of the few divorce attorneys that is not just trying to draw out a case to get more money.

Ken was easy to work with and incredibly helpful. He made the entire process as painless as possible.