To Hold but Not Have – an Introduction to Drafting Prenuptial Agreements

Joy S. Rosenthal, Esq. founded Rosenthal Law & Mediation in 2006 to help NYC families coping with transitions through divorce and elder mediation; and legal services including prenuptial agreements, collaborative divorce, adoption, and representation in custody and visitation disputes. She also serves as a Trustee, Guardian ad Litem and 17A Guardian in the New York City Surrogates’ Courts.

Before opening her own practice, Joy spent 10 years representing children, youth and parents in New York City’s Family Courts involved in custody, visitation, foster care and adoption cases, as well as in delinquency and PINS cases through her work with the Legal Aid Society’s Juvenile Rights Practice and as a fellow at NYU School of Law’s Family Defense Clinic.

Joy has extensive mediation, negotiation, trial and appellate experience. She has trained colleagues in cultural competence, bias awareness, domestic violence, elder mediation, and alternative dispute resolutions. She has given workshops and presentations for families, mediators, and attorneys.

Joy S. Rosenthal, Esq. graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, receiving a BA in Women’s Studies. She obtained her law degree from the City University of New York School of Law in 1996 and was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1997. She is the former president of the Family & Divorce Mediation Council of Greater New York, and served on its board from 2007-2014.

Karen has been actively involved in the litigation and negotiation of all types of family law cases, from divorces to custody matters and post-judgment litigation for 17 years; she is also a trained mediator and collaborative lawyer and is involved in the negotiation of prenuptial and postnuptial agreements.  

Prior to and during law school, Karen was a registered representative for a major financial company where she gained invaluable knowledge about the financial industry.  

Karen received her J.D., magna cum laude, from New York Law School, where she was an evening student and a Chief Notes and Comments Editor for the Journal of Human Rights. She received her B.S. in Psychology, With Distinction, from the Pennsylvania State University, and with Honors as a member of the University Scholar’s Program (now the Schreyer Honors College). 

Karen is a member of the New York City Bar Association, where she sits on the Matrimonial Law Committee and previously sat on the committee for Legal Education and Admission to the Bar. She is also a member of the New York State Bar Association where she sits on the Executive Committee of the Family Law Section and is co-chair of the Amicus Committee, the ABA Section of Family Law, where she is vice-chair of the Marital Property Committee and a member of the CLE committee, and the Women’s Bar Association.

Karen, her husband and their two sons are longtime residents of Hoboken, New Jersey.