Separation — The End of a Relationship — Divorce—- are all a kind of death

Resham Mantri is a person with family law experience who also has personal experience with divorce with children.

What We Believe/What we Do:

  • There is a way to honor the ending of a relationship which can create space for healing trauma, community-building, love, and centering children.

  • Loving relationships can look very different than the systems historically presented to us by patriarchal and nuclear family traditions.

  • In order to move forward, we can acknowledge harm only in safe environments. As a queer South Asian practitioner, we take our own care and safety seriously, which we hope contributes to the care and safety of the container in which our clients are held by us. We do this work from a Restorative Justice framework*.

  • As an attorney who has worked within the court system, I believe my clients (and their families) are best served financially and emotionally by working outside of it.

  • I believe in working together to create goals and within finite periods of time.

  • It may be time for a relationship to end, and also there may have been real moments of joy and love experienced within it. These things can be true at the same time. We hold all of these complexities with you.

  • Divorce is both an ending and a beginning.

I offer the following services to help you navigate transitioning out of your relationship:

  • Divorce Mediation with a Restorative Justice framework

  • End of Relationship Counseling with individuals and couples also following an RJ framework

  • Drafting legal documents that may be filed in NYC Matrimonial and Family Courts

  • Counseling sessions for separating individuals informed by the ideals of restorative justice practice* and deathwork

  • Counseling sessions always centering the health and well-being of children

  • Assistance in navigating child custody and visitation discussions, child support, spousal support, equitable distribution and any other issues related to family dynamics

  • Individual counseling/consulting on all things divorce/separation/break-up/family

  • Collaborative Process

Our Prices:

  • We offer 90-minute sessions for mediation at a rate of $300/hour. Pricing differ for individual counseling/consulting, please reach out.

  • We offer sliding scale prices when possible; please reach out to us about this.

  • Additional fees for drafting and filing legal documents may be discussed as needed.

* Restorative Justice is a set of principles and practices rooted in indigenous societies. Restorative justice can be applied both reactively in response to conflict and/or crime, and proactively to strengthen community by fostering communication and empathy. https://restorativejustice.nyc/what-is-restorative-justice

Resham passed both the New York and New Jersey state bar exams in 2006. She has worked for nonprofits and city agencies in housing justice and domestic violence. Her longest legal work was for the Legal Aid Society where she represented young people aged 0-21 in Brooklyn Family Court in abuse, neglect, and custody matters. Her personal experiences navigating and thinking about her own divorce as well as her death doula work informs her approach to assisting clients through this transition, always with love and justice being at the forefront. As a single co-parent of two and former lawyer for children, her work is rooted in respect for young people, who have been her best teachers in how to support them.