The holidays are over, but it’s still the most wonderful time of the year – for divorce lawyers.
The first week of January through Valentine’s Day is traditionally the busiest time for matrimonial lawyers, and this year seems especially busy, top divorce attorneys told The Post.
” ‘Tis the season,” said famed divorce lawyer Raoul Felder, who said his schedule is so frenzied, he has meetings with new clients until 7:30 p.m. this week.
“I’m going to court now,” he said.
Lawyer Sue Moss said, “It’s like tax season for us.”
“It seems everyone’s New Year’s resolution is lose weight and lose the husband, and not in that order,” she said.
“December is dead, and then as soon as the ball drops, the phone starts ringing, and it doesn’t stop,” she said, estimating that 20 percent of her new business comes in January.
“This resolution thing is a godsend,” she said. “People want a fresh start and to make a radical change, and sometimes the spouse is the first to go.”
Resolutions aren’t the only reason for the surge in splits.
“You get your Christmas presents, your skiing holiday – and then it’s back to reality again,” Felder said.
Some would-be divorcées “lie in wait like a crouching tiger” to get their hands on those Christmas gifts – and to make sure they can collect on their spouse’s holiday bonuses, Felder said.
By making it through the end of the year with a former loved one, a spouse can claim his or her entire year-end bonus as joint marital property.
“Wall Street is way more lucrative than Santa, and you don’t have to be a good boy or girl,” Moss said.
Togetherness during the holidays is also a reason for some separations.
“The more time some families spend together, the more they realize they hate each other,” Moss said.
Lawyer Suzanne Bracker, whose business has received a 25 percent boost in the past week, said holiday time is also discovering-your-spouse-is-cheating time.
“Some people think a married person won’t see the other man or woman during the holidays, and that’s not true. If you have a spouse who’s cheating, they’re not around the family that much – they have more time to sneak away,” Bracker said.
“They’ll have sex with the spouse in the morning, sex with the lover in the afternoon and then go trolling on the Internet at night” – and their spouses have more time on their hands to figure out what’s going on by checking cellphone messages and e-mail accounts, Bracker said.
Moss said the divorce mania typically reaches its crescendo on Super Bowl Sunday. By Valentine’s Day, “Business is dead. Everyone is in love again.”