Adult Sexual Abuse Claims

As awareness of sexual abuse and its lifelong damaging effects have spread, more and more adults are coming forward to tell how they were abused, either as children or adults. The New York family law attorneys at The Mandel Law Firm are committed to helping sexual abuse victims of all ages find justice for what’s happened to them. We make no assumptions about what happened to you and we do not judge.  We are here to help you and we fully employ our 40 years of experience with family law issues to do so.  We also know how delicate these kinds of cases can be, they require the utmost in trust and compassion on our part.

When you hire our dedicated and compassionate legal team to represent you, your problems become our problems, so you can let go of some of the stress you’ve been carrying. Get a risk-free, 100 percent confidential consultation today by calling our office or visiting our contact page.

The perpetrators of sexual abuse count on the trust between themselves and their victims. That trust makes it easier for them to manipulate their victims for their own gratification and to keep victims from reporting the abuse. Though it’s next to impossible to identify a sexual abuser simply based on their personal characteristics, some people who may commit abuse include:

Regardless of whether you were abused as a child or as an adult, you have rights if you’ve been sexually abused. Depending on when the abuse occurred and under what circumstances, you might have a criminal case against your abuser. By reporting what happened to law enforcement, they may file criminal charges against whoever abused you.

Unfortunately, the criminal justice system isn’t always an option for victims of sexual abuse. It may be difficult to find evidence outside of the victim’s testimony to help show that the abuse occurred, especially if the victim doesn’t report the abuse immediately. Furthermore, the statute of limitations on sexual abuse cases means that sometimes, even if there is evidence of abuse, too much time has passed for the perpetrator to be charged with a crime.

In cases where the perpetrator of sexual abuse is not charged with a crime, their victims can still find a measure of justice through the civil court system. A civil suit also allows victims of sexual abuse to hold larger institutions accountable if they aided or covered up the abuse, such as in the case of the Catholic Church or the Boy Scouts.

Even if the abuser is charged with a crime, it’s important to hold these institutions accountable for their appalling failure to protect those under their care, and a civil suit may be one of the few remedies available to victims.

Sexual abuse cases are difficult, time-consuming, and emotionally taxing for everyone involved. To give yourself the best chance of holding your abuser accountable for what they’ve done, you’ll want help from a family law attorney who understands the complexities involved in these cases.

An attorney can help you report what happened to the authorities, gather evidence to support your claim, guide you through the legal process, and help you hold those who abused you or covered up the abuse accountable for their actions.

It’s important to know that New York recently implemented legislation, through the Child Victims Act, which affects victims’ options for pursuing sexual abuse claims. Among these changes are extending the statute of limitations to when victims are 55 years old and creating a “look back” window for victims of abuse to file claims when they might have previously been barred from doing so.

The deadline on this “look back” window was originally supposed to be Aug. 14, 2020, but it’s been extended to Aug. 14, 2021, due to complications from the COVID-19 pandemic. If you were previously barred from filing a claim for sexual abuse, you now have an opportunity to hold your abuser accountable.

We know how difficult it can be to talk about being sexually abused and to revisit those painful memories. But if you’re ready to talk, the team at The Mandel Law Firm is ready to listen. Get a confidential consultation by calling our office in New York at (646) 770-3868, or you can visit our contact page.