Tristan J. Werfelman

How Tristan Helps Clients

Tristan counsels clients who are traversing the often emotional and sometimes life-altering landscape of divorce. Tristan is experienced in both litigation to favorable conclusion as well as negotiation of settlements that are advantageous and practical for his clients as they begin their life post-marriage. Tristan also assists clients in the drafting, negotiation, and review of prenuptial agreements that aim to prevent the type of complex and unnecessarily protracted litigation that often pervades matrimonial cases, particularly following lengthy marriages with significant assets and multiple children.

What Clients Can Expect

Particularly for the sophisticated, business-oriented, high net worth clients Tristan represents, the process of litigating or negotiating a divorce settlement can feel arbitrary, abstract, and archaic compared to other areas of law. Clients can expect Tristan to bring transparency, preparedness, and a practical approach to each case, while putting forth every effort towards the best possible outcome.

Matrimonial cases are almost always multi-disciplinary, and Tristan brings a wholistic and anticipatory approach to cases; making sure to stay one or two steps ahead of the game, while preparing for every potential pitfall. In the complex area of divorce law, where a client’s personal life, assets, and children are often in play, risk assessment is even more vital to a successful outcome than other practice areas. Clients can expect Tristan to consistently assess and re-assess risks at every important stage of their case and convey the best and worst-case scenarios, so clients can make the most informed decisions possible about their future.

I pride myself on having a level of attention to detail and aggressiveness, combined with compassion and practicality that is not often seen in matrimonial representation.

Outside the Office

Tristan is an avid backcountry skier who enjoys big mountain skiing in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana, or anywhere else he can be outdoors and enjoy nature. He loves to keep active with his French bulldog, Pablo, and is a self-proclaimed “foodie” who loves wine, art, and culture. Tristan also loves to cook for his wife Rose and is always on the lookout for the next new healthy recipe.

Proof Points

• Won an emergency motion filed in the Appellate Division, Second Department, in 2019 to stay an order of commitment against a client who was ordered to pay over $300,000 in equitable distribution after trial for a phantom business asset. The underlying appeal from the trial decision was ultimately successful as well and his client recouped over $150,000 in equitable distribution he paid upfront after trial.
• Secured an interim order in 2021 appointing his client as a temporary receiver of a family business, where the parties were in the midst of a hotly-contested divorce and his client’s spouse had ejected over $1 million from the business only days after the divorce was commenced.
• In 2022, participated in oral argument of a motion in the New York County Supreme Court, defending against motion seeking pendente lite child support based on income in excess of the statutory cap, where his client and spouse each earned in excess of $500,000 per year and the spouse’s income was comprised partly of vested stock options. The Court adhered to Tristan’s argument that the stock options should be counted as recurring income and only ordered support up to the statutory cap.