Sandra C. Fava is a partner with Riker Danzig and heads the Firm’s Family Law Group. Sandra has devoted her entire career to representing clients in family law matters. She is sought out by clients because she is a diligent and thoughtful advocate, who provides creative and compassionate counsel. Sandra is solution oriented; she works with each client to identify their goals and develop a strategy that effectively and efficiently meets those goals.
Sandra focuses on matters involving complex and sophisticated family law issues. She often represents high net worth individuals, professionals, corporate executives, hedge fund managers, business owners, and the spouses of such individuals. Sandra represents clients in the negotiation of prenuptial agreements, separation and divorce proceedings, mediations and arbitrations, trials, post-judgment matters and appeals.
The divorce matters that Sandra handles often involve issues of alimony, custody and parenting time, child support and equitable distribution of assets, including family businesses, real estate holdings, professional practices and corporations, retirement accounts, vested and unvested stock options and family or inherited wealth.
Sandra’s representation of clients in post-judgment matters involves the enforcement of property or marital settlement agreements, modifications of child support and alimony due to change of circumstance, disputes involving college contribution, modification of custodial arrangements and appeals from unfavorable judgments of divorce and prior court rulings. She represents clients in the negotiation of prenuptial agreements to protect pre-marital assets, current and future income, family assets and/or future inheritances. Sandra also represents same-sex couples in matters involving complex and evolving areas of family law, including custody disputes between biological and non-biological parents, same-sex alimony, child support and distribution of assets.
Sandra is a Trustee of the Essex County Bar Association and also serves as Chair of its Family Law Committee. She is a member of the New Jersey Association for Justice’s Family Law Section Committee, as well as a panelist for the Essex and Morris County Matrimonial Early Settlement Panels. She is also a frequent speaker at various continuing legal education seminars. Sandra was appointed to the District XB Ethics Committee for West Morris and Sussex counties. Sandra firmly believes in pro bono service and devotes time as a volunteer attorney for Partners for Women and Justice and the National Council for Jewish Women.
Sandra has been included on the Super Lawyers “Rising Star” list published by Thomson Reuters every year since 2008. In 2014, Sandra was named a “New Leader of the Bar” by the New Jersey Law Journal, a distinction awarded to only 50 attorneys in the state. She is also distinguished as one of the “Ten Leaders” Ages 45 & Under for Divorce Law in New Jersey. Sandra was selected for inclusion in the National Association of Professional Women. See Awards and Honors Methodology.
No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.
Sandra received her J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law and a B.A. from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Following law school she was a law clerk to the Presiding Judge of the Family Part in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Morris County, the Honorable Stephan C. Hansbury. Prior to joining Riker Danzig, Sandra was a partner with Fox Rothschild LLP.
