Frequently asked questions
The questions people actually ask the firm, answered plainly. These are general explanations of New York law, not advice about your case. If your situation is urgent, call rather than read.
Working with the firm
Nothing. The initial consultation is free and carries no obligation. Injury cases are handled on a contingency fee, meaning no fee unless there is a recovery. Criminal defense fees depend on the charge and what the case is likely to require, and they are discussed and agreed in writing before any representation begins.
Yes. What you tell a lawyer while seeking legal advice is protected, and that protection applies to the initial consultation whether or not you go on to retain the firm. It is not conditional on paying. The one caution is a practical one: do not send confidential details through a web form before a relationship exists. Call instead.
With James Toner. This is a small practice by design. The lawyer who takes your call is the lawyer who appears in court. There is no handoff to someone you have not met.
Yes. The phone is answered twenty-four hours a day and urgent calls are routed to the attorney. Office visits are by appointment during office hours, but the line itself does not close. If you are calling late, speak your phone number slowly and clearly so the callback reaches you.
If you have been arrested
Say nothing about the facts and ask for a lawyer. That request has to be honored. Do not explain, apologize or try to clear it up, because those conversations become evidence. Then call a defense lawyer before your arraignment, which after a warrantless arrest generally happens within twenty-four hours.
Nassau County has one countywide District Court, at 99 Main Street in Hempstead, which handles misdemeanors, violations and the opening stages of felony cases. If a grand jury indicts, a felony moves to Nassau County Court at 101 County Seat Drive in Mineola. Traffic and village matters go to the local town, village or city court.
It is better than being held, but it is not a dismissal. A DAT means you were arrested and released with a date to appear. The case is real, and a conviction carries the same record as one that started with a night in custody. The time before that first appearance is when a lawyer has the most room to work.
It can, and the immigration consequence is often worse than the sentence. Some pleas that look favorable in criminal court, including pleas to reduced charges, carry consequences up to removal. If you are not a citizen, that has to be analyzed before a plea is entered, not after. Say so at the first meeting.
Not automatically, but it is one of the most common ways a prosecution falls apart. A warrantless search is not automatically unlawful. If the stop had no lawful basis, or the search went beyond what the law allowed, the evidence it produced can be suppressed. That argument is made in motions after discovery.
Driving and DWI
Yes, but the word understates it. A first-offense DWI conviction carries a permanent criminal record, fines and surcharges, revocation of your license, a mandatory ignition interlock requirement generally lasting at least twelve months, and years of higher insurance costs. A New York DWI conviction is also not expungeable.
Because it is. The criminal prosecution runs in court and decides your record. If you refused the chemical test, the DMV separately opens an administrative proceeding to revoke your license, heard for Nassau County at 400 Oak Street in Garden City. It runs on its own timeline and can revoke your license even if the criminal charge is later reduced or dismissed.
Significantly. Commercial drivers face a lower blood alcohol threshold while operating a commercial vehicle, and disqualification rules that can apply even to conduct in a personal car. A first refusal generally produces a longer CDL disqualification than the ordinary period. A plea another driver would happily accept can end a commercial driving career, so say you hold a CDL immediately.
Usually yes, and it is more fixable than people assume. Driving on a suspended license in New York is an arrestable offense, not a ticket, and suspensions compound quickly across courts and the DMV. Even long-standing accumulations can often be worked through court by court. The alternative, driving anyway, adds new charges to the pile.
If you were injured
Not before speaking with a lawyer. You are not required to give the other side's insurer a recorded statement. Adjusters call early on purpose, while injuries are still developing. A casual "I'm okay, just sore" recorded in week one becomes the centerpiece of their argument in month eight.
It depends on the claim and on who the defendant is, and some deadlines are far shorter than people expect. Claims against a city, county, school district or public authority generally require a formal notice of claim within a very short window after the incident, well before the ordinary deadline to sue. Because missing it can end a strong case outright, have the dates checked rather than estimated.
Probably, though the rule depends on the type of case. In most New York injury claims, comparative fault reduces a recovery in proportion to your share of responsibility rather than barring it. Motor vehicle claims brought since a 2026 amendment are different: there, a claimant more at fault than the other side recovers nothing. Insurers routinely overstate a claimant's share, because most people assume any fault ends the claim.
Any lawyer who answers that at a first meeting is guessing. It depends on the severity and permanence of the injury, medical costs, lost earnings, the effect on your daily life, the available insurance coverage, and how liability is likely to be decided. Some of that is not knowable until treatment progresses, which is exactly why early offers tend to be low.
Family Court
At 101 County Seat Drive in Mineola. This changed recently: the Westbury courthouse on Old Country Road closed permanently and both pending and new Family Court matters moved to the Mineola complex in June 2025. Older directions online still send people to Westbury.
No. Only Supreme Court can grant a divorce or divide marital property. Family Court decides custody, visitation, child support, paternity, family offense petitions and child protective matters, and it can issue orders of protection.
Generally until the child turns twenty-one, not eighteen. That surprises people every year. Support can end earlier if the child is emancipated, for example through marriage, military service or full economic independence.
Enormously. They are separate proceedings that can run at the same time, and what you write or say in one can be used in the other. A custody affidavit explaining your side is a written statement in the criminal case. Two orders of protection can also contradict each other, so following one violates the other. Get advice before you file or sign anything.
Reviewed by James E. Toner, Esq.
Last reviewed August 2026
Attorney Advertising
Still have a question
These are general answers. Yours will depend on facts no webpage knows. The consultation is free.
(516) 294-1133
Toner Law Firm
100 Garden City Plaza, Suite 400
Garden City, New York 11530
Attorney Advertising. Nothing on this page is legal advice, and contacting the firm does not create an attorney-client relationship. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
