Monica Getz
In Memoriam
1934 - 2025
It is with a heavy heart that we share the passing of our beloved mentor, friend and fellow advocate, Monica Getz, age 90, on January 5th 2025. She was born in Sweden in 1934 as Monica Silfverskiöld, studied law but came to the States to follow other paths.
After an unprecedented, 17-year divorce in the New York court system, from the famous jazz musician Stan Getz, Monica founded the National Coalition for Family Justice in 1988, as a way to help others and to change the system. The Coalition boasted a long list of members on their Advisory Board over the years, including Gloria Steinem and Lundy Bancroft.
For the past 36 years, Monica has been advocating and helping victims of the family court system after witnessing the destruction it had on her, and her five children’s, lives. She met often with New York Legislators, District Attorneys, fiercely fought for litigant rights in Albany and hosted Judicial Forums each year for the public to meet the family court judge candidates, as well as to educate the judges. Monica hosted and facilitated monthly support meetings in her home for the victims of the court, offering free legal support, right up until the day she died.
Our paths crossed 7 years ago and we feel so fortunate to have known Monica and to have had the opportunity to learn from her. Monica was a guiding light and inspiration for founding WeSpoke, which she fondly begged us to call it “We The People” instead of WeSpoke. We interviewed her many times, knowing that we had to capture and archive everything she knew to pass that torch of knowledge for years to come.
Monica held an unparalleled depth of insight into why the family court system is so dysfunctional and abusive. She always made the very compelling argument that addiction lies at the heart of it all – specifically the addiction to power. Over the past 3 decades, Monica uncovered the brotherhood and corruption in these courts (including being involved in a few undercover, sting operations), tirelessly advocated for cameras in both the court rooms and in judge’s chambers, and she was awarded many local and state recognition proclamations and awards for her work. In 1991, the Westchester County Board of Legislators proclaimed that June 27th 1991 be declared “Monica Getz Day.”
The Coalition also founded Kourageous Kids – a subgroup to help support and elevate the voices of the children impacted by the family court system.
As a pioneer in this space, Monica wasn’t afraid to speak up about the injustices that she witnessed. She attended the hearings of her members right up until a few months ago, as well as the funerals of the women and children who didn’t make it out of the system alive. She laid the groundwork for all of the second wave advocates today.
We will never truly know the extent of how many tens of thousands of lives Monica Getz touched. At WeSpoke, we will honor her legacy, and promise that her work will not be in vain.
Thank you Monica – we will miss you deeply. We have it from here – it’s now time for you to finally rest in peace after a lifetime of service to this movement.
With love today and always for your greatness.
The Getz Family will hold a memorial service for their mother in late Spring.
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WeSpoke is raising money for the Coalition for Family Justice to ensure that Monica's legacy and work will go on. The Coalition for Family Justice, Inc. is a registered 501(c)3.
Monica had many amazing ideas for changing legislation to protect the innocent in the greed-and-power motivated divorce industry. Our hope is to carry her name forward to realize her dream of returning justice and equality to these courts, whilst restoring domestic tranquility. Monica loved the Preamble to The Constitution and quoted it often.
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Thank you