Practice Areas
DIVORCE, LEGAL SEPARATION, & ANNULMENT:
- Divorce: Divorce is the final, legal ending of a marriage, by court order, which includes the resolution of the issues of custody, placement, child support, maintenance, and the division of assets and debts.
- Legal Separation: A legal separation is based on an allegation that the marriage is "broken," rather than "irretrievably broken," as in a divorce. The result is almost identical to a divorce, but the parties to a legal separation may not remarry after the judgment is entered without first converting the judgment to a divorce.
- Annulment: An annulment is a legal determination that a marriage was not valid. It is available only under extremely limited circumstances.
COLLABORATIVE DIVORCE: Collaborative divorce is a non-adversarial method of handling a divorce case. The parties and their respective attorneys promise in writing to exchange information freely, to work together toward solving all of the issues that need to be addressed, and not to ask the Court to resolve their disputes. Good faith, trust, and cooperation are integral parts of this process.
PATERNITY: Paternity actions relate to the children of parents who were not married to each other. Either the mother or father files a petition to establish that the father is the biological parent of the mother's child. DNA tests can be utilized to establish such biological relationship. If the father-child relationship is established, then the Court also will address related issues, such as custody, placement, and child support.
CUSTODY, PLACEMENT, & VISITATION:
- Custody: Having custody with respect to a child means having the right to participate in making the major decisions for the child, such as choice of school, religious upbringing, and health-care providers. In deciding whether one parent should have sole custody or whether the parties should have joint custody, many factors are considered by the Court. The bottom line is the concept of what would be in the "best interest" of the child.
- Placement: Placement is where a child resides. In many cases, one parent has primary placement and the other has a well-defined schedule of placement periods or a chance to have periods of placement at reasonable times and upon reasonable notice. In some cases, the parties have shared placement, which means that they each have the child for a substantial amount of time, perhaps even a 50%/50% split. As with custody determinations, the Court is directed to do what it believes to be in the best interest of the child.
- Visitation: Visitation primarily concerns the rights of grandparents to spend time with their grandchildren.
CHILD SUPPORT: Child support is the amount of money to be paid from one parent to another for the general financial support of children, usually excluding health-care expenses and certain other costs which are dealt with separately. The amount of child support is determined by the number of children, the allocation of placement, the earnings of one or both parents, and other factors.
HEALTH-CARE & VARIABLE EXPENSES: The responsibility for the health-care expenses of the children usually is split equally between the parents, and, in shared placement situations, both parents may be required to share in the responsibility for certain other expenses, such as school tuition and clothing.
MAINTENANCE (ALIMONY) (SPOUSAL SUPPORT): Maintenance is an amount paid by one spouse to support the other. Whether maintenance will be paid in a particular case depends upon a number of factors, including the length of the marriage and the earnings of the parties.
ASSET & DEBT DIVISION: As part of a divorce or legal separation, the parties' assets and debts are divided. The normal division is an equal one, but the parties can agree to a different allocation, or the Court can order a different one based upon a number of factors.
POST-DIVORCE, ENFORCEMENT, & MODIFICATION PROCEEDINGS: Sometimes issues arise after the divorce is done, leading the parties return to court to resolve them. Such post-judgment actions include proceedings to modify custody, placement, and child support, proceedings to enforce existing orders, and proceedings to punish a party for having failed to obey existing orders.
RESTRAINING ORDERS: In situations of domestic/family violence, restraining orders are used to get immediate protection for a family member, including a child. These initially take the form of temporary restraining orders that last for one to two weeks, followed by temporary injunctions that can be put into place for up to four years.
MARITAL PROPERTY (PRE-NUPTIAL AND POST-NUPTIAL) AGREEMENTS: Engaged or married couples can enter into formal agreements by which they spell out certain rights and responsibilities between themselves in ways legally different from what the normal rules would dictate. Such agreements may be enforced upon divorce or legal separation, provided they meet the appropriate standards.
MEDIATION: Mediation is a negotiation between the parties that is facilitated by a neutral person. The purpose of such a process is to promote compromise and settlement that resolves the case outside of the courtroom.
GUARDIAN AD LITEM (MINOR'S COUNSEL): If custody and/or placement disputes are not resolved by negotiation or mediation, then the Court appoints an attorney to represent the best interest of the child(ren) and to serve as a separate advocate in the further processing of the case to its conclusion by settlement or trial.
PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING: In some cases, professional experts may be appointed to assist the Court in sorting out problematic custody and/or placement issues by testing and analyzing the parents and the child(ren) and issuing an opinion on the situation.
APPEALS: In the event that one of the parties is dissatisfied with the result of a trial and believes that the Judge has committed error(s), then he/she may ask the Court of Appeals to review and correct what happened.