Divorce/Dissolution of Marriage

Ending a marriage is never easy, and getting divorced doesn't have to be hard. There are many approaches to resolving divorces with unbundled legal help such as meditation, collaboration and uncontested divorce. Speak with your provider attorney about the approach best suited to your goals and legal needs.

Child Custody and Visitation

Following legal separation or divorce, the court designates which party will be the custodial parent - the parent with whom the child primarily resides. The non-custodial parent will have the child in his or her care for a specific period of time for visitation. It some cases, the court will order joint custody, where both parents have the children for an equal amount of time.

Your unbundled provider attorney explains for you what your child custody and visitation options are and helps you put together a game plan to identify the best parenting arrangement for your children. Once you approve the parenting plan, your attorney then will work with you in preparing a concise written argument for filing and presentation to the judge.

Child Support

In divorce and child custody cases, the court determines each parent's financial responsibility for the children involved based on each party's finances. Then the court establishes the amount of money to be paid by one party to the other with a schedule for those payments. Usually the parent earning the most money will pay the other parent to help equalize their financial contributions towards the needs of the children. Remember, although your family unit is changing both parents retain moral obligations to support their children financially.

Your provider attorney will give you an idea of the standard amounts for child support given your circumstances and together you can decide the best course of action to ensure that your child is receiving the lawful amount of child support necessary.

Adoption

In some cases, the court may determine that a biological parent is unsuitable to provide for the needs of the child, and will terminate parental rights. This can also occur should a parent voluntarily give up rights to the children. Adoption and foster care are processes by which new parents are assigned legal rights to take over parental responsibilities for caring for the needs of a child.

Legal Help with Resolving Your Family Law Issue

Nearly all Americans are faced with at least one family law issue at some point in their lives; many will be effected repeatedly. Because family law issues are uniquely personal and very often emotional in a way that other areas of law are not, the insight and guidance of a knowledgeable and compassionate family law attorney will be invaluable for helping you to eliminate unnecessary stress from the unknown.