FAMILY LAW
Divorce
Divorces are probably the most common aspect that most people think of for family law. This includes issues regarding property division, allocation of debts, spousal support (commonly known as “alimony”), parenting plans for children, child support, and restraining orders.
Legal Separation
A Legal Separation is essentially the same procedure as a divorce, except at the end of the process, the parties are still married – meaning neither party can get remarried. People may choose this option over a divorce for many reasons, including moral or religious reasons, hope for a possible reconciliation, or to possibly stay on their spouse’s health insurance plan. A legal separation may be converted to a divorce by either party after six months.
Committed Intimate Relationships
For couples that are together long enough and with the right conditions, they may be in a committed intimate relationship (CIR). When parties to a CIR break up, their property should be divided, and if they can’t agree on that process, then court action may be needed to resolve that.
Parenting Plan / Paternity Cases
Often parents are not married when they have children together and they need to address entering a parenting plan or, if paternity is disputed, obtaining genetic testing to determine paternity. Even parents may reach an informal agreement, it’s better to prepare and enter with the court a formal parenting plan early, rather than wait to start a case after major problems arise.
Modifications of Parenting Plan
A Parenting Plan may be modified if there is a substantial change in circumstances that warrants a change. This standard can be difficult to meet, so it can be a difficult case to modify a parenting plan, but when called for, it can be very important to protect the best interests of the children.
Modification of
Child Support
Child support may be modified when the parent’s incomes change and make the child support calculations change the amount of child support that is owed. This may be either an increase or a decrease in the child support, depending on the situation.
Relocation with a Child
Relocation cases come about when the primary residential parent wants to move with the child – this can be a move across town or across the country. The parent who is not moving can oppose the move, but the more common result may be to change the parenting plan to accommodate the move. This can be as simple as requiring the moving parent to do the extra driving based on the move for relatively short moves or may involve dramatically changing the parenting plan schedule to give the other parent more time with the children during summers and school breaks to make up for lost time during the other times when a longer move occurs.
Enforcing Court Orders
If one of the parties doesn’t follow the court’s orders, it may be necessary to take action to enforce the orders. This can include a contempt motion for failing to follow the terms of the parenting plan or otherwise not following the orders, collection actions to enforce the payment of child support or other financial obligations, or other actions to enforce the court’s orders.
Protection Orders
Protection Orders are court orders to keep the parties from potentially causing harm to each other. If such an order is sought it’s often helpful to have legal representation to assure that the paperwork for the hearing contains all relevant information and to have an attorney argue the facts at the hearing to help reduce the stress of that hearing.
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