Nobody enters a marriage or loving relationship thinking about its ending, nevermind some sort of ugly battle over children, property, or support payments. But regardless of the set of statistics you consult, divorce and custody disputes affect the majority of Americans. You’re in good company - fear not. Now what do you do: hire a divorce lawyer. But a good divorce attorney, sadly, is in the minority of the profession.

Too often, people hire a divorce attorney based on a referral from a friend, the lawyer’s convenient office location, or worse, a well-placed advertisement. There is a right way and a wrong way to choose an attorney, and that choice can make all the difference. Everybody’s case is unique: the very specific facts, the relevant law, the nature of the opposition, and their attorney are all crucial features of a case.

Choosing the right attorney for your particular case is a momentous decision, not one to take lightly or fall into. Take your time, and do the research! Make sure your attorney has the top credentials, ethics, and value that you deserve, and most importantly learn how to properly decipher through the information to understand the true quality and rigor of the attorney you’re considering hiring.

Divorce LITIGATION

I offer intense and attentive legal representation in diverse Family Law matters: High-Conflict Marital Dissolution, Child Custody, Paternity disputes, Domestic Violence, Restraining Orders and related Criminal matters, Contempt of Court, Child Abduction, Parental Alienation, Mediation, Collaborative Divorce, Child Visitation, Spousal Support, and Community Property litigation. I am particularly adept at providing effective Collaborative Divorce and family law negotiations to create fair and cost-effective resolutions between couples and parents, as I am a certified Parenting Coordinator and Special Master who has a natural and honed ability to craft working agreements between high-conflict parents.

Divorce has huge impacts on a family: for the parents, the children, and the extended family members as well. I am mindful of the human cost in divorce and child custody litigation. I am entirely focused on minimizing discord between parents and finding peaceable resolutions that focus on everybody’s best interests as soon as possible. When representing clients who do not have children in divorce matters, I remain focused on fairness and the guidance that the law provides because ethics is a keystone of my work as a lawyer.

Collaborative Divorce

I offer Collaborative Divorce representation for parents who are capable and interested in amicably settling their Child Custody, Child Support, and Community Property issues with the potential assistance of a third-party neutral mediator, family law therapist, and accountant, if necessary. I offer legal mediation in the Collaborative Divorce process in which I would be hired by both parents to help them craft a Settlement Agreement in accordance with the law. I can help clients select high quality and affordable psychotherapists, such as Marriage and Family Therapists and Child Psychologists, as well as certified financial planners and certified professional accountants (CPA), to help inform the process of creating a workable Co-Parenting Plan and Settlement Agreement. Through my legal expertise and any necessary third-party professional guidance, the Collaborative Divorce process can help parents sift through the most tense Child Custody and Property Division issues thereby skipping much of the trials and tribulations of divorce court. Ultimately, this kind of reasonable solution benefits the divorcing couple and their families, not to mention it is significantly less costly and less time-consuming than divorce litigation.

women and divorce

I have represented in divorce matters women in various stages of life, be they women who find themselves in the wrong relationship and want a quick out, women with young children who are particularly concerned about child custody issues, or women who are setting out on fresh adventures and want to ensure that they are treated fairly in all financial matters in the divorce process. While there exist unique aspects to every divorce, when representing women there are certain common traits that require special attention.

Where women have faced husbands who have dominated financial decisions and kept them in the dark, where women have cowered for too long from partners who have abused them, or where women have put up with spouses with mental illness, addiction, or other emotional issues, such women require an attorney who can properly guide them out of such broken relationships with speed and safety.

The presence of domestic violence poses special concerns. To properly deal with such trauma, we sometimes need to involve police to pursue domestic violence crimes; high quality psychotherapists to help resolve the trauma of years of emotional, sexual, verbal, and physical abuse for women and their children; and expert witnesses to reveal the nature and extent of abuse based on the available evidence.

Other times, a husband’s financial manipulations must be untangled and neutralized. There are too many examples of husbands who hide personal or business assets from their wives, waste marital funds on mistresses or excessive hobbies, negligently incur debts that bring collectors to the door, or pressure wives into signing unfair pre-nuptial or post-nuptial agreements. In such cases, it’s key to involve forensic accountants, ensure the husband’s timely and complete filing of financial disclosures, and propound targeted Discovery requests to reveal to the Court the full picture of the husband’s financial wrongs. Through follow-up filings and Motions, including Sanctions requests when necessary, a wife who has been financially misused can finally stand up for her rights in Court and say “No More!”

When minor children are in the picture, it is imperative to ensure that they are safeguarded emotionally, physically, and financially. This may include sincere and thoughtful discussions about the benefits of shared custody versus sole custody, the impact of divorce on the children and how best to mitigate that reality, the role of extended family in the divorce process and in child-care, and of course the extent of child support payments.

In serving my clients who have already been through enough chaos and who come to me seeking haven and support in a very difficult life transition, I focus on providing detailed, compassionate, and transparent communications so that my client is with me every step of the process. Most of all, I provide intense legal protection, sincere negotiation efforts, and capably brutal litigation work to ensure that justice is served, regardless of how obtuse, irrational, slow, or belligerent the opposition may be!

Fathers’ rights divorce

While men receive preferential treatment in many areas of our society especially in political and corporate leadership roles, quite the contrary in Divorce and particularly Child Custody matters they are at a disadvantage. Fathers are awarded primary or joint custody of their minor children a minority of the time even in the most progressive jurisdictions where I practice law. Men also face a panoply of false abuse allegations in our divorce courts, often brought by women seeking to take negative advantage of sexist and racist stereotypes against men. This is even more the case with men of color and minorities.

Since the start of my private law practice, I have devoted substantial effort to helping men overcome these negative stereotypes, false accusations, and biases that pervade our society and our divorce courts. By offering aggressive legal representation at all stages of litigation, I squarely confront false allegations and bias, helping guide men and fathers through the entire Divorce and Child Custody process, including battling supervised visitation requests, picking highly qualified and unbiased therapeutic child custody evaluators, defending against unnecessary Restraining Order requests, and helping to create fair and nurturing equal Parenting Time arrangements that serve the well-being of all involved parties.

My Divorce practice is not a “Men’s Only” one, as I am dedicated to serving the interests of justice for all my clients with passionate regard to what makes their cases unique, and to the special challenges they face in our court system. While many Divorce lawyers may unfortunately bring their own biases into the practice of law for the benefit of a particular gender, socio-economic sector, or other special segment of society, in my experience I have perceived such methods of law practice to undermine the law and also the long-term benefits to their own clients, including of course the children involved in related Child Custody cases. That method of practice is abhorrent to me, as I am committed to providing an extremely ethical Divorce and Child Custody law practice.

LGBTQX DIVORCE

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer community deserve the best legal representation in crafting Domestic Partnership and Marvin-type agreements, which are similar to Prenuptial Agreements and Postnuptial Agreements. I am a unique Family Law Attorney who is mindful of the needs of the LGBTQx community and cater to them with intelligence, grace and creativity. I also offer legal representation for would-be parents in adoption cases, focusing especially on overcoming hurdles to adoption. In this capacity, I carefully consider the challenges that Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer parents face during the adoption process. I am devoted to fighting tenaciously for clients’ basic human rights to a family, sufficient quality time between each parent and their children, and the right to not be discriminated against based on one’s gender, sexual orientation, or lifestyle.

So when the tranquility of your private life and the sanctity of your sense of self is disturbed by a Family conflict, you will very much appreciate the compassionate and ethical legal counsel that I provide.

DIVORCE LITIGATION

COLLABORATIVE DIVORCE

PARENTING COORDINATOR

CHILD CUSTODY & VISITATION

KIDNAPPING & ABDUCTION

COMMUNITY PROPERTY