DISPUTES INVOLVING CHILDREN:

What is more important to you than your children?

If you are ending your relationship with the other parent of your children, you need to hire an attorney right away. The job done by your attorney may affect the relationship with your children for the rest of their lives! Most child psychologists agree that a strong bond between a parent and child in the child’s early years will last long into the future. That means that if you lose your time with your child during the child’s early years, it may be difficult or impossible to develop that bond with the child when the child grows up.

Make sure you that your lawyer takes careful attention in ensuring that you have ample time with your children. Your lawyer should be able to provide a careful plan to ensure that your children spend time with you every week. Your lawyer should be able to analyze your work schedule, your children’s schooling, and all other needs and determine how you can maximize the time with your children. Your lawyer should be able to explain to the Court how you can care for your children and that you should have ample time with your children every week.

In some cases, one parent wants to move out of town and take the children. These requests are called “move-away” orders. The parent wanting to move out of town must make a request to the Court for the “move-away.” Your attorney must be able to explain to the Court that the best interests of children will be served if the children are in your care. The Court will normally side with the parent who will provide the best interest of the children.

DISPUTES INVOLVING COMMUNITY PROPERTY AND ALIMONY

When a couple split, the Court will make awards involving the community property and alimony.

Make sure you hire the correct attorney to examine the value of the community property and your ownership rights to the community property. Community property is never a simple analysis because “property” can be money, business assets, goodwill, intellectual property, and future business potential. Some examples of problems many attorneys face is the difficulty to notice valuable property hidden in goodwill, intellectual property and future business potential. A novice attorney may fail to obtain a good award for you if the attorney allows the opposing party to walk away with valuable community property that you own. This skill takes years to develop, and you need to make sure you hire an attorney who can make these determinations.