Family Law Practice
* Dissolution of Marriages and
Domestic Partnerships
* Parenting Plans
* Child Support Orders
* Property Settlements
* Domestic Violence
* Rights at Termination of Committed,
Long Term Relationships
* Maintenance
* Paternity
* Child Relocation
* Adoption
* More…
Each
family law case is, in some ways, different from any other. Whether you
are dissolving your marriage or domestic partnership, working out a
parenting plan, or arranging child support, your legal needs during
this challenging time of change in your private life will be unique in
some respects. Some cases call for aggressive representation. Others
require restrained diplomacy. Some cases can be quickly and
inexpensively resolved within a matter of months. Other cases must be
conducted through the complete legal process from beginning to end. In
some cases, the parties are able to take charge of fashioning their own
resolution. In others, the parties’ expectations are simply too far
apart for any conclusion to be reached without intervention or the
courts.
In
some ways, however, all family law cases have much in common. All will
be more satisfactorily resolved if handled by attorneys who listen, and
who keep their clients informed. Nearly all will have better outcomes
if the clients stay involved. All concern matters that are of great
importance to everyone who is touched by the proceedings.
Family
law is more than just divorce (or “dissolution”, as it is legally
termed). Family law also concerns the rights of children in the family
to have their needs given a high priority, and the needs of families to
have child support orders and parent plans adjusted when appropriate
under changing circumstances. Family law also addresses fair and
equitable resolution of property disputes. Family law also covers
questions of care of the children and division of property for
registered domestic partnerships that are dissolving as well as for
those who have been in a long term committed and intimate relationship,
even if never formalized in any way.
Where Family Law and Business Law Meet
If
your relationship (whether a marriage, a domestic partnership, or a
long term, committed and intimate relationship that was never
formalized) has included cooperation or investment in a shared business
enterprise, you may have property rights that are in addition to those
granted in family law statutes and case law. Under Washington
statutes and case law concerning partnerships, and concerning
registered entities such as corporations and limited liability
companies, both parties may have an ownership interest, independent of
community property rights, which cannot be taken from either of them
without just compensation. If you cannot, or do not plan, to continue
working together in the shared business, be sure your attorney is
properly prepared to present the law concerning ownership of a business
interest to the court.