Parents who find themselves in family law disputes realize the devastating effects the entire process has on kids.
Lawyers know it, too. But most lawyers really, really like to make money. And it’s simple to make more money in family law: just increase the fighting and take as much as possible to court.
That’s why when parents visit most family law lawyers, they hear a diatribe of foreign-sounding options of what can and should be filed in court and how to position the other parent as the enemy. Rarely are the children the focus. Rarely are there honest discussions about the consequences to children of escalating the fighting, nor are there often real discussions of how much money all this fighting will cost.
This firm treasures peacemaking and has a heart for your children in each of the roles we take in family law: as a child advocate, a parenting coordinator/decision maker (PC/DM), a mediator, or as an attorney representing a parent.
When representing a parent, we continuously counsel our clients to choose the path that is right, that brings peace, that lessens conflict and holds what is left of your co-parenting relationship together. We prefer to earn less money but increase the likelihood that you will resolve your conflicts peacefully, either by mediation, your own settlement efforts, or sometimes even through reconciliation.
We will go to court and fight on issues when we have to, but it is not our first choice to have judges make decisions about your assets and your children that, frankly, you should be making yourselves. We know that court battles do not promote peace, and we want you to be able to co-parent for the long haul in a way that protects your children.
You are about to enter complex, foreign territory filled with legal scenarios that will impact how you will engage with your transformed family for many years. We will walk beside you through what feels like a dark and complicated landscape. We will listen to you, understand your situation inside and out, explain the law to you, and advocate vigorously for what is reasonably yours. We will keep your children and peace at the center of our focus. And we will help you — and your children — come through this as whole as possible.
We also serve as child advocates, working in an attorney role representing the best interests of your children, being appointed as a guardian ad litem, or fulfilling an investigative role and writing a report with recommendations. Each of these roles is court-appointed. Please click here to understand these roles better.
Finally we serve as parenting coordinators and decision makers (PCDMs) and offer mediation services all with an aim to help with peaceful outcomes that put children’s best interests first and preserve the co-parenting relationship whenever possible.