There are lots of ways that our all-too-human reactions to all-too-human situations can land us in hot water. Where custody and visitation is concerned, leaning in too heavily to our feelings and reactions to difficult situations can be a warning sign that there is significant danger ahead, especially if your case is litigated. Whether...
What is parental alienation?
Most people have a lot of questions about the divorce process – even if they understand the basics. After all, there’s a lot that is really fact specific, and it can be hard to apply a general principle to a specific situation. Even if you can sort of guess what the answer might be, you...
Cases where we know – or suspect – that there’s abuse happening are some of the worst for about a million different reasons. If you just take them at face value, there’s the obvious issue that we’re concerned that a child is suffering physical, emotional, or sexual abuse at the hands of their other parent....
Divorce is a trauma. It’s a trauma for you, and, in many cases, it’s a trauma for your children, too. But, then again, probably many of the events leading up to your divorce and/or custody case were pretty traumatic, too. It’s not like you just showed up at a divorce attorney’s office unscathed, and suddenly...
A few months ago, I followed the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard defamation case pretty closely. In a lot of ways, to me, it represents the core of what I do at work, and what I’ve come, personally, to care a lot about. In general, we don’t put much faith in the things that women say. You’d...
OCTOBER 26, 2020 BY KATIE CARTER Contested cases are hard on everyone involved. I work with women, so my perspective is often that of the wife and mother. I actually rarely see children. It’s really not appropriate; for me to do my job, I have to have conversations with my client that could be harmful for...
In many cases, it’s not necessary to use fault based grounds for divorce. After all, if you file on fault, you’ll have to litigate to prove to the judge that your grounds exist. Because, depending on the grounds, different civil and criminal penalties apply, you’ll have to meet a specific burden of proof, and that...
I actually got into family law as a result of two abusive relationships, so I understand the ways it can shape you, affect your thinking, and alter the future. The first was a run-of-the-mill abusive boyfriend. I didn’t think about his behavior in those terms at the time, of course; it actually took me several...