Can my child’s other parent refuse to allow me to leave with the child?

We get a lot of questions about what your child’s other parent can and can’t do as the situation moves towards a separation. I get it – it’s scary, it’s emotionally charged, and it can get ugly, really, really fast. There’s really nothing that pulls on our heartstrings quite as quickly and aggressively and viscerally...

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Spousal Support and Abuse

Abuse is, for me, always one of the harder subjects to discuss. It’s not that it makes the law complicated, or really that it changes what a person might be entitled to receive — but maybe that’s part of the problem for me, too. Abuse changes a person. After years and years of it, it...

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Protective Orders and Divorce

Domestic violence is often a big part of a divorce case. It’s sad (and really, really scary) but true. We see these types of cases all the time. When I first started practicing family law, I was surprised at how many cases there were that involved some kind of physical, emotional, or sexual abuse; maybe...

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Abandonment and Custody

A woman I met with the other day asked me a good question, “If he abandons us, will that hurt his chances for custody?” She went on to tell me that, thirty some odd years ago, when her mom got divorced, her attorney gave her that advice. Now, facing divorce herself and with a small...

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Domestic Violence and Divorce

Domestic violence and divorce go hand in hand in a lot of cases. At first, that was a surprise to me. I didn’t realize quite how dangerous so many women’s family situations were. Maybe that was naïve of me, but I really didn’t realize, until I got into the practice of law, how many women...

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How do I know if my divorce will go to court?

I spend a lot of time talking about how to get the best divorce. Most of the time, I have to say that the way to get the best divorce is to negotiate a signed separation agreement. There are a lot of reasons why you might like to do things this way. For one thing,...

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