How Family Law Help Can Save Your Marriage
When legal matters impact your family, finding an experienced New York, NY family law attorney to represent them can be invaluable. A family lawyer in this city can assist with divorce, child custody and other related legal proceedings.
Family Law encompasses an expansive legal practice area ranging from public to private practice and encompasses topics from restraining orders to estate planning.
Divorce
Divorce is one of the primary reasons people seek family law assistance, with each state having different filing requirements, waiting periods and grounds for divorce proceedings. A knowledgeable family law attorney can help guide you through these often complicated proceedings.
When it comes to dividing marital property, courts take many factors into account, including time spent with each spouse and how much each earned in income. Furthermore, keeping a diary or journal of expenses and assets may allow your lawyer to use this evidence against one of you in court proceedings.
In terms of child custody arrangements, courts follow what’s in the best interests of the child as their guiding principle. Working with an experienced family law attorney will help you decide what arrangement would work best in your situation.
Child Custody
Custody decisions should always take the best interests of a child into consideration when making custody decisions. Courts will often evaluate factors like each parent’s history, relationships between both parents and how current living arrangements might impact on these children.
Evidence of abuse and neglect often plays a large part in determining custody decisions, but even false allegations should not necessarily result in them losing it unless the court concludes they were made with malice, were meant to manipulate another parent, or were harmful to the child. Physical disabilities or health issues might play a factor, provided they significantly impair your ability to care for a child. While marital fault usually does not factor heavily into custody cases, but will still be taken into consideration by the court.
Property Division
Once a marriage ends, couples must decide how their property should be divided. Family lawyers can offer valuable assistance during this process by reviewing financial documents and consulting with experts as needed, before reaching an equitable settlement for clients.
At the core of asset division is determining which are community and separate properties. To do this, property characterization takes place, which involves looking at when an asset was acquired and whether or not it was paid for with marital funds or separate funds. A law firm may provide advice on the best way to divide complex assets such as homes – selling and splitting up proceeds or arrange a buyout agreement could both work effectively – they can also assist with negotiating alimony payments as well as make claims against particular assets as needed.
Prenuptial/Postnuptial Agreements
Prenuptial agreements or postnuptial agreements allow couples to map out a financial road map that will guide them should their marriage or domestic partnership end. Such an agreement can serve as a protection of existing significant assets as well as clarify new ones acquired during marriage or domestic partnerships. Our Tucker family law attorneys are experienced at facilitating discussions, providing counsel, and drafting these contracts that serve our clients best interests.
Prenuptial agreements can include provisions for child support and whether future earnings should be considered marital property or separate. Any such agreement must be carefully crafted; hastily made agreements or attempts at one-size-fits-all approaches may have dire legal repercussions. Furthermore, prenups can be used to specify ownership of businesses as well as what debts should remain separate.
Adoption
As the focal point of family law, children’s wellbeing is of primary concern; and adoption is no exception. When contemplating adoption as an alternative solution for marital conflict or adoption as an option in its own right, consulting a qualified family law attorney is invaluable in making the process smoother.
Law students interested in discovering this multifaceted field can gather an abundance of information by visiting schools offering family law concentrations or programs, talking with professors or students involved, participating in clinics or externships offered by many schools to gain hands-on experience working with real clients, and attending clinics or externships offered through many schools – an excellent way of finding out if it might be suitable as a career choice!
