What Do Family Law Attorneys Do?

Family law is the sector of law that handles all family and domestic matters. Family lawyers are responsible for advising clients on a broad variety of personal matters. The topics covered are often sensitive in nature for everyone involved. This type of lawyer will often assist husbands and wives, offspring, grandparents, legal guardians, and others. In most cases, family law attorneys assist in legal scenarios that arise between family members and spouses. Many of these situations are related to marriage, dissolution of marriage and children.

Separation and Divorce Procedures

Divorces are one of the most common legal processes handled by family lawyers. A divorce can have many long term legal, financial and person consequences. Each state has unique legal requirements that cover the different aspects of divorce. For example, some states require individuals to be legally separated before getting a divorce. Other states have no-fault divorce laws. All of this can be rather confusing for individuals, so they seek assistance from a family lawyer. Lawyers work on behalf of their clients to work out the details of divorce. Some details may include marital assets or alimony. If these matters cannot be settled outside of a courtroom, a family lawyer will represent a client during court proceedings.

Child Custody and Child Support

Child custody and child support arrangements are also handled by family law attorneys. It can be emotionally difficult for separated parents to work out agreements regarding their children. A family lawyer helps clients learn about the different types of custody and child support options. Joint custody and sole custody are the primary custody options. Clients are given information about the pros and cons of each type of custody agreement. This allows them to decide what type of custody to pursue. If a child custody case goes to court, a family lawyer represents a client in order to show that the client has the best interests of his or her child in mind. Lawyers will use different factors like parental stability and home environments to help build cases for their clients.

Additional Services of Family Law Attorneys

While divorce and child custody matters are the most common matters, there are many other sectors of family law. Family lawyers also help clients with a broad variety of other legal matters. Some of these legal matters include:

  • prenuptial agreements

  • paternity testing

  • adoption services

  • juvenile delinquency

In some cases, a lawyer will simply file paperwork on behalf of a client. In other situations, family law attorneys work to aggressively defend their clients in court. The assistance provided by a family lawyer like Nelson, McPherson Summers & Santos LC will vary depending on the needs of his or her clients.


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