Legal Articles   

When married partners break up, usually at least two things happen right away. First, emotions are strained as there are few things more stressful than divorce. Second, the lives of the parties and their children completely change. This combination can be quite a challenge, and in order to make things clearer, your Tacoma divorce lawyer will often seek the entry of temporary court orders. Such orders will address things like a residential schedule for the children and both parents, a temporary order of child support, and orders outlining property use and debt payment. Furthermore, your Tacoma divorce lawyer can draft orders that prevent the parties from draining bank accounts and canceling insurance policies until final orders can be entered.

Under Washington State family law, which governs cases in Tacoma, a party who is in fear of his or her safety can get what is called an Ex Parte emergency order of protection. This means that a temporary emergency order can be entered without the perpetrator—often referred to as “defendant” or “respondent”—being present. Tacoma divorce attorneys are quite familiar with this process, as emotions run high in family law actions, often too high.

Family law cases are difficult ordeals for all involved. The impending changes are permanent, far reaching, and very personal. The problem is that law, all law, can only address personal issues so far. The law is cold and reductionistic, and therefore your Tacoma divorce attorney often approaches cases in kind. Lawyers have to think about your case in terms of its legal ramifications and may sometimes miss the bigger picture.

Under Seattle family law—Washington State family law—there is a distinction between custody rights to children and a parent’s fundamental right to parent her children. To illustrate, in some cases a parent has no custody or visitation rights to a child, although his parental rights have not been terminated. Under these circumstances, custodial or visitation rights can be obtained, depending upon the circumstances.

Under Washington State family law, when parents divorce the court most often enters a parenting plan which provides for one parent as the primary custodial parent and reasonable visitation between the children and the other parent. Just what amounts to reasonable visitation depends upon the circumstances of each case. Courts generally prefer to order visitation as every other weekend, one or two evenings during the week, and half of all holidays, special occasions and school breaks.

One of the most important concerns in a divorce is how the marital property will be divided between the former spouses. Television tabloid programs are filled with stories of one spouse taking a celebrity spouse “to the cleaners”, meaning receiving an astronomical share of the celebrity’s wealth. While explaining such outcomes require legal speculation about the law of other jurisdictions, these stories do promote confusion and fear about divorce law and divorce attorneys.

Not all Seattle divorce attorneys are alike. Divorce attorneys differ in areas of specialty, years of experience, and style of litigation. Some lawyers only work with cases that involve little or no property distribution while others are familiar with dividing multi-million dollar estates. Some Seattle divorce attorneys have practiced in Seattle and King County for years, while others are fresh out of law school.

Divorce is not something to be taken lightly as its consequences can last for years after it is finalized. The emotional strain of dissolving one’s most intimate relationship can take a heavy toll, and divorcing parties are often encouraged to seek counseling to help cope. The effects of divorce may not manifest themselves immediately during the divorce process, but they may become more obvious later. These are the dangers that Seattle divorce attorneys have been warning their clients of for years.

Almost every parent facing divorce considers child custody as the most important issue. Many troubling questions arise: with whom will the children live, how much will they visit with the other parent, and if I am not the residential parent do I lose my parental rights? Bellevue family law cases, governed by Washington State family law, apply a standard of “best interests of the child” to determine custody. Absent a showing that one parent is unfit, the residential schedule for the children after divorce will be what is in the children’s best interest.

Global economies, communications technology, and greater cultural openness have led to an increase in marriages between spouses from different countries. Bellevue divorce lawyers increasingly find themselves researching several special issues which can arise when such couples divorce.