At Modern Family Law, we go to great lengths to help our clients understand and navigate the divorce process. A better understanding leads to smarter choices. We guide client expectations and create a partnership between client and lawyer for the best outcome.
Our Calculators
We’re not fans of surprises and we suspect you aren’t either. We built these divorce calculators just for you, so you know what to expect every step of the way.
Having an experienced divorce attorney on your side can make a world of difference in how your divorce turns out; even more so if your situation is contentious or highly volatile.
In most states, a divorce case is started by filing a Petition for Dissolution. A Petition must be filed with the right court and served on the other party. The other party then gets an opportunity to file a response to the Petition.
In a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage, the person who is filing for divorce will state what issues may be involved in their particular case, including assets/debts, spousal support, child support, decision-making, parenting time/child custody, and attorney fees.
Most divorce courts in family law cases will set the case for an initial hearing where your case is reviewed by a court professional with the intention of expediting its handling. If the parties are unable to agree to an interim arrangement for payments of debts, marital support, child support, parenting time, and decision-making, the court professional may set the case for a temporary orders hearing.
The court may also require the parties to mediate their divorce prior to setting the case for either a temporary or a permanent orders hearing. Some states have a mandatory waiting period before a court has jurisdiction to enter a divorce decree. There is often no expedited divorce available during a waiting period.
At the end of the mandatory waiting period, a court can review any settlement agreement that was made between the parties and enter that as an order. In other cases, the court may hold an evidentiary hearing on the issues in your divorce case and enter permanent orders based on its finding of fact and conclusions of law. Either way, the court will issue a divorce decree formally ending the marriage.
The quickest way to ensure your complete and utter destruction in a divorce is to engage in unmanaged, unreasonable, conflict. It will break you financially, regardless of your resources, devastate you emotionally, consumes every waking moment, severely impact your relationship with your kids, trigger significant physical and mental health issues, and feed hate, anger, and spiraling anxiety. If the conflict is substantial enough, these effects may last for the rest of your life.
It’s hard to overstate the life-long impact a high-conflict divorce can have on a person. With thousands of cases moving through our office, some of which came to us for the second, or third round of battle, we have the perspective of seeing people after years and years of courtroom conflict. This hindsight view of unmanaged conflict and its lasting impact convince us to do whatever we can to manage conflict in every single case.
Most high-conflict cases are created early on in the life of the case. Someone says something they can never take back, or makes a false allegation out of fear and a case is quickly heading down a path of no return. Small mistakes, or misunderstandings at the start blossom into new fights and arguments. That’s why we work hard with our clients, from the beginning, to be sure we take those opportunities to avoid the path to a high-conflict case.
Divorce has many aspects and not every case is the same. Explore some of the other areas of Divorce. While you don’t need to understand every nuance of divorce, the more you do understand the easier the process will be.
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“Pleasure to work with this team. I recommend them to anyone wanting legal assistance. I can’t thank them enough for helping me thru a bump in my life.”
“My divorce was rather messy but I was so grateful to have had Karlee in my corner. She helped me at my lowest point making sure I was informed every step of the way. Most importantly I could communicate with her at any point in the process and she was there for me. Karlee I can never say thank you enough for helping me through on of the most difficult times in my life. Your a life saver for sure! If you are looking for a lawyer who will go the distance and then some she is your gal for sure!!”
“I appreciated their care with my case and considerations for my children. I don’t know how they compare to others, but they treated me well.”
“Karlee and Selena did a fantastic job helping me through a difficult divorce. They were professional, timely, knowledgeable, and compassionate towards my former spouse throughout the process. I am very thankful for their service and would recommend them to anyone!”
“Until I met Karlee, I had lost all hope. I went through three attorneys in a highly contentious custody case. My ex-husband’s attorney was not a family law attorney, making an incredibly sensitive and emotional situation more difficult to navigate. Karlee got the job done in an efficient manner while keeping costs on point. She listened to my frustrations and what I wanted to accomplish and she made it happen. If you need an attorney who is honest and has a thorough knowledge of not only family law, but other aspects and understanding, this is the firm to go with. They are not just empty promises. They make it happen!”
“I’m fortunate that I had a very amicable divorce so, when I had some questions concerning, laws, paperwork, etc., I turned to Modern Family Law and was connected with their attorney. She was patient, knowledgeable, thorough and supportive. Getting divorced is not fun and not understanding all the legal mumbo jumbo makes it just that much worse and she made sure to explain everything to me so I understood what was going on and she was always available when I had questions. Modern Family Law made a very difficult process so much easier and a little less painful. Thank you Modern Family Law!”
“My attorney is David Collins. Although I feel like everyone in this office cares about and works on my case. David has done nothing but incredible work. He supports me as a mother and fights for my rights nonstop. He cares about my opinion on all steps we take and always consults me before making moves. I’m very glad I hired him. Especially since all the work he does, to me, is worth way more than the super affordable prices I’m actually paying.”
“Louisa is a great attorney I would very much recommend her and the company! I’ve had a great experience so far and love working with her.”
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