So often when we tell people that Marler Law Partners practices family law, many of our friends and clients assume that just means divorce.
However, family Law covers many domestic issues relating to family outside of divorce. Below are some of the many ways Marler Law Partners can serve you in family law:
- Divorce
- Child Custody
- Domestic Violence / Orders of Protection
- Adoption / Step-Parent Adoption
- Legal Separation
- Child Support
- Child Visitation
- Establishing Paternity / Father’s Rights
- Annulments
- Same-Sex Divorce
- Motions to Modify
- Objection to Relocation
- Contempt Motions
- Family Access Motions
- Temporary Restraining Orders
- Pre-Nuptial Agreements
- Post-Nuptial Agreements
- 3rd-Party Custody
- Grandparents Rights
- Guardianship
- Property Division / Partition
- Adult Name Change
- Minor Child Name Change
While the list is fairly extensive, we can cover the primary reasons we see clients for family law, outside of divorce.
Adoption and Guardianship
Marler Law Partners can assist with one of the happiest moments of your life – the adoption of your child! Whether you are adopting as a stepparent, a LGBTQ couple, a foster parent or any other situation, you can trust us to help.
Similarly, we can help you obtain guardianship, which gives the legal authority to make decisions on another person’s behalf.
A “guardian” is the person appointed by the court to make decisions for someone else. This is often sought by family members (aunts/uncles or grandparents) when the parents of the child are hospitalized or otherwise unable to care for their children for a period of time, but they could retain custody at a later date.
However, guardianships can be applied to adults too. Sometimes, when an adult child is mentally incapacitated or not in the right mind to make decisions for themselves, parents or others may seek guardianship over an adult.
Additionally, you may see a child applying for guardianship over their parents due to dementia or other mentally aging diseases.
Alimony & Child Support
The attorneys of Marler Law Partners can help you when any issue arises with ongoing alimony (maintenance as it is referred to by courts in Missouri) or child support agreements. Alimony is payment made from one ex-spouse to another for financial support, decided upon by a judge or agreed to by the parties. Child support payments are necessary for many reasons, one of which can be to supplement the finances of one parent or equalize the finances of both parents to benefit the minor child.
If you or your ex-spouse’s financial situation changes, you may need to seek a modification to your alimony or child support order. Or, if you haven’t received payments, an attorney can help you with the enforcement or recoupment of payments.
Pre- And Post-Nuptial Agreements
It is more common today for people to get married later in life. What this looks like for the modern marriage is a smaller registry at the wedding, increased assets to merge and in some cases, keep divided.
Since both parties are entering into a union with assets, it’s increasingly more common for couples to get a pre-nuptial agreement so that the division of assets is less messy if a divorce were to occur.
Additionally, many millennials getting married now witnessed their parents go through divorce and probably want to safeguard against the worst.
Read here on the latest trends in pre- and post-nuptial agreements.
Family law is an extensive practice area that covers much more than just divorce. If you need help with a domestic relations issue, contact us today.
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