DIVORCE, CHILD CUSTODY & CHILD SUPPORT
Divorce and Custody issues can be the most difficult experiences of a person's life. The process can be emotionally stressful, financially taxing and physically draining. At The Salas Law Firm, we understand how difficult divorce can be and are committed to protecting our clients during these troublesome times. Whether your case is a straightforward, uncontested divorce or a battle over property or custody, we will protect you in each step of the process. We are a local law firm committed to helping you solve your family law matters efficiently and economically.If you’ve come to this page on our website, you’re either contemplating filing a divorce or you’ve recently been served with divorce paperwork and are need of guidance in the divorce process. The Salas Law Firm can guide you through the next six to twelve months of your life.
The firm will protect you through all steps of the divorce process including:
- The Initial Status Conference (usually held 30 days after the divorce is filed)
- Purpose
- Inform the judge about probable issues in the case.
- Potential issues include:
- Spousal maintenance,
- Parental responsibility/parenting time,
- Child support,
- Division of debt and
- Division of property.
- Allow the judge to give the parties deadlines and to schedule a Temporary Orders Hearing.
- Expect this court date to take approximately 15 minutes
- The Settlement Conference (after the Initial Status Conference but before the Temporary Orders hearing)
- Only needs to cover the Temporary Orders issues (i.e. who is going to pay the minimum monthly balance on credit cards while the divorce is pending)
- Opportunity for each party to inform the other party what they intend to ask for at the Temporary Orders Hearing and to make an attempt at finding any common ground.
- The Temporary Orders Hearing (Generally held 30 days after the Initial Status Conference)
- The hearing typically lasts one hour which means you will only get ½ hour to both present your case and to cross examine the other party.
- At the end of your Temporary Orders Hearing, the judge will issue orders about temporary spousal maintenance, temporary use of marital property, and temporary payment of marital debts, temporary parenting time and temporary child support.
- Mediation (held after Temporary Orders Hearing but before Final Orders Hearing)
- The purpose of Mediation is to try to arrive at a full or partial agreement for all of the Final Orders issues in your case.
- Anything you say in mediation cannot be used against you at the Final Orders Hearing, so you should feel free to try to find a solution that meets your needs without fear of having the other party come back at Final Orders.
- Final Orders Hearing
- If a full settlement is reached in Mediation, it may still be necessary to proceed to Final Orders just to place the agreement on the record but the hearing should not take long.
- A full or partial hearing will last at least a half day in court if not longer depending in the complexity of your case and whether it will be necessary to call any witnesses.
- At the conclusion of the Final Orders Hearing, the judge will enter Final orders. Certain of these orders cannot be changed in the future and certain of them remain modifiable under special circumstances.
- Taken individually, the judge will address:
- Spousal Maintenance. The judge will set an amount and a length of time. The amount of spousal maintenance may be modified down the road unless otherwise specified based on changes in incomes of the parties. The duration of spousal maintenance typically cannot unless the receiving party is remarried.
- Parental Responsibilities/Parenting Time. These orders are modifiable until the children are 18. Depending on the basis for modification and what sort of modification is sought, there may be a limit on how frequently the orders may be modified or a special burden of proof, but the orders are modifiable.
- Child Support. Any change in income or expenses which results in a 10% increase or decrease will allow for a change in a child support order.
- Division of Assets. Absent some showing of fraud within a limited period of time, these orders cannot be changed.
- Division of Debts. As with assets, these orders will remain unless there is some proof of fraud which would allow the court to reopen the issue.
