Family law
A family law attorney can help when you cannot reach an agreement or need to put one in writing so it is legally effective. We advise and represent clients on divorce, where children will live, parenting time, support, and the division of shared property.
How we help with family law matters
We provide legal advice and prepare court filings for clients seeking a divorce or resolving questions about where their children will live, child or spousal support, parenting time with minor children, and the division of property acquired during marriage or while living together unmarried. We also prepare court claims to establish or challenge paternity.
We draft prenuptial and postnuptial agreements for clients who want to define how their property will be owned and divided.
When you may need a family law attorney
You both agree to divorce
When both spouses agree, they can divorce by mutual consent. They still need a divorce settlement agreement covering support for minor children and each other, where the children will live, each parent’s role in raising them, and the division of shared property. If the spouses have minor children together, the agreement must be approved by a court.
Your spouse does not agree to divorce
Your spouse’s consent is not always required. A divorce may be granted on one spouse’s application or on the grounds of the other spouse’s fault, but the circumstances required by law must be proved in court.
You are already living separately
Parents can agree on where their child will live. If they disagree, the court decides, taking into account the child’s relationship with each parent, needs, living conditions, and views.
You are being prevented from seeing your child
If parents cannot agree on parenting time, the court sets a specific schedule covering days, hours, vacations, and holidays. Once the decision is legally binding, a bailiff can enforce it if it is not being followed.
Child support is not being paid
Child support may be awarded as monthly payments, a lump sum, or a transfer of property to the child. Unpaid support may also be recovered for a past period.
The property is registered in only one spouse’s name
Property acquired after marriage is presumed to be jointly owned, regardless of whose name appears on the register. When dividing it, the court considers how it was acquired and where the funds came from, not just the registration details.
What you should know
The division of shared property cannot be postponed indefinitely. Claims to divide marital property, other than real estate, are subject to a five-year limitation period starting when the spouses began living separately (Civil Code, Article 3.129). Property is not necessarily divided exactly in half. The spouses’ shares are presumed equal (Article 3.117), but the court may depart from that principle to account for minor children’s interests, a spouse’s health or financial circumstances, and other significant factors (Article 3.123).
The law does not set a fixed amount of child support. It must reflect the child’s needs and the parents’ financial circumstances and provide for the child’s development (Civil Code, Article 3.192). Documents showing income and expenses therefore matter more than informal discussions. Unpaid support can be recovered for no more than three years before the claim was filed (Article 3.200). An adult child who is still in education may be entitled to support until age 24 (Article 3.192¹).
Mandatory mediation applies before a contested family dispute can be brought to court. It does not apply to divorce by mutual consent, and the law provides an exception for domestic violence cases. A decision that a child will live with one parent does not remove the other parent’s rights: both parents retain equal rights and responsibilities toward their children (Civil Code, Article 3.156). A marital agreement must be notarized. It can be relied on against third parties only once it is entered in the Register of Marriage Contracts, unless those parties knew about it when they entered into the transaction (Article 3.103).