Finding the right Seattle Family Law attorney is vital to the success of your case. Not only can getting the right Seattle Family Law lawyer can save you tens of thousands of dollars in the long run, but to getting your life back on track as well. The prime goal of McKinley Irvin is to provide legal guidance and representation so that our clients can reestablish themselves after their divorce. We can help you like we have helped many others get through the tough times that divorce can bring.

Undoubtedly divorce significantly affects the lives of children involved in the process. The Seattle Family Law divorce attorneys at McKinley Irvin offer you legal services that are sensitive to the emotional impact that dissolution has on families and children. McKinley Irvin Seattle family Law lawyers can help couples reach agreements on issues like custody, visitation, and child support. More importantly, we strive to ensure that the child gets close and continuing contact with both parties before and after the divorce is final, when appropriate. Moreover, McKinley Irvin Seattle Family Law attorneys do their best to ensure that the child will not come in contact with the frequent conflicts and confrontations between the parties in a divorce. McKinley Irvin Seattle Family Lawyers know that parents wish to prioritize their children’s well being over all other issues in a divorce proceeding. We recognize the attorney’s responsibility to protect this important value.

Just as you go to a cardiologist rather than to a general practitioner for undergoing heart surgery, you should go to a Seattle Family Law lawyer for a Seattle Family Law divorce. The McKinley Irvin lawyers have years of experience and insight into family law issues. Unlike a general legal practitioner, McKinley Irvin attorneys are experts who know more about the subtleties of Washington divorce cases than does the average attorney. The Seattle Family Law attorneys at McKinley Irvin are fully experienced with all issues endemic to family law cases.

This first step is to contact us and make an appointment. This initial consultation is less than formal and will help determine what legal avenues you face. Give us a call, email us, or fill out our online form. The next few months might be a little tough, but we’ll help you through your legal concerns. You’re in good hands with the lawyers at McKinley Irvin.

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A Grandparent may petition for Partial Custody and Visitation where an unmarried child has resided with his grandparents or great-grandparents for a period of 12 months or more and is subsequently removed from the home by his parents. The court will grant the petition if it finds that visitation rights would be in the “best interests of the child” and would not interfere with the parent-child relationship. The best interests of the child is the standard used in all custody cases in Pennsylvania. In it core form, the best interests of the child means what is best for the child’s physical, moral, intellectual and spiritual well being.

A Grandparent may petition for Full Physical and Legal Custody of a grandchild if it is in the best interest of the child to not be in the custody of either parent. In order to qualify for such type of custody, the Grandparent must (1) have genuine care and concern for the child; (2) have a relationship with the child which began with the consent of a parent of the child or pursuant to an order of court; and (3) who for 12 months or more has assumed the role and responsibilities of the child’s parent, providing for the physical, emotional and social needs of the child, or who assumes the responsibility for a child who has been determined to be a dependent child or who assumes or deems it necessary to assume responsibility for a child who is substantially at risk due to parental abuse, neglect, drug or alcohol abuse or mental illness.

In attempting to establish a Grandparent’s rights to either Partial or Full Custody, the Pennsylvania Courts will consider the following factors: (1) the amount of disruption extensive visitation would cause in the child’s life; (2) the suitability of the grandparents’ home (3) the emotional ties between the child and the grandparents; (4) the moral fitness of the grandparents; (5) the distance between the child’s home and the grandparents’ home; (6) the potential for the grandparents to undermine the parent’s general disciplining of the child as a result of visitation; (7) whether the grandparents are employed and the responsibilities associated with such employment; (8) the amount of hostility that exists between the parent and the grandparents; and (9) the willingness of the grandparents to accept the fundamental concept that the rearing of the child is the parent’s responsibility and is not to be interfered with by the grandparents.

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A divorce lawyer can answer questions you have about child custody arrangements and any other questions you have about typical child custody rulings where you live.

As any divorce lawyer will tell you, it’s important that you follow all divorce rulings and orders — whether it be for child support, alimony or something else – until your divorce is finalized.

While the relationship between the two parents has diminished, there must be a large commitment to encourage a positive relationship between the children and the opposite parent. Remember, kids will use their parents as role models and, later in life, whenever they face any problems with their own relationships, it’s common that they will act like the example set forth by their parents.

Divorce is a very difficult subject matter and may or may not be right for you. Some say that the loosening of family laws have been blamed for the surge in divorces, but studies have shown the ability to get out of an unhealthy relationship has allowed for a better balance in power resulting in a decrease in domestic violence. So, only you will know what the right thing to do is.

Despite all the jokes you hear, a divorce lawyer can provide you with sound legal advice and help you avoid costly mistakes if you determine your marriage must come to an end. Ultimately, your divorce lawyer’s job is to fight for you and your rights. So, take precaution and make sure that you’re comfortable with your divorce lawyer. If you need legal help and assistance concerning a divorce, please contact a divorce lawyer in your area now.

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There are two types of sole custody. Sole legal custody involves one parent having all decision-making authority for the child. Generally, this is the type of custody that may be generically referred to as sole custody. Sole physical custody means that the child will live with one parent with the other parent usually receiving visitation.

The presumption in many courts is joint legal custody where both parents participate in decision making on behalf of their child. This is due, in part, to research that shows the noncustodial parents who are able to parent their child are less likely to become absentee parents. Parents have joint physical custody if the child splits living time evenly between the two parent’s homes.

Before a court will grant sole custody, there needs to be evidence that the other parent is unfit. Usually the noncustodial parent is granted visitation, and there are requirements for the other parent to provide information on the child’s life such as education, medical and religious concerns. Unless the other parent does not want to remain involved with the child, it is quite hard to convince a court to not allow a parent to see his or her child, even if there has been documented abuse to the child. A parent who is found to be unfit may be granted supervised visitation and given a court order to attend a treatment program with the eventual goal of increasing visitation and parental participation if the parent complies with the court’s orders.

Sole custody is not a given in any situation. The judge is supposed to rule based on the best interests of the children. But, your definition of best interests and the court’s may vary widely.

There are some cases where a sole custody award would be possible. Sexual or physical abuse of a child could result in full custody being granted to the other parent. But, some parents make false accusations of abuse in order to gain custody. Knowing this, courts may require substantial evidence that abuse has occurred before awarding sole custody to the other parent. Unfortunately, there are cases where abuse accusations have been real, and judges awarded custody to the abusers because they thought that the accusing parent was malicious.

If your ex is serving a jail term, especially if it’s a long sentence, you may be able to win sole custody. Substance abuse or mental illness may also be viewed as just cause to grant custody to the other parent.

A history of physical abuse towards you can result in the court granting full custody to you. But, if the children were not adversely affected by the violence, the court may not see harm to you as cause to take legal custody from the other parent.

An absentee parent may give you an opportunity to get full custody, if the lacik of involvement isn’t due to a legitimate reason such as serving in the military. When the ex finds out that you are trying to take away custody, he or she may become involved again in order to keep this from happening. Courts generally won’t take away rights from a parent who wants to retain custody.

Consider what going for sole custody is going to cost you. Financially, the bills could easily run into the five-figure range. The stress of a prolonged court fight is extreme and could permanently damage your health. Your children may be put in the middle and used as pawns to spy on you and perpetuate the ex’s agenda. You may even be threatened or harmed physically by the ex or one of his or her friends. Kidnapping or other harm to the children beyond emotional abuse could take place.

Even if you share joint legal custody with your ex, you may be able to get some protection from a violent or vindicative ex. Decision making authority could be split be areas such as one parent being responsible for school decision and the other parent being in charge of medical concerns. There are professionals called parenting coordinators that serve as the go between so that warring parents don’t have to necessarily communicate with each other.

Think carefully before making a decision to file for sole custody. Unless you are in one of the situations described above where you have a good chance at winning full custody, the time and expense of a custody battle probably won’t be worth it to you.

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Before we continue with that discussion, I would like to explain exactly why I am sympathetic towards the rights of men. I am a sister to a very responsible, very sweet young man who has a very bright future. He occasionally has temper, but he is otherwise far too nice for his own good. I live in fear that this innate kindness and sense of responsibility would attract the wrong sort of people – the sort of people who will try to take advantage of him by, I don’t know, maybe trying to foist a child he did not father into his responsible arms. I’m sure that isn’t happening any time soon of course, as my brother is quite focused on his job (which is thankless and low-paying I must say; he deserves a better one) and working at a DNA laboratory, I’m sure he could prove that the baby isn’t his.

But I believe my point stands: there are men who can be taken advantage of too, and there aren’t enough laws that would protect them from it. And even if there WERE laws, we have been brainwashed into thinking that all men are scum and are more likely to accuse the men of doing something wrong even if it has been proven otherwise. I am not quite sure if I want to live in a world where one gender is favored over the other. Especially when there are so many good young men that I know who are not protected by the law simply by virtue of being men.

Another thing that I worry about is this: a stigma about men being verbally, economically, emotionally and physically abused by a woman is written off and laughed at by law enforcement officers. Laughed at! It’s as if men cannot be exploited at all when we all know that men are just as human as women, as just as susceptible to cruelty. Most men and boys who are abused emotionally are afraid to come forward, as opposed to women who (while frightened themselves) are publicly encouraged to step forward and tell their stories. It is incredibly sad how broken men are not given the same public encouragement. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that men and boys are being taught that they have no right whatsoever to be hurt, or express being in pain.

I have also noticed that when a couple gets divorced, it is more often than not the mother who is given full custody of the children – possibly under the assumption that the male half of the couple does not have the skills or tools to bring up his own children. Again, as a young woman who knows a lot of decent young men, this observation is quite alarming. I may not be contesting the idea that women are more prone to being victims of assault and other crimes against my gender, but I also get the sinking feeling that the laws have become lopsided in favor of protecting the women and not just protecting everyone.

I will become a mother someday, and the thought that this will not change by the time any son of mine grows up makes me feel anxious about the future. Something, I believe, must be done.

Elea Almazora currently works as a contributor to many information-based websites, writing about many subjects ranging from culture to sciences.

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