Finding a Family Law Attorney
If your marriage is breaking up, it’s only normal to feel sadness, anger, anxiety, even fear, or an emotional roller coaster that includes all of these. It’s hard enough just to get out of bed each morning and function adequately all day. You won’t have the energy and patience to deal with all the legal details involved and practical decisions that must be made.
You’re going to need a family law attorney who knows the laws governing annulment, separation and divorce as well as child support and visitation. You’ll want a family law attorney who understands the legal process, and has professional relationships with relevant court officers. You should have a family law attorney who is compassionate as well as smart and experienced. We offer all these characteristics in every family law attorney at Emblem Legal.
Some Facts about Family Law
Annulment
Each state has specific laws regarding annulment. North Carolina’s laws are somewhat restrictive, so a competent family law attorney will have to know them. There are only eight legal grounds for annulment in our state: bigamy, incest, impotency, being underage, incompetence or insanity, fraud, duress, and undue influence.
Separation
In North Carolina, an absolute divorce is usually granted after the married parties have lived apart for a year and a day with one of them having no intention of resuming the marriage. One party must have been a resident of North Carolina for at least six months. And, a family law attorney will advise that they must maintain separate residences for the duration and not resume sexual relations.
Divorce
An absolute divorce dissolves all marital ties between the spouses, declaring each to be legally single and eligible to remarry. North Carolina is a “no-fault” divorce state, meaning that the parties don’t have to prove a reason to justify dissolving the marriage. Your family law attorney can obtain an absolute divorce based only on previous physical separation or incurable insanity, but the later is very rare.
Custody and Support
The court determines which parent will have custody of any children from the marriage based on the court’s opinion of who will best advocate and sustain the wellbeing of the children. An experienced family law attorney knows that either parent can initiate custody proceedings, (as can a grandparent, a relative or any other parental adult who claims the parents are unfit). North Carolina uses the “Income Shares Model” to determine child support, which uses the income of both parents to calculate proportionate shares of the cost of raising a child.
Visitation
A family law attorney is extremely helpful in negotiations concerning visitation. In North Carolina, both parents are entitled to visitation with any children from the marriage. A judge may order that there be no visitation, or only supervised visitation, when a parent is suspected of physical, sexual, drug or child abuse.
If you’re dissolving a marriage, let us help you through this difficult time.
