Family Law

• Divorce
• Child Support
  Child support is each parent’s financial responsibility for raising a child.  The calculation of child support may require that a parent make monthly payments to the other parent as a contribution toward that expense. The need for child support payments usually arises when one parent’s income is substantially greater than the other, when parenting time differs substantially or when one parent pays expenses that both should be sharing, such as childcare, tuition, or medical/dental/vision insurance premiums.
• Child Custody and Visitation
  Suits for visitation rights may be filed when the parents have denied grandparents or third parties access to children to whom the grandparents are related or to whom the third parties have had a close bond.  The statutes have strict grounds for when a party may file such a petition.  Each is very fact-intensive and should be reviewed carefully with an experienced family law attorney.  Courts are required to give special consideration to the wishes of a parent if the parent appears to be acting in the best interest of the child when the courts make final determinations on visitation and/or legal decision-making.
• Adoption
  Step-parent adoption is governed by state law. Most states make the adoption process a little easier for stepparents, but requirements for home studies, criminal background checks, and procedures for obtaining consent of the noncustodial parent vary widely by state.
• Paternity
  In Arizona, a child born to an unmarried woman is presumed to have no father until a father is established by a finding of paternity.  In such cases, a man may come forward and accept the paternity of the child in what is called a “voluntary acknowledgment of paternity,” the mother or government can file a petition for a determination of paternity against a putative father, or paternity can be determined by the courts through estoppel over time.  Today, when paternity is in dispute or doubt, paternity testing may be used to conclusively resolve the issue.
• Premarital Agreement
  A prenuptial agreement is entered into before marriage and serves as a binding contract under Arizona statutes.  A prenuptial agreement sets forth what will happen to your assets and income in the unfortunate event of divorce, separation or death.
• Spousal Support
  There are several factors a judge considers when deciding whether to grant alimony. These differ from state to state, of course, but they usually involve things like the parties’ relative ability to earn money, both now and in the future; their respective age and health; the length of the marriage; the kind of property involved, and the conduct of the parties. In general, about the only time a judge will award alimony in most states is where one spouse has been economically dependent on the other spouse for most of their marriage.
• Legal Separation
  On August 21, 1998, Arizona incorporated a new type of marriage statute into state law called “covenant marriage.” Covenant marriage does not replace existing marriage arrangements or replace the traditional concept of marriage. Instead, it offers an additional option to couples who wish to marry. The covenant marriage differs both in the steps necessary to marry and the reasons why a legal separation or divorce may be granted by the court.
• Annulment
  In Arizona, a child born to a married woman during a marriage is presumed to be the child of her husband.  This presumption may be rebutted by evidence to the contrary, for example, in disputed child custody and child support cases during divorce, annulment or legal separation.

Criminal Law

• Restraining Order
  An order of protection, also sometimes referred to as a restraining order, is issued by the court to limit the behavior of someone who harms or threatens to harm another person.  It is used to address various types of safety issues, including, but not limited to situations involving domestic violence.

Employment Law

• Severance Agreement

Health Law

• Medical Malpractice
  Susan’s experience includes working as a judicial assistant to a judge in the Superior Court in Maricopa County, giving her an intimate knowledge of the workings of the court system.  Susan further honed her skills at a litigation firm in the highly complex and demanding area of medical malpractice, estate planning, and probate.

Trusts and Estates

• Estate Planning
  Jackson earned his law degree when he graduated Summa Cum Laude from Liberty University in Virginia.  Jackson passed the bar in 2010 and began practicing family law in 2011.  Jackson primarily handles family, civil, and estate planning cases.
• Probate