Family Law

• Divorce
  An uncontested divorce will be finalized about eight to twelve weeks after all documents are submitted to the court. On the other end of the spectrum, a contested divorce, with or without custody issues, can easily take a year or more.
• Child Support
  Child support is determined by a formula into which is put each parent's income and child-related expenses. The absolute minimum per child is only $70 a month. The formula is rarely deviated from, and can be found at http://hawaii.gov/jud/childpp.htm.
• Child Custody and Visitation
  Custody cases are often the most difficult family law cases. Parents often do not realize that they are fighting over something besides the children, instead focusing all of their emotions about the divorce and the marriage before the divorce on what the children mean to them. In some cases, parents fight to get their children's voices heard regarding their new living arrangements. Children do not have a direct voice in Hawaii custody cases despite a law saying that a child's desires will be taken into account when the child reaches an age where she can reasonably express them, because Hawaii courts will almost always decline to talk to a child or let a child testify. We encourage child-centered mediation in cases where the parties can benefit from it. Sometimes it is necessary to go to court and other times the parties or the court decide to engage a child custody evaluator.
• Premarital Agreement
  We welcome problems of prenuptial agreement terms, hidden assets, business asset valuation, and tax, and also welcome you if you are simply looking for the highest quality legal services to protect and advance your interests in and out of court.
• Spousal Support
  For those who do not wish to enter into a civil union or marry but desire some structure and perhaps some of the protections that the law affords those who marry, cohabitation agreements address financial and personal affairs. Cohabitation agreements are governed by contract law rather than family law (although criminal acts between co-habitating partners are charged as family abuse and not as simple crimes, usually bringing higher penalties). These agreements can be contracts for almost everything, except children and custody. They can cover tax matters, property and income divisions, alimony, the duties each owes to the other, and more.
• Legal Separation
  Postnuptial agreements are sometimes a good alternative to a legal separation. When a couple is uncertain about whether they'll stay together but need some finality in financial matters, a postnuptial agreement can set out a blueprint for civility and certainty in the marriage and in any future divorce.

Criminal Law

• Murder
• Homicide
  Access to firearms yields a more than five-fold increase in risk of intimate partner homicide when considering other factors of abuse, according to a recent study, suggesting that abusers who possess guns tend to inflict the most severe abuse on their partners.
• Kidnapping
  ***This is a very basic outline of child support and custody. There are also issues between unmarried partners, of child support governed by Hawaii's Uniform Parentage Act, of separation agreements governing child support, Hawai'i's Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (Haw. Rev. Stat. Chapter 583), Parental Kidnapping Act of 1980, and more.

Business and Corporate Law

• Business Disputes
  We look for the best ways to resolve problems in contract disputes of all kinds, from disagreements over the meaning of a contract to failure to perform a contract, whether the contract involves debts, services, or goods. This may involve arbitration or mediation, negotiation, or litigation.

Employment Law

• Employment Litigation
  * We are not taking any employment cases. Please contact the Hawaii Bar Lawyer Referral Program if you need help finding an employment law attorney.
• Sexual Harassment
  Sexual harassment is all too common but can be difficult to prove. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 378-2 provides that in order to establish a hostile environment sexual harassment claim, the claimant must show that: (1) he or she was subjected to sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or other verbal or physical conduct or visual forms of harassment of sexual nature, (2) conduct was unwelcome, (3) conduct was severe or pervasive (4) conduct had purpose or effect of either (a) unreasonably interfering with claimant's work performance, or (b) creating intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment,(5) claimant actually perceived conduct as having such purpose or effect, and (6) claimant's perception was objectively reasonable to person of claimant's gender in same position as claimant. And even then, under the same statute, the employer can still avoid penalty by demonstrating that it took immediate and appropriate corrective action that was reasonably calculated to prevent future harassment.

Property Law

• Real Estate Litigation
  Real estate disputes center involve issues such as breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duties, misrepresentation, nondisclosure, fraud, negligence, deceptive trade practices, and tort.

Trusts and Estates

• Estate Planning
  Law Office of Alethea Rebman - divorce & custody, trusts & estate planning, will contests & estate litigation, tax disputes, and general litigation
• Wills
  Sometimes, however, there are serious questions about the making of the will or the validity of a certain will. Perhaps a later will was made but can't be found Perhaps the beneficiary of the will was named in circumstances that point to undue influence, or perhaps the will was made at a time when the person's mental condition had deteriorated. Or, a will has been properly admitted to probate but now the personal representative is not carrying out the testator's wishes or is doing things in a manner that damages the interests of the other beneficiaries. http://wills-probate.lawyers.com/wills-probate/Grounds-for-Will-Contests.html
• Trusts
  A living trust, also called a revocable trust, is created by trust documents governed by the laws of your state. It can be changed by you at any time during your life. Once your properties are transferred into the name of your trust, those properties do not have to be probated at your death. Probate is a court process that takes a minimum of six months and occurs even if you have a will.
• Power of Attorney

Finance Law

• Tax Law