While offering joy, financial and emotional support, and other things, families can also present high-stress and -conflict scenarios, such as arguments concerning divorce, asset division, child custody, estate disputes, and money lending between family members, which can, unfortunately, lead to legal issues and family rifts. An experienced South Carolina family lawyer could help families overcome these situations while preserving relationships and safeguarding loved ones. Call (888) 747-KING today to arrange a consultation and find out how to amicably resolve family conflicts.
What Is Family Law?
Family law concerns a wide variety of legal issues involving familial relationships, covering areas such as divorce, child custody, and prenuptial agreements. Below is an overview of a family law attorney’s role in relation to these areas:
- Divorce: A family law attorney can help those considering or experiencing a divorce to navigate this legal process, including assisting with alimony determinations, property division, child support, and child custody.
- Child custody: Disputes regarding child custody can arise during divorce or, if the child’s parents choose not to marry, it can be a separate legal issue. Family law attorneys can help parents negotiate custodial arrangements and develop tailored parenting plans aligning with the family’s interests and the child’s well-being.
- Child support: Child support ensures children obtain the financial support of both parents following a relationship breakdown. Here, the lawyer can assist with calculating child support and enforcing court orders.
- Adoption: Family law attorneys can guide individuals through the adoption process, including providing an understanding of court proceedings, necessary filings, adoption agencies, and home studies.
- Prenuptial agreements: Another example of where a family law attorney can help is prenuptial agreements, defined by The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) as contracts signed prior to marriage establishing the handling of each spouse’s debts, spousal support, and assets during divorce or the death of a spouse. A family law attorney can assist with reviewing these agreements to check for enforceability and drafting new legally sound ones.
What Does a Family Lawyer Do?
Family law attorneys apply their detailed understanding of family law precedents and statutes to give their clients relevant and legally accurate advice, advocate for their client’s interests, explain legal options, strategies, and possible outcomes, and negotiate on their behalf. In terms of resolving familial disputes, family law attorneys fulfill certain responsibilities to attain this goal. These are as follows.
Mediating Agreements
Mediation, which involves bringing in a third party (known as a mediator) to help the parties in conflict negotiate a resolution that all sides find acceptable, as outlined by the Office of Civil Rights, is an effective, confidential, and voluntary method of resolving disputes within families that facilitates productive, open communication. In the mediation session, the attorney can either act as the mediator and ensure the parties focus on the key issues, assist the spouses in seeing the bigger picture, and make sure the process is legally compliant or, if the parties bring in a separate mediator, they offer advice and check the agreements reached to ensure that they are fair and legal. Ultimately, they help all parties to properly navigate this process, improving the chances of achieving a friendly resolution.
Find out more about how a knowledgeable South Carolina family lawyer can help resolve conflict within families and protect loved ones by contacting King Law Offices. Arrange a confidential consultation with a member of our legal team today.
Offering Legal Guidance
During times of conflict, family law attorneys can offer legal guidance to inform their client’s decision-making with regard to important issues such as, in the context of divorce, property division, spousal support, and child custody. The attorney explains legal precedents and principles and highlights possible outcomes should the client take the dispute to court, empowering them to make sound choices in mediation sessions and during negotiation.
Providing Empathetic Support
Family disputes can be emotionally draining for all involved. An experienced family law attorney understands this, which is why they offer their clients objectivity and empathetic support, helping the process to seem less daunting and assisting their clients with making logical decisions despite these challenges.
Engaging in Collaboration
Collaboration refers to a legal method whereby both parties (as well as their lawyers) work with one another to reach a mutually beneficial agreement outside of court. Often utilized in divorce, collaboration can also be a useful tool for resolving any conflict involving children since it enables cooperation between the parents, presenting an opportunity for a friendly co-parenting arrangement in contrast to litigation, which can lead to confrontation. In this dispute-resolution approach, each family law attorney informs the spouses of their options and helps them overcome issues of contention through open communication and negotiation, a similar process to mediation but without an impartial third party and with both spouses’ lawyers attending collaboration sessions.
Representing Clients in Court
If all other dispute resolution methods fail, the family law attorney can initiate legal proceedings and represent their client in court to resolve the family conflict. Litigation is often a lengthy process involving discovery, waiting for a trial date, potentially attending several hearings to present all evidence and make arguments, and awaiting the court’s decision.
The attorney can clearly inform their client of how the process works and how their case is progressing, guide their clients through discovery and financial disclosures, develop strong legal arguments and gather evidence, and handle the necessary paperwork and filings, as well as communicate with the opposing side’s legal counsel, instilling confidence and enabling individuals to focus on their loved ones. One reason why it can be beneficial to pursue alternative options to litigation for resolving family disputes first is that an attorney can raise any points highlighted in these attempts in court, shortening legal proceedings and helping to prevent confrontation, which can mitigate damage to familial relationships.
Learn More About How an Experienced South Carolina Family Law Attorney Can Help
Family conflict and divorce can be overwhelming life events, leading to individuals experiencing a wide range of emotions who may be unsure how to resolve these issues, which is where a family law attorney can help. A seasoned family lawyer can assist families with navigating conflict resolution, whether through legal representation and advice or by facilitating alternative dispute resolution methods, such as mediation, and achieving favorable outcomes for all parties. If encountering a scenario within the family involving high levels of conflict, consider reaching out to a South Carolina family law attorney from King Law Offices by calling (888) 748-KING.