When Do You Need a Family Lawyer

If you are involved in a legal issue, you need an attorney to help guide you through the complex process that is involved in any legal proceeding. It is easy to misunderstand or become confused about many aspects of law, which is why most people take on the services of a lawyer to help them. For example, many couples with no children or assets may be able to file for a do it yourself divorce. The divorce procedure for couples with children or assets, even if it's a friendly divorce, should be handled appropriately with legal guidance.

Most divorcing couples don’t realize that the divorce documents that they sign and agree to today may not be what is appropriate or agreed to even a few years down the road, but the courts will continue to hold up those legal documents as the guidance on all future legal decisions regarding child custody, child support, and any other financial arrangements. A good lawyer foresees these issues and can make sure that not only are your current needs met, but your anticipated future needs and rights are not impeded by current court actions.

If you are in the position of trying to rework an agreed upon child custody arrangement, your first step should be to consult with an attorney so you fully understand what you are going up against. Most judges won’t make radical changes to any child custody arrangements without strong cause. Regretting an earlier agreement won’t carry much weight to change custody or visitation arrangements, especially if the other parent is opposing the change. This is where it comes in handy to have an attorney look at everything before you agree to anything because down the road, those blind agreements can be very hard to undo.

In order to change child custody arrangements, you will need to demonstrate a significant change in circumstances to justify the change such as a former spouse remarrying or moving more than a hundred miles away. If you feel your former spouse or their current spouse are abusive towards each other or your child, your lawyer may be able to move for an emergency child custody hearing and get temporary custody granted to you until a permanency hearing can be held.

If your ex-spouse is failing to honor their child custody arrangement you should consult an attorney about your rights. Often it is the non-custodial parent who is pursuing their visitation rights not being met by the former spouse, but it is not unheard of for the custodial parent to take the non-custodial parent back to court to try and enforce the parenting time agreement. If your former spouse seems to have divorced their child when they divorced you, a judge can enforce the parent time agreement more stringently than you or your non legal efforts can.

Consult an attorney if in doubt of your legal rights and get help pursuing the best course of action for your particular case.