Plain answers to the questions families ask us

Usually far less than people fear. When both spouses reach full agreement, many courts finalize the paperwork with little or no hearing time. Even contested cases mostly settle before trial. We'll tell you early and honestly if yours looks like an exception.

Every state sets a minimum waiting period, and after that the timeline mostly depends on how quickly the two of you can agree. Cooperative divorces here often wrap up within a few months; contested ones take longer. We'll give you a realistic range at the first meeting and update it whenever the facts change.

Almost never directly. Courts and lawyers alike work to keep children out of the process. What your children will feel is the tone the adults set. That is one more reason we work so hard to keep temperatures low.

That's good news, and mediation may serve you better than two lawyers in opposite corners. We offer it, and we'll say so plainly if it fits. Even in full agreement, having a lawyer prepare the paperwork correctly protects everyone from expensive surprises later.

Yes. Parents who never married can ask the court for a parenting plan and child support the same way divorcing parents do, minus dividing a marriage. We handle these often, and the same calm approach applies.

Yes, for a flat fee listed on our fees page. A prenup works best when it's signed well before the wedding, and each person needs their own lawyer to review it, so we'll help your partner find one.

No, and that's the point. A mediator can't give either of you legal advice or argue for either position. Many couples have the written summary reviewed by their own lawyers before signing, and we encourage exactly that.

That's the most common starting point, and it's fine. Mediation can narrow a dispute to the two or three truly hard questions. Even if one issue ends up needing a judge, you've saved most of the cost and conflict.

Mediation is a confidential settlement process, and with narrow legal exceptions what's said there can't be used in court later. It's designed to be a safe room for honest numbers and honest fears.

It honestly depends. Anyone who answers before asking about your family and your assets is selling, not advising. A will is enough for many families. Trusts earn their cost when there's a home you want to pass outside probate, young or blended-family children, property in more than one state, or privacy concerns. The planning quiz on this site walks through the same logic we use in the first meeting.

State law writes one for you: a fixed formula that decides who inherits and who's in charge, applied without any knowledge of your family. It's rarely a disaster, but it's slower, more public, and more expensive for the people handling it, and it has no opinion about who should raise your children. That last gap is the one we'd most like to close for you.

Look at it after any big life event: marriage, divorce, a birth, a death, a move to another state, a home purchase, or a real change in what you own. Without those, a ten-minute review every three to five years is plenty. Reviews of plans we drafted are always free.

It doesn't have to, and modern courts prefer that it doesn't. Guardianships can be limited to specific decisions, such as medical care, housing, or money, leaving everything else untouched. We draft for the least restriction that keeps your person safe.

Informal arrangements work until they don't: a school enrollment, a surgery consent, an insurance question. Guardianship (or sometimes a simpler delegation of parental authority) gives you the paperwork the world will eventually ask for. We can talk through which fits your family.

At 18 the law presumes every adult makes their own decisions, whatever the diagnosis. Families usually start the conversation six months ahead. Sometimes guardianship is right, and sometimes supported decision-making or powers of attorney respect his independence while keeping him safe. This is one of our most common conversations, and one of the most rewarding.

We can tell you the agency's current published processing times and what usually affects them. We can't promise a date, because the agency sets its own pace. We check on your case at each stage and tell you what we learn.

No. We focus on family-based petitions and citizenship. If your situation involves immigration court, asylum, or a work visa, we'll help you find a firm that does that work every day.

Yes. Maya meets with clients in English or Spanish, and we can arrange a certified translation for any document that needs one.

Because the people who call us are already anxious, and 'it depends, come in' makes that worse. Predictable work gets a published flat fee. Unpredictable work gets honest hourly rates and a written estimate. We think that's simply what fairness looks like in a fee schedule.

Everything the package describes, start to finish: meetings, drafting, unlimited reasonable revisions, the signing meeting, and your document binder. Court and government filing fees are set by others and passed through at cost. We list them in your engagement letter so nothing surprises you.

Yes. Any flat fee can be split into two or three monthly payments at no extra cost. Just tell us what works when we prepare your engagement letter. Money should never be the reason a family goes unprotected.

We pause, tell you right away, and give you a written re-estimate before any hourly work begins. You'll never discover a change of course on an invoice. Often we'll suggest mediation first. It's usually the cheaper and kinder road back.