No one looks forward to a time in life when it becomes necessary to look for family law advice. Unfortunately, for many, that time does come around, sometimes through no fault of their own. It is certainly a daunting time for everyone involved and, when looking for the right kind of assistance with this many-faceted situation, the most important thing for a person to remember is that help is only a phone call away.

Having chosen a family law firm clients will have many questions. Family law attorneys may be able to give the client family law mediation tips if that seems like a viable option. Mediation is a method by which family disputes can be resolved. A mediator, or neutral third party, sits with the couple and tries to help them to resolve or work out their differences. It saves the couple the cost of going to trial, and agreements may be reached; however, this is an informal way of resolving differences, so the agreements may not be legal and binding.

Another possible route for a couple to go would be to get an annulment to their marriage. Divorce and annulment are both procedures that dissolve a marriage. Really, the only difference between them is that an annulment treats the marriage as though it never took place. Typical reasons for no-fault divorce are irreconcilable differences, incompatibility, and irretrievable breakdown. Some couples will separate and live apart for a period of time with the intention of staying apart. Then there is fault based divorce that encompasses a long list of possible grounds.

If divorce is the only answer and there are young children involved, child custody legal advice might be needed. There is the question of what the children need on a daily basis. Their food, shelter, clothing, and medical expenses need to continue without interruption. Their educational needs must be seen to. In the case that the parents of the children cannot agree on custody, the court makes its own decision based on the best interests of the children. Guidelines vary from state to state. In the area of financial child support, most states provide a type of worksheet that makes the calculating of the amount each parent must provide for the children easy. It is based on the laws set down by that particular state and also takes into account the income of both parents, the cost of the children’s healthcare, and whether or not one or both parents are also supporting other children.

The most common reasons divorcing parents will continuously argue is child custody. When a couple is divorcing, chances are any trust they had for each other has been breached; therefore, it is common for parents to disagree about visitation rights and the ongoing ability to make important decisions relating to the children together. Family law advice can provide a common ground upon which divorcing couples can stand and come to mutual agreements regarding these and many other decisions.

Many women seek family law advice in order to try to end an abusive relationship. Statistics show that, within their lifetime, one in four women become the victim of violence at the hand of their husband or boyfriend. In addition, and not nearly as publicized as domestic violence against women, are the number of men who become victims of domestic violence in their lifetime, also at the hand of their partner; for men the number is one in seven. On average, most marriages that end in divorce will only last approximately nine years. Most likely to end in divorce are those marriages involving two people who got married under the age of 20. The statistics for divorce in marriages of people 25 and older are much lower. The number of divorces that take place each year in America is 876,000. Broken down to its lowest terms, that is one divorce every 36 seconds.

Family law advice includes such important topics as child custody and visitation rights, alimony, child support, transfer of ownership, finances, and much more. In the case of divorce, all of these that apply will need to be addressed, along with other issues that may be significant to the outcome of the case and to the benefit of all parties. Read more about this topic at this link. More can be found here.