FAMILY LAW

The Law Office of Jeffrey R. Sport provides a complete array of family law services to serve the diverse needs of its clients, including divorce, paternity, child custody and visitation, child support, decree modification, contempt petitions, termination of parental rights and other related services, in a dedicated and efficient manner. Our approach to family law is to protect the interests of any minor children involved and protect the safety and welfare of our clients and their children.

While a non-lawyer may represent himself or herself (called pro se representation) in obtaining a divorce or any of the other types of family law relief, we do not recommend proceeding without legal representation. Representing oneself is difficult because you will be expected to understand the law as well as legal procedures.

The simplest, fastest and least costly way to get divorced is to have a lawyer file an UNCONTESTED divorce petition, wherein husband and wife cooperatively agree on the terms of their divorce, including the division of their marital property, as well as custody, visitation and child support regarding the minor children, if any, and any alimony considerations. The attorney files the joint action along with the required supporting documents, and in about 30 days, the parties are divorced.

DIVORCE

There are several different ways to obtain a divorce. All involve at least one attorney.

If both spouses insist on having their own attorney but still believe they can cooperate enough to agree on how their marriage will be dissolved, marital property divided and how any children will be cared for, a COLLABORATIVE or MEDIATED divorce may be the way to go. In these cases, the parties and their attorneys work together to resolve the details of how the marriage will be split up (COLLABORATIVE), or they may work with a mediator chosen by mutual agreement of the parties to help the parties resolve their differences regarding issues involved in the dissolution of the marriage (MEDIATED).

Sometimes, however, differing opinions between the soon-to-be ex-spouses regarding division of property and debt, custody of and visitation with children, child support, alimony or just about anything else you might think of, or one spouse’s chosen counsel, dictate that the marriage cannot be dissolved without court intervention. In those cases, an adversarial CONTESTED divorce action will have to be filed. During the pre-trial period information and documents will have to be exchanged regarding income, assets and debts, marital property and other relevant subjects, subpoenas may be issued to non-parties, depositions may be taken, and it may be necessary to retain experts and have them perform work and render opinions, and hearings may be held. During this phase of the proceeding, issues for trial will be identified and narrowed, and it may be possible to negotiate a settlement of the divorce. If the parties cannot resolve the matter during the pre-trial phase, the case will be tried by a Circuit Judge assigned to hear family law matters. The judge’s decision will be published in an order of divorce that resolved all disputed issues, which is final except for the availability of an appeal. A CONTESTED divorce is the most expensive path to getting a divorce, but sometimes unavoidable. We will help guide you through this process as quickly and cost-effectively as possible. Our goal is to aggressively represent our clients in these proceedings, with a focus on the best interests of any minor children.

A word about post-minority support. If you want the non-custodial parent (he or she who has visitation, not primary custody) to pay his or her fair share of your children’s college expenses, you must include an agreement to do so in any marital settlement agreement negotiated between the parties. Divorce courts in Alabama no longer have authority to award these expenses, referred to as post-minority support, in an order of divorce if the non-custodial parent objects. Any agreement between the parties for post-minority support should be as specific as possible regarding years to be covered, acceptable schools, acceptable grades, full time attendance, and so forth. We can help you craft an agreement regarding post-minority support that will ensure your children receive the education they deserve.

Alabama law has established a Putative Father Registry maintained through the Alabama Department of Human Resources. Any person who has been adjudicated as the father of a child out of wedlock is included in this registry by the clerk of the court that found that person to be the father. Any person wanted to claim or acknowledge paternity of a child born out of wedlock may file an acknowledgment or notice with the registry prior to the birth of the child. If this notice has not been filed within 30 days of the birth of the child, that person shall be deemed to have given an irrevocable implied consent in any adoption proceeding. If you find yourself having a child out of wedlock, it is very important to consult a lawyer as soon as possible to discuss your legal rights and how to protect them.

PATERNINTY

Paternity actions are governed by the Alabama Uniform Parentage Act. A party (usually an unmarried mother, but the alleged father or any interested party may bring the action) brings an action against the alleged father. Once filed, a motion for DNA testing is requested. This DNA testing, once asked for, is mandatory.

CHILD CUSTODY AND VISITATION

As part of a divorce or paternity proceeding, the court will establish primary physical custody of any minor children, and will usually award visitation rights to the non-custodial parent. The family law courts in Mobile and Baldwin Counties have standard visitation they generally award, but parties may argue for a deviation from the standard visitation with valid reasons. Of course the parties are free to agree on whatever custody and visitation they can negotiate. Agreements of the parties are usually adopted by the court, unless someone objects or there is some obvious objection based on the terms of the agreement (for example, when the parties agree on joint physical custody, the children are school age, and the parties live 50 miles apart).

Even when there is one parent with primary physical custody, the parties are often awarded joint legal custody. This means that both parents share the decision making authority with respect to major decisions regarding the minor children, such as medical care, where they attend school, and in which extra-curricular activities the children may participate.

Having legal representation during your divorce or paternity proceeding helps ensure that you receive the custody or visitation to which you are legally entitled, and that the best interests of your minor children are protected.

Parties may also be awarded, or agree to, joint physical custody. In a joint physical custody arrangement, both parents share primary responsibility for caring for the minor children, each usually having physical custody about 50% of the time. These arrangements work best when the children are under school age, or when both parents still live in the same school district or area. Many non-custodial parents argue for joint physical custody even when they no longer live in the same school district or general area as the custodial parent because it improves their argument for not awarding any child support. Granting joint physical custody under such circumstances is not, in our opinion, in the best interests of the children.

CHILD SUPPORT

Your spouse is your spouse as long as you are married to them; ex-spouses are forever. If you have children, once you get divorced or you are otherwise a party to a custody, visitation and child support order, you may (will) be subjected to periodic (or more often) petitions to modify the divorce decree or terms of the custody, visitation and child support order. There are legitimate reasons for modifying the original order, such as changed financial circumstances; the children have grown a bit and the previous order needs to be amended to reflect the new needs of the children; or perhaps one spouse moved away and the order needs to be modified to reflect the increased costs of travel for visitation.

If one spouse has not met the terms of the original order the new petition will probably be styled as a contempt petition, seeking to hold the other parent in contempt of court for failure to obey the original court order. There are also illegitimate reasons to file modifications or contempt petitions, including to harass the other party or unnecessarily increase their costs of litigation. Having legal counsel will help ensure you understand the propriety of the modification or contempt petition so that the overall cost and headache of renewed litigation can be minimized

TERMINATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS

As life happens, sometimes people who have children together but no longer cohabitate drift apart, despite their joint responsibilities to their children. Perhaps one of them become incarcerated; or maybe one parent just skips town never to be seen again; or maybe they still live in the same town but does not exercise visitation or pay child support for years on end. In those cases, Alabama law provides a mechanism to terminate that parents parental rights. If you are in a situation where a co-parent has abandoned their parental responsibilities, legal counsel can explain this process, the likelihood of success, and help you make the right decision.