Family Law Services Offered

Family law Services in San Diego can present many different areas of practice. James Scott offers services in the following areas:

• Dissolution of Marriage or Divorce
• Mediation and Divorce Mediation
• Paternity
• Spousal Support
• Child Support and Child Custody
• Visitation
• Attorney Fees
• Nullity also known as Annulment
• Complex Family Litigation and Complex Divorce
• Professional Athletes Divorce
• Corporate Evaluation
• Small Business Evaluation
• Division of Stock Options
• Military Divorce

Divorce: More properly called a “dissolution of marriage” Guidance, counseling and representation from the date of separation to post-divorce modifications.

Paternity: Determining the parentage of children by their fathers. Establishing rights for men to custody, visitation, and child support. Even in very good relationships of non-married couples, establishing a judgment of paternity is a benefit to the child for potential social security benefits, health coverage benefits and identification later in life.

Suit for Separate Maintenance: Obtaining Alimony also known as Spousal Support. In matters where the couple may not want a judicial intervention of divorce. Married persons to not have to file for divorce to obtain support or to obtain the tax deduction of paying alimony to support a spouse.

Annulment: Somewhat rare, but available for up to four (4) years after the marriage was obtained. The most common basis for a nullity is that the marriage was obtained by fraud or deceit. Occasionally we see a bigamy or multiple marriage.

Pre-Nuptial Agreements; Ante-Nuptial Agreements: At one time not very long ago these were disfavored by the family law. Today the law has come 180 degrees on the issues and the courts recognize that pre-nuptial agreements actually encourage marriage by settlement of property, income, and alimony issues, prior to marriage. The only consideration or reason for entering into one of these agreements is the marriage itself.

Marital Settlement Agreements Commonly known as an “MSA”, these are comprehensive agreements between spouses intended to reach every potential issue. The benefit of an MSA is the direct involvement of the husband and wife in the process outside of court. The artful drafting of this critical document could prevent future problems with anyone from the spouse to creditors to the IRS.