Family Law and Divorce
Clients involved in family law disputes often need personal and professional support through highly emotional times that ultimately require calm and reasoned decision-making.
F.B. Jackson and Associates Law Firm, PLLC has the ability and experience to handle your family law needs, from the detailed management of a complex marital property dispute to the sensitive advocacy needed in an emotionally charged child custody proceeding.
F.B. Jackson and Associates can help you with all family law matters, including the following:
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Contact us today
Let F.B. Jackson and Associates Law Firm, PLLC represent you in your divorce or other family law matter. Call us at 828-697-5410 or click here to contact us by email.
Alimony, spousal support, and spousal maintenance
Alimony, spousal support, and spousal maintenance are three terms that mean the same thing: money paid by a supporting spouse to a dependent spouse. The amount and duration of alimony depends on a number of factors including the following:
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We can help you determine whether alimony is an issue in your situation and, if so, what amount and term would be fair to pay or to receive.
Child custody, parental responsibility, and parenting time
We handle all issues relating to the physical, emotional, and financial well-being of children in North Carolina. Depending on circumstances, each parent is typically entitled to significant periods of parenting time with their children and input into major decisions affecting their children including education, religion, and non-emergency medical procedures.
The guiding principle in an initial child custody determination is the best interest standard. After an initial custody determination has been entered, either by consent or by judgment of court, the standard to change custody requires a showing of substantial change of circumstances.
Child Support
Child support is generally ordered by the court to be paid by one parent when a child lives with the other parent. All states, including North Carolina, have guidelines by which courts determine child support. Courts plug numbers into the child support formula and come up with an amount of support that should be paid for the child or children. The child support guidelines are not an exact method of calculating child support in every situation, and parties can argue that because of special circumstances a court should order more or less support than the guideline amount. North Carolina bases child support on a formula that takes into account the following:
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Divorce, dissolution, legal separation, and annulment
Divorce is the legal process by which a marriage is terminated. We handle all issues relating to the following:
- Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage)
- Legal separation
- Declaration of invalidity (also known as annulment)
Domestic abuse and domestic violence
Domestic violence may involve physical, sexual, psychological, or emotional abuse. Domestic violence includes the following:
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Marital Property
North Carolina is not a community property state but it is an equitable distribution state. That means that each spouse is entitled to what is fair under the circumstances. While that sounds easy enough, dividing a marital estate at the time of a divorce has become an increasingly complex process, as the division of marital assets is no longer simply a matter of identifying and dividing real and personal property. Today's divorce client requires the knowledge and expertise necessary to examine and evaluate issues relating to business interests, retirement accounts, pension plans, stock options, as well as an understanding of tax ramifications. When dividing a marital estate, a court may consider the following:
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To maintain maximum control over assets, many couples negotiate the distribution of property between themselves and their lawyers before going into court. This alleviates the chance that a judge may divide things up in a way that makes no one happy. We can assist you in determining what a fair settlement would be and in achieving that result either by negotiation or litigation.
Mediation
Most family law disputes, including those involving child custody, child support, and marital property can be resolved without going to court. As court dockets in North Carolina have become more congested, there has been a greater focus on alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods such as mediation. Mediation is a process in which a neutral third-party, whether one mediator or more, acts as a facilitator to assist in resolving disputes between two or more parties. ADR and mediation provides a viable option for those who prefer to stay out of court and has many potential advantages for most North Carolina families including the following:
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