A vast array of legal knowledge coupled with a heart of gold, Michael A. Hug can provide the missing piece to peace in your families life.
Divorce, Custody, Child Support, & Maintenance (Alimony)
Whether your divorce is highly contested or uncontested, the process has a profound effect on most aspects of your life, including the physical and emotional health of you and your children. As you prepare to move forward with a new chapter in your life, we are by your side throughout the entire process to protect your legal rights and to ensure you have the best counseling available. We will walk you through the processes of custody, child support, division of assets, and division of debts and maintenance (alimony). Whether your case is simple or complex, we will structure retainers and payments to fit your needs and your future.
Allocation of Parental Responsibility
These types of custody cases arise when there has been no marriage between the parties, either by law or common law. As the institution of marriage becomes less common, these types of cases arise just as frequently as regular divorces. They proceed much as a divorce would, but without the necessity of dividing debts and assets. This area of law is truly child-centered. We are by your side throughout the entire process to protect your legal rights and to ensure you have the best counseling available as you prepare to move forward with a new chapter in your life. Whether your case is simple or complex, we will structure retainers and payments to fit your needs and your future.
Asset Division
Dividing the assets and the debt accumulated by the parties during their marriage can be fairly simple or extremely complex. How property and debt is divided will affect the parents (and children) long after the court has dissolved a marriage. That is why at this firm we use the right combination of legal and financial expertise to ensure our clients are always left in the best financial situation possible. Dissolving your marriage can be a very emotionally draining experience for most people, and the financial aspects of a case can be overlooked in your hurry to get the divorce finished and move on. Having a law firm you trust will pay huge dividends as you move into the future and your new life.
Post-Decree Issues & Motions
Upon the conclusion of your divorce or parental responsibility case, issues often arise that require the parents/parties to need further assistance from the court in order to resolve their disputes. These issues are brought to the courts' attention through the use of post-decree motions. These issues range from filing a motion to restrict parenting time to motions to modify support or maintenance, and a very broad range of other topics and issues that arise after the previous litigation has settled down.
Motions to Restrict Parenting Time & Child Endangerment
Unfortunately, it is a very sad fact of life that sometimes one parent has to file a motion asking the court to restrict the other parent's time with the child (ren) due to endangering behaviors of the other parent or because the other parent has placed the child in a situation that has or may endanger the child’s emotional or physical health. These motions, if granted, will trigger an evidentiary hearing within 14 days as well as protect the child from harm during those 14 days. The court will hear your evidence and decide what is in the best interests of the child (ren).
Same-Sex Divorce & Custody
With the historic advancement of same-sex marriage legislation came an entirely new host of complex legal issues, complications, and profound statutory questions such as who can become the child’s two legal parents. Oftentimes, there are putative parents, biological parents, and parents that are entitled to presumptions of parentage under the law regardless of whether there are biological ties between a parent and a child.
Consider this quote from a leading Colorado case: “ Thus, under section 19-4-105, a women may gain the status of a child’s natural mother even if she has no biological ties to the child.”
Consider the case where there is a biological father, a birthmother and a non-birthmother who was married to the birthmother on the date of the child’s birth. Which of the three potential parents shall become the two legal parents of the child?
The issues are plentiful and the outcomes of parentage determinations are life long and life changing. Be sure you have sought legal council in regards to the far-reaching implications.