Divorce

Divorce law can be complex and confusing in a time when there are already so many emotions and hard feelings circling around. Working with an experienced divorce attorney can help to avoid unpleasant interactions and surprises, and save a lot of emotional stress about how things are handled, especially if children are involved. Koontz Law can help you get through this difficult time by providing mediation and legal guidance about divorce, aiming at making your divorce as painless as possible for both parties.

What Is Divorce?

Divorce is the legal dissolution of marriage, and is a time to protect yourself, your assets, and your children if applicable. Divorce lawyers are trained to both vigorously defend their clients from unfavorable rulings and to aggressively go after assets and child custody. Koontz Law, PLLC provides a legal team with the maturity and background to get you the best results possible.

Divorce in North Carolina

Every state has its own laws and proceedings when it comes to family law, which is why it is so important to work with a lawyer who is familiar with your state's specifics. In North Carolina, mediation is a key part of the family law process. If divorce petitions are not resolved through mediation, the case will of course go to court to be examined by a judge.

In divorce proceedings, the court will look to what is deemed "fair and reasonable" for each party. The judge will take into account a wide variety of factors in his or her determinations, which is why it is important to have an experienced attorney on your side who is well-versed in your specific situation. In cases of divorce where children are involved, every effort is made to maintain both parents' active involvement in their child(ren)s lives.

How Koontz Law Can Help

At Koontz Law, we work to help clients resolve divorce petitions in their favor. Our firm is dedicated to helping individuals build their best case possible for divorce proceedings, taking into account the safety and wellbeing of any children the couple may share. When an unpleasant separation is inevitable, we work hard to ensure you come out of the divorce process with a life as close to your ideal situation as possible. We will take your specific needs into account when developing your divorce petition and preparing legal documents on your behalf. We help with a multitude of divorce cases, including but not limited to:

We can also provide legal support when it comes to alimony post separation. Alimony/spousal support is appropriate where a spouse earns less income (or no income) and needs continued financial assistance from the higher-earning spouse to pay their own individual needs and expenses following separation. In these cases dependency on the higher-earning spouse exists to pay for housing, food, medical care, clothing, transportation, etc. The “dependent spouse” must actually need financial support from the other spouse, and the “supporting spouse” must actually be able to provide financial support to the spouse in need.

Determining Alimony

There is not an exact formula for determining alimony like there is with child support. There are several factors that the court may consider when deciding about the amount of support to award a dependent spouse. The Court will consider how long the parties were married. If the dependent spouse committed martial misconduct, then they are not entitled to alimony. However, if you are the supporting spouse and commit martial misconduct then you could be required to pay alimony. If both spouses committed adultery, the court would look to statutory factors to determine whether an award of alimony is appropriate. If one spouse forgave (i.e., condoned) the affair, the court will not consider any evidence of the affair. Either spouse may request a jury trial on the issue of marital misconduct.

Child Custody Issues

Child custody is often the most important issue to our clients; because when a family breaks up, decisions need to be made regarding your child’s day-to-day physical custody schedule and legal custodian.

In North Carolina parents are encouraged to resolve custody issues jointly if they believe that is in their child’s best interest. However, if they are not able to agree on a custody arrangement, then parents are required to participate in mediation prior to the Court deciding custody on a permanent basis. If parents are still unable to reach an agreement and need the Court to make the decision, the court will conduct a trial to decide the legal and physical based on what the judge believes is in the child’s best interests. 

If a trial is unavoidable, many factors will be considered by the court in determining the custody order that will promote the best interests of the child. These factors may include, but are not limited to:

It is also significant to understand that in some cases, parental rights can be terminated if the parent has not provided for their child in six months. Examples of this include that the parent is not paying child support and not making an effort to see the child.

Child Support

In North Carolina, child support is established based on uniformed guidelines which make it relatively easy to determine the proper support order in most cases. The court calculates child support using the combined incomes of both parents and then the following factors are considered and can reduce the amount of the child support obligation. The factors that can reduce the gross income amount used for calculating child support are:

Based on all this information, the guidelines allow a calculation of the presumptive support order for the child and will, in general, resolve the issue of support. 

Adoptions

The adoption process is a long and sometimes complicated process. In many instances, adoption requires a consultation with an experienced lawyer, like Attorney Koontz at Koontz Law, a home study of the potential parents, and more! If you are looking to start the adoption process, you can count on Attorney Koontz to be by your side! She is a licensed professional with extensive knowledge when it comes to adoption laws in North Carolina and can help to explain the process/support you throughout!

Count On Koontz for Your Divorce

We have a long history of successfully representing clients regarding all aspects of divorce, including property division, alimony payments (also known as spousal support), child custody, and more. We have a reputation for providing divorce representation that is both confident and compassionate, and we make it a point to go above and beyond our clients' expectations. Contact us today to see how we can help you get to the other side of your divorce.