Family Law 

The presumptive stating point is a 50/50 division of the net assets and debt. That presumption can be rebutted based upon many factors, including if there is a significant difference in income, or if one person owned substantially more property when the relationship began, or received an inheritance during the relationship, or one party has wasted a significant amount of assets. If there is a difference of opinion on property value, appraisals may be necessary. Unless an agreement can be made, documentation and details are necessary to be prepared to go to court. Making sure you get possession of particularly important items of personal property, records, or financial sums can be worth immediate self-help on your part. I'm not talking about any illegal activity, but making sure the other person does not hide or destroy important assets or documents. 

Fights, like almost all trials, depend upon what facts you can prove in the courtroom, not just what you know. I have a 2-page outline on how to prepare for a custody case that I would be glad to provide to you. If the facts you can prove do not clearly establish which parent is the better custodian,  hiring a psychologist to do a custody evaluation can be very helpful, but will usually cost $2,500 or more, depending who is hired. 

The Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines can be found on the internet. This is the presumptive visitation schedule a court will order. Alternating weekends from Friday at 6:00 PM to Sunday at 6:00 PM, one evening a week, an alternating holiday and birthday schedule, and half the summer, is a quick summary of those rules. Shorter, more frequent visits are listed for children under 3 years old. As with custody, any visitation schedule upon which parents agree will usually be approved by the court, unless the judge believes the schedule will be detrimental to the kids in some way. 

The Indiana Child Support Guidelines can also be found on the internet. Judges are going to enforce these guidelines the vast majority of the time. If you have both parents' average weekly gross income (including overtime), child care costs, the marginal cost of covering the kids on health insurance, and the number of yearly overnight visitations the noncustodial parent will have, you can run the formula for yourself, or I can do it during our initial consultation. Unless it is in writing that both parents are to pay a portion of specific expenses (i.e. sports, school, dance, etc.) weekly child support is the paying parent's total financial obligation (other than visitation). If the parents agree to a support amount different than what the Guidelines indicate, the court will generally approve such an agreement, unless the judge thinks one side is being taken advantage of, or the support level is not in the children's best interest. Child support ends at 19 years of age, but an obligation to help with, post high school educational expenses can carry through a  4-year college degree. 

Indiana has no alimony, but between the filing of the divorce and it being finalized (there is a minimum waiting period of 60 days, but it can be a lot longer if people are fighting), a spouse with insufficient income or assets to be self-supporting, can receive temporary maintenance from the other spouse. Whether, or how much, maintenance could be ordered depends on the specific budgets of the parties. 50% of the opposing spouses' net income is usually the maximum a court will order (including child support). 

DNA testing is usually conclusive if someone is not the biological father, and over 99% probability if he is. Most of what is stated about divorce is applicable to paternity cases, other than property and debt issues, where there is no presumption of joint property or 50?50 division of assets. Nevertheless, any assets accumulated during co-habitation can be subject to division if the judge believes it is fair or equitable. Educational and permanent maintenance are not usually granted in paternity cases unless there has been a lengthy period of co-habitation. 

Agreed adoptions are a relatively simple procedure. Waiting for and obtaining a home study (that gets sent to the Judge) by an authorized person or agency can be the biggest hurdle in money and time-delay. Home studies are usually not required if the child has already lived with the adopting parent for a lengthy period of time. Many agreed adoptions can be completed in 2-4 hours of attorney time. 

A guardian is a person, or institution, appointed by a court to manage the affairs of another individual. The guardian may be given the authority to manage personal and/or financial matters.

The fact that someone has some sort of diagnosis, or disability does not equate to the need for a guardian. The primary test for determining the need for guardianship focuses on the ability to make decisions, and to communicate the decisions once made. Most guardianships focus on the ability to make decisions regarding living arrangements, medical care, vocational and educational services, ancillary professional services, care for dependents, and managing finances. 

Individual guardians must be over the age of 18, not been convicted of a felony, and have not adjudicated disabled.

A court must determine, based on the evidence presented, that (1) the individual is incapacitated according to the law and guardianship is appropriate; (2) the individual or entity to act as guardian is qualified; and (3) the authority granted to the is necessary for the safety of the individual. 

Notice of the date, time and place of the guardianship proceedings is given to any interested parties, family members, proposed guardian, etc., in order that they can be present at the hearing if they choose.

The court may modify, revoke, or terminate the guardianship if the individual’s ability to make and communicate decisions is demonstrated to the court. Guardianship of a minor ends when the child turns 18 years old.  

Cannot occur unless the parent goes a full year without substantial communication with the child, without some valid reason (See Indiana Code), and there is another person prepared to fill the terminated parent's responsibilities by adoption. Agreements that a parent will not have visitation and not be required to pay support can work, so long as either parent doesn't change his/her mind and decide to fight for support or visitation. Support will be imposed automatically if visitation is granted. 

In all family law cases, the court has the power to order the opposing side to pay attorney fees, but this usually only occurs if the opposing party take a position in court that the Judge believes to be baseless, or if the opposing party has a lot more money. Agreed divorces can many times be done withing 2 hours of my time ($500). Contested custody cases can take dozens of hours of time. Once I have understanding of your particular factual and legal situation, and what you want me to do, my normal practice is to quote you a retainer to cover my minimum work estimate, or a substantially higher set fee, if you prefer. If custody is not contested, but there is not an agreement on other issues, I will usually charge a 4 or 5-hour retainer, unless it is obvious that more time is necessary. Any over payment of by hourly retainer will be refunded when the case is over. I give itemized bills detailing what I did, broken down to a tenth of an hour.