Kansas City Divorce Attorney and Family Law Attorney

Why practice in divorce and family law as well as personal injury? Because I believe that they are similar in many ways. Like the personal injury victim, one involved in a divorce or modification battle needs someone to aggressively represent their interests. Their spouse or ex-spouse is certainly not focused on their needs or wants. Often, they are also unconcerned with their children's best interests.

I take great pride in helping my clients and the Court focus on the key issues in a divorce or modification proceeding, whether that be the children's well-being or ensuring that the parent paying child support is not paying so much that he or she can not meet their own needs. Often, a fair settlement can be achieved when the attorneys and the Court successfully focus the parties on everyone's needs and the best way to meet them.

Every case is different and must be litigated according to its merit. I have successfully tried (or settled) divorce cases to achieve a result where both parents have substantial and meaningful contact with their children when it was in the best interests of the kids that they do so. I have restricted a parent's visitation when necessary to protect the kids. I have increased or reduced a parent's child support depending on the financial circumstances of the parties.

With respect to other domestic litigation, I have defended my clients from grandparent visitation actions where the grandparents were not the type of people that my clients want to influence their children's upbringing. Conversely, I have helped good, loving grandparents obtain grandparent visitation with their grandchildren when they were wrongfully denied visitation before.

One satisfying outgrowth of my domestic litigation practice has been step-parent adoption. Although it is not the trial work involved in my other practice areas, I do it because of the great reward in knowing that I've helped a loving step-parent adopt a child so that their relationship is legally recognized in the same way as if the child were a natural born child of that parent.

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