Offering Experienced and Effective Family Law Counsel
The law office of Deborah N. Dewalt is located in Burnsville and focuses exclusively on family law cases and issues. In legal talk, these are the substantive issues for which I have knowledge.
I have experience and training in almost all of the ways that family law matters can be resolved: trial, contested hearings, and alternative dispute resolution (various ways to resolve your case out of court such as mediation). In legal talk, these are called process options.
This combination of substantive and process qualifications means that I can wear one of two hats in any family law case:
- I could be your attorney, advocating for your interests, or
- I could be a family law neutral working with both sides of the case, not advocating for either party, such as in mediation.
My law firm also offers clients, attorneys and others resources for managing change in the form of a bimonthly newsletter called Family Law Ripples. Additional information on divorce and family law issues can be found in the section of this website providing answers to frequently asked questions and guidance about what information to collect in a case.
My experience, knowledge and skills are best used in the substantive areas and process options as follows:
Family Law Cases
- Divorce: issues related to the dissolution of marriage
- Legal separation: matters related to legal separation
- Paternity
- Petition to Establish Child Support
- Petition to Establish Custody and Parenting Time
- Post-Decree Motions to Modify Existing Order
- Post-Decree Motion to Enforce Existing Order
- Petition for Adoption
- Petition for Guardianship or Conservatorship
- Juvenile Court Petition
- Rights of unmarried persons such as petition to sever a joint tenancy
- Estate Planning: Simple wills, wills with contingent minor trusts, guardianships and conservatorships, powers of attorney, health care declarations
Family Law Issues
- Child support: motions to seek child support
- Child custody and visitation
- Spousal maintenance: formerly called alimony payments
- Property division: equitable distribution of assets and debts in divorce
Deborah N. Dewalt, Family Lawyer
- Contested motions, trials and evidentiary hearings
- Cooperative case development and resolution
- Cases using mediation, early neutral evaluation, arbitration and other Alternate Dispute Resolution - services include client coaching, providing feedback, converting agreements into court papers and preparing for and attending ADR sessions
- Collaborative law cases
- Unbundled legal services - hiring me to do only selected portions of your case
- Brief consultations - legal information and/or advice, no representation desired
"My divorce covered the range of processes in a dissolution case - mediation, settlement discussions, contested motions, a four-day trial, post-trial motions and an appeal from the other side. In the end, the outcome was fair, with the court adopting nearly all major issues as we had proposed. You had a calm, mature, thoughtful approach. I respect your advice." Divorce Client #1
Deborah N. Dewalt, Family Law Neutral - Mediator, Arbitrator
Mediation: facilitating discussions to the end of resolving all issues in a divorce or other family law matter
Early neutral evaluations: providing evaluative feedback early in a case so that issues can be narrowed or final agreements can be reached narrowing and focusing the financial issues to promote resolutions -if evaluation is requested later in a case after discovery is done, my office also offers Moderated Settlement Conferences
Arbitration: deciding any disputed issue in a divorce or family law matter
Parenting Consulting: providing a hybrid process for facilitating agreements and issuing binding decisions, if necessary, on general parenting issues exclusive of change of custody or substantial changes in parenting time schedules - if only schedule issues are involved, Parenting Time Expedition is a similar option
Party-Created ADR Options: working with the parties and counsel to design and/or provide an out of court process that meets the unique needs of your case
"You gave me and my wife valuable guidance. Your letter summary was clear and complete." FENE Party
Talk to a Lakeville Family Lawyer, Mediator and Arbitrator
Located in Burnsville, my law firm also serves clients in Lakeville and throughout Dakota County and the surrounding areas of Minnesota. To schedule a free initial consultation with a Burnsville family law attorney, call my office locally at 952-641-7455 or toll free at 866-919-7417 or fill out the online contact form.
