Orange County Divorce Attorney Near You, Douglas S Pinkham
Divorce, Spousal Support
Divorce, Litigation, Spousal Support, Division of Property, Business Valuations and More
read moreFamily Law
Domestic Violence, Preparing a Motion, Orders Modifications, Document Filing, Court Appearance and more
read moreMy name is Douglas S. Pinkham; I am a Divorce Lawyer in Orange County and Senior Attorney at Pinkham & Associates.
Pinkham & Associates is a dedicated Divorce and Family Law firm. We have been in practice for nearly twenty years. We only practice Divorce and Family Law. In addition to divorce, family law includes child support, child custody & visitations, spousal support issues, domestic violence, divorce mediation and several other more subtle areas. We are litigators. We have been litigating for all of our years in practice and we are very comfortable and confident fighting hard for our clients both in and out of court rooms.
However, although there are occasions when litigation is absolutely necessary, we are at all times cognizant of the fact that prolonged litigation is both time consuming and expensive. Therefore, anytime time we can negotiate a settlement that benefits our clients and we are able to avoid court or arguing before a judge, we are able to save our clients’ time, money and anguish. This being said, we only engage in settlement talks when the ends justify the means. We will not ever recommend a settlement that is not as good or better than we would expect to receive through court orders in court. As a side not, we find that people that are able to negotiate a settlement they can live with outside of court, are far more likely to follow those court orders through the years that if they had gone to court and received orders that were ordered on them by a judge.
Douglas S. Pinkham, Orange County Divorce Attorney – Yelp
Contact us for a free telephonic consultation and we will personally help to guide you through the process.
Pinkham & Associates APLC
Orange County Divorce Lawyers
Obviously, the battle of litigation is more costly and time consuming than agreeing outside of court and avoiding hearings before a judge, but often we do not have a choice. Sometimes, litigation is the only solution to finishing your divorce.
For example, if the other side takes an unreasonable legal position, or demands more than they have coming to them, litigation is necessary. However, it is important to pay special attention to whether the other party, or the other attorney or worse yet, your own divorce attorney, may be “over-litigating” your divorce in general or on any particular issue. Is the other side litigating reasonably, or are they just out for the fight? Are they making unreasonable demands? Does your spouse have unrealistic expectations? These are very important questions in order to better understand and determine potential depth of litigation that may face you and your team in your divorce. The majority of family law and divorce attorneys understand their client’s time and budget considerations, but there are divorce litigation attorneys who thrive on fighting, just for the sake of fighting. They thrive on over-litigating for the sole purpose of earning additional attorney fees with a greater concern on themselves than their client. Furthermore, although sometimes being tough and rigid are necessary, often times, these over-litigation or “Scorched Earth” tactics simply drive up the cost of the divorce without great benefit. There are however, tactics used in some higher value divorce cases, to intentionally over-litigate for the purpose of making it financially difficult and sometimes impossible for the other party and their counsel to “keep up” thereby forcing settlement that benefits the over-litigating party. This is unethical, but is not uncommon. If this is happening to you, you should know there are methods to combat these techniques.
A Pinkham & Associates we always fight aggressively for the legal rights of our clients while always being cognizant of their needs and priorities. If there are more direct methods for achieving a client’s goal, our divorce attorneys will discuss those methods with them, including a discussion of all the benefits and risks of their chosen tact and do a serious, real-world cost-benefit analysis of those chosen tactics. When your opponent is litigating unreasonably, forcing them into court to present their case to a judge may be the only way to win on a particular issue. These types of discussions take place throughout your entire case to make sure we are on the same page and moving forward in a cohesive manner.
The family law litigant should know there are only two ways to get through the divorce process: 1. Either, the parties agree on an issue and settle on that issue outside of court or, 2. They take that issue into court and present their evidence before the court, asking the judge to make the decision for you. If you and your spouse are unable to resolve one (or more) issues by means of settlement negotiations, assistance by a mediator, arbitrator or any other third party, the only other choice is to go into court.
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Our Practice Areas
Divorce
At Pinkham & Associates, we always fight hard for the legal rights of our clients, at all times and at all steps along the process. However, fighting for our client is not the most important objective, the single most important issue in any divorce is to be aware of and always cognizant of the client’s priorities and expectations.
If there is a quicker and more direct method to achieving our client’s goals, we always discuss those possibilities at the moment they arise. We always discuss the benefits and risks of any chosen tact and do a cost-benefit analysis of each possible path. It happens, but it is very rare to find a client that wants to drag out the divorce; wants to delay the process. We, at Pinkham & Associates, are proud to say that we always direct our clients to the most expeditious path through the divorce process. It may be negotiating a settlement, and it may also be going straight to court to avoid years of useless negotiations that do not benefit our client.
Spousal Support
In California, if you are married for more than 10 years, the State of California deems your marriage to be a “long term marriage” and the court will maintain jurisdiction over the issue of spousal support indefinitely. Now, that may not be “forever,” but it like means that the court will maintain that jurisdiction until there is some “significant” change in the circumstances at the time the spousal support orders were made. If you are married for less than 10 years, the court will likely only maintain jurisdiction over the issue of spousal support for half of the length of your marriage. These laws can be confusing. We at Pinkham & Associates will help you understand how the duration of your marriage and other factors will affect your spousal support.
Child Support
One of the more difficult issues in Family Law is child support. The two most important factors in determining child support are 1) the income of the parties, and 2) how much time the children spend with each parent. There are approximately 30 other factors that may come into consideration. If you are in Orange County and you are curious about how much money you should pay or receive for child support, call us.
Child Custody
The issues of custody and visitations are very sensitive. As a matter of fact, the term “custody” has two different meanings: physical custody, and legal custody. They really have nothing to do with each other and understanding the difference between each is a must for anyone going through it.
Division of Property
In a divorce, the characterization of property must be determined before the judge can divide and disperse the property. Characterization means determining whether a certain piece of property is the wife’s separate property, the husband separate property, or community property. This is not always easy to determine.
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Unbundled services are an emerging area of law; if you simply need to hire an attorney to help you file a document, or to help you prepare a motion, we are happy to do that as well. We can also help with you with issues of Domestic Violence, as well as Annulment, Visitations, or any family law and divorce related legal case.
What Our Clients Say
Lynda
Doug had patience with me, as it is a daunting task to request an order from the court regarding children. But I was granted my order on the first hearing day. That day was a HUGE victory for me.
Bijan
I had great experience with Mr.Pinkham and his team . He had Patience to respond all of my questions and helped me a lot to file my case at the court and he has sharp eyes to see all details and I am so glad to meet him.
Frederick H.
Douglas Pinkham and his team pulled me from the jaws of defeat. I was utterly lost dealing with my divorce until I enlisted their services.
We Practice Divorce & Family Law Only
At Pinkham & Associates, we are a dedicated Family Law Firm in Orange County California practicing Divorce and all related Family Law issues. If you, or anyone you know needs advice about their divorce or family or legal matter, call us, we can help. When a marriage fails there are many issues that may need to be addressed, issues of child custody and visitations schedules, financial support of your children, issues of spousal support, and the division of all of your community property and belongings, including bank accounts, cars, and retirement accounts. Also, one party or the other may be self-employed or own their own business, and that business is likely to be a community property asset and will need to be valued and divided between the parties one way or another. There are also many other family law issues that we help our clients with, such as paternity cases, annulments, domestic violence, grandparent rights, and more. If you are involved in a Family Law matter, please look around our website for more information and videos on a number of different topics. We know you will have questions, if you are comfortable with talking to a Family Law Attorney, call us, we truly are happy to talk to you.
How does it all work?
Explore the wealth of information we’ve provided here to help familiarize yourself with some of the processes regarding divorce, custody and support, paternity, or other legal services that are available to you. We’ve also made a broad range of additional articles and testimonials available to you.
Where do I begin?
We can help you through your toughest of times, whether you’re ready to o move on from your marriage, or if you have child custody and child support issues, or whether you’re struggling with spousal support or domestic violence. It all starts with a simple call and we’ll be happy to provide you with a consultation at no cost.
Would you like to have a free case consultation with to a Senior divorce attorney over the phone? Just submit your details and we’ll be in touch shortly. You can also email us if you would prefer.
