Serving Orange County   Since 1999

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Reputable, Experienced, and Trusted Family Law Attorneys

Your Family is unique & important

Your Family Law case is too!

Orange County Divorce and Child Custody Attorneys

NEED AGGRESSIVE & EXPERIENCED REPRESENTATION?

Founding & Managing Attorney

Sr. Associate Attorney

Of Counsel

Certified Family Law Specialist State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization

Office Manager & Sr. Paralegal

Paralegal

andie-moos

Law Clerk

Jr. Paralegal

Top 10 Attorney Family Law Attorney 2022
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Orange County

Divorce and Family law Attorneys

TOP DIVORCE & FAMILY LAW REPRESENTATION IN ORANGE COUNTY

Pinkham & Associates is a dedicated Divorce and Family Law firm. We have been in practice for over twenty years. 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 aggressive 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 courtrooms.
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 note, 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.
Contact us to schedule a consultation and we will personally help you analyze your case and create a legal strategy.

RECENT REVIEWS

FEW RECENT RESULTS

Jennifer M.
They were so helpful! Everyone on the team really cares and puts in every effort to ensure that you get the best representation possible. I am so appreciative of all their hard work and how much time they put in. Thank you so much for all your team has done for me!
Stephanie P.
Doug and his team did a great job on my super complex case. They had to navigate through a lot because other side was everything but cooperative and they worked really hard and always kept me up to date with what was happening. Liby was always available for me and very attentive to all the details of my case. Thank you everyone!
Steven M.
I tried to represent myself in a simple divorce for 2.5 years with no success. After much judicial frustration I got smart and hired this firm, less than six months later I was divorced. Communication was just right, keeping me informed but not overwhelmed....Liby the office manager runs a tight ship. Mr. Pinkham is engaged and accountable.
Gunasekar A.
I worked with Cathy and Liby. Happy with their service and got my case won. Cathy is knowledge and good communicator is legal terms. I would recommend their service for anyone seeking help on their family law matters.
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RECENT REVIEWS

FEW RECENT RESULTS

Rolando R.
Mr. R hired us as his 3rd and final divorce attorney. He had a difficult set of facts, and we had two very aggressive attorneys on the other side. Attorneys that Rolando’s previous counsel said she could not handle and advised him to pick a bigger, better firm to represent him. He hired us. The biggest issue our client had was a very rare issue that his previous counsel had never dealt with and had provided our client with and as a result, gave Rolando bad legal advice. Neither of the attorneys on the other side, nor the judge, knew the law on this issue, so our case was obviously forced to trial. At trial, we were able to prove that the retirement that Rolando received from his employer (due to an injury sustained on the job) was in fact his separate property, even though the injury occurred during the marriage and even though all of the retirement was earned during his marriage. We literally had to teach the judge the law before she would award the retirement to our client. N In the end, the retirement account was warded to our client as his separate property.
Alias R.
Mr. R hired us for a divorce and custody battle. He lived in Washington State (only a couple miles from British Columbia Canada). During a visit with his toddler son, he learned some disturbing information about the mother of the child and our client refused to return the child to mom. Later, mom filed the action to return the child to California. Mr. R hired us to represent him. After a brutal litigation battle, we went to trial. In the end, the judge order Sole Legal and primary physical custody of their son to our client. The boy was allowed to continuing living with dad in Washington State and our client receives child support from mom to this day. It was a hard-fought battle, but we ended up with the most incredible orders for our client.
Lynda G.
Lynda J. hired our firm twice. The first time she hired us was for her Request for Order regarding Child custody and visitation. We did very well for her and she later re-hired us because she wanted to move 1,200 miles away. Move-away cases are VERY difficult but we were successful. Her new husband got a job out of state and she needed to move away with him along with her children from a previous marriage. She was allowed to move away with the children and a new visitation/travel schedule was arranged for the opposing party.
Mr. K.
Mr. K. is a police officer in a very tough LA suburb city. Mr. K hired us after a lady he was dating became pregnant and decided to bring a restraining order against him as a means of gaining favorable custody orders. This is especially complicated and serious because a police officer will lose his job, and career, if a successful restraining order is won against them. The other party lied about actions she claimed Mr. K did to her. She lied about threats he supposedly made to her. In the end, we had a full trial on the issues and the judge believed our side and dismissed all restraining orders. Mr. K had since refereed at least 3 of his friends and family to call on our firm for legal assistance. Mr. Pinkham considers himself an expert when it comes to defending against restraining orders.
Brian H.
Brian hired us to defend against a restraining order. This case was very difficult as our client had done some things that were wholly inappropriate, so we had to employ every trick and argument we had learned over the 20+ years of experience. We were forced to a full trial that lasted 3 days. My final words in my closing argument, while the other side is crying and acting distraught at the counsel table, were these, “If the petitioner is ACTUALLY in fear of Mr. H., then her fears are unreasonable and irrational, and Mr. H. cannot be held responsible for another person’s irrational fears.” I rested my case and the judge looked right at the Petitioner, almost stared her down as if the judge was reading her face in a poker game. In the end, the judge looked back at me and said, “I agree with you Mr. Pinkham. I believe the Petitioner is afraid, but I do not believe that fear is either warranted or rational under these circumstances.” And she denied the restraining order against our client.
Joseph B.
We at Pinkham & Associates are all very proud of the outcome in this case. Mr. B. hired us after firing his previous counsel. The parties were locked in a bitter battle over spousal support. The parties had been married for over 20 years and my client, Mr. B. was a long-time police officer making well in excess of $100,000/yr. His spousal support payment was huge and he was looking at paying support for at least 20 more years, if not for life. Frankly, if I was on the other side, I would have been fighting hard too. In every normal circumstance, my client’s wife SHOULD have received about $2,500/mo., for at least 20 years. We fought and fought and may have broken the other side down, but in the end, the other side finally agreed to 2 years at $2,200/mo., then TERMINATE spousal support FOR LIFE. It was truly and unbelievable and unexpected outcome, but we earned it and our client is eternally grateful for this deal.
Vicky T.
Mrs. T was a referral from a family friend. Mrs. T. had an adult, special needs child and needed support for that adult child. This matter had some very complex issues regarding the adult child support as well as complications due to the fact that the parties were once married, then divorced, then remarried. But, in doing so, the dates of the first marriage, divorce and remarriage, did NOT benefit our client as neither “marriage “ was a “long-term” marriage for spousal support purposes. As such, this became a hotly contested divorce on those two issues. Sine both sides were adamant that we were right, we were forced to go to a full trial. At trial, first, we were able to show that her adult son did in fact have special needs that rose to the level that father needed to pay adult child support. And, we were able to locate some very obscure case law that supported our argument that we should be allowed to ADD the length of time of the first marriage to the length of time in the second marriage to make it the same as ONE long-term marriage….and the judge agreed!. Our client received orders for both, adult child support as well as spousal support, based on a long-term marriage.
Andrew W.
When Mr. W hire us, he had a history of serious drug abuse but had been sober for a short time. Our client’s sister brough a guardianship case to take custody of his children. Luckily, our client’s parents stepped in to assist with the attorneys fees and parenting help as grandparents. We were able, even under the drug charges, to keep custody of the children with our client. He stayed sober and after a year-long battle, we were able to secure full permanent custody to our client. Our client is a great father. He is also strong, happy and still sober today.
Johnny G.
When Mr. G. hired, he was due to get married in less than a month and just found out he was still married because his prior divorce had never been completed. Everyone was planning on a wedding in a month, it was clearly an emergency. (We see a lot of these cases where the court rejects Judgments because they were done improperly by non-attorneys or “paralegals”.) Mr. G. brought us all of his past paperwork and court filings for an initial review. We figured out the (several) problems that he had and we knew we could fix them, just not sure if we could do it in a month. In our filing, we wrote a special letter to the clerk of the court explaining Mr. G’s special circumstances and because of our reputation and good standing with the judges and clerks, that clerk went out of her way to get this done immediately so our client would get married on time. I can't explain the happiness and relief our client felt and expressed. This was a truly beautiful feel-good case.
Paul B.
In this case, Paul B retained us after his wife hired the most expensive divorce attorney in Orange County. We fought hard for our client from beginning to end. In the end, we forced the other side to buckle and settle on some figures that benefited our client more than their client.
Logan S.
When Logan S. hired us he had already finished his divorce some time before. He hired us to handle a post-judgment custody issue. Mom wanted to enroll child in a school by her home and our client did not agree. When we actually started the work, the opposing party brought up several additional issues that also needed to be litigated. In the end, we were able to reach an agreement outside of court that more than satisfied our client and save both sides a ton of time and money.
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Family Law Only

At Pinkham & Associates APLC, 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.

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    How Much Your Divorce Will Cost

    The cost of a divorce depends on many factors. If you hire attorney it will cost more, but you will get your divorce done correctly the first time. it is always more expensive if you have to redo the paperwork in the future. Aside from attorney’s fees, there is a filing of $435 in most counties in California. There are a few counties that have slightly higher fees. Also, keep in mind that you are not required to hire an attorney, but it may be very difficult to complete your divorce properly without legal help.
    There are a number of ways to get your divorce completed.

    You can hire a Divorce Attorney generally to handle your entire Divorce, also known as Dissolution of Marriage or Dissolution of Domestic Partnership. The total cost of a Divorce Attorney will be dictated by three major factors; the first being the attorney’s hourly rate which can range anywhere from $300 to $700 per hour in Orange County; the second factor is the total amount of hours necessary to complete your divorce, and the third major factor relates to the number of issues or complication of issues in your particular divorce. The more complicated, or the greater the number of issues in your particular divorce, the more expensive it will be to complete. Lastly, you should be aware that the amount of animosity between the parties is a large factor. Obviously, the greater the animosity between the parties, the more time it will take to fight it out and therefore the greater the expense. So, unless you know in advance exactly how many hours your divorce would take and what that hourly rate will be, it is impossible to determine how much an attorney will cost to complete it. However, an experienced (10+ years) and knowledgeable attorney can save you thousands of dollars in legal fees and countless hours in unnecessary legal battles. The right attorney would have done it hundreds, if not thousands, of times. They can see dozens of red flags where you would be convinced everything is fine and they should ensure you get the best outcome.

    You can also hire an attorney to simply do the paperwork for you, sort of on an A La Carte basis. For example, we charge a flat fee to assist some clients with filing their initial divorce paperwork.

    How We Can Help

    Experienced Family Law Firm in Orange County California

    Divorce Lawyer

    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.

    Hiring Us as Your

    Orange County Divorce Attorneys

    A Note to Our Potential New Clients

    Anyone who is seeking to hire a family law or divorce attorney should know that the choice of the attorney is one of the most critical decisions that will make a difference to the final outcome of their case. While it is an emotionally overwhelming period at a personal level for anyone in this situation, it is time to be objective and make a well-considered decision about the type of family law firm to hire. Here are a few important reasons why Pinkham & Associates is the choice for many clients who are focused on achieving the desired results to their family law or divorce case.
    At Pinkham & Associates, we have acquired a deep knowledge and authoritative expertise in handling divorce and family law cases in Orange County, California because that is our sole area of practice for the last 20 years. We do not distract ourselves by dabbling into any or all kinds of areas of law. For example, we refuse to accept cases related to personal injury, criminal law, bankruptcy, or any other area. Our firm has steadfastly continued to focus only on divorce and family cases all these years. As a result, Pinkham & Associates has acquired the skills, knowledge and experience as a specialist in this area, and built an outstanding reputation as a family law and divorce law firm with a very high success rate.
    We earned a great amount of respect and trust from our clients, as well as other attorneys and Family Law judges, over the years. The credit for it goes both to Douglas Pinkham, the founding attorney, and the entire team of lawyers and paralegals who have been with us. We are proud of upholding the highest ethics and standards of the legal profession throughout the past two decades. We believe integrity and commitment to our clients is more valuable than anything else. That is the reason why clients believe in us and recommend us to others, and that has been our firm’s biggest strength over the years. We are committed to never trade ethics and integrity for anything. Our team is also exceptionally knowledgeable about California divorce law, and our deep understanding of the intricacies and subtleties of the law often becomes the winning edge in a client’s case.
    One of the traps that a majority of lawyers get into is that they start believing that every case is the same. They start giving each case the same treatment, and as a result, they get into the cycle of taking on far more cases than they can actually do justice to. With Pinkham & Associates, clients have the assurance that they will receive exclusive, personalized attention to their case at every level until it is resolved to its best possible outcome. The greatest learning and the greatest principle over 20 years that we abide by is that every single divorce and family law case is different, and should be treated as such. Each divorce is unique, each family dynamic is unique, and the children’s needs and desires in each family are unique. The Custody and Visitation issues in your particular case are going to be different. There could be issues of Domestic Violence and those are always very individual. You may have a specific concern with regard to a retirement account or some other property. You may have a case where one or both of you owned a piece of property or part of your retirement from before marriage and that needs to be discussed and dealt with. You may have issues of business ownership or self-employment income and those are always tricky, and more. These are all issues that are going to be different in every single divorce case. This is why Douglas Pinkham, the founding attorney, will personally sit down with every client and deep dive into their highly individual issues related to the case. Our team will work closely with the client at every step to tailor a united pursuit of their best interests, their desire and the best outcome in each case.

    While we, at Pinkham & Associates, have the reputation of being an aggressive law firm that is fiercely protective of its clients’ interests, we also recognize that sometimes it is way more valuable to play it smarter, and subtle to achieve an outcome that could not have been achieved using standard aggressive methods.

    Understanding those subtleties and nuances of a divorce or family law case requires highly personalized involvement and attention from the attorney. At many law firms, clients may experience that they meet with the principal one time and never see him or her again. That does not happen at Pinkham & Associates. Although the firm has exceptionally talented associates and a highly dedicated paralegal, when clients hire Pinkham & Associates, they get Douglas Pinkham. You will meet with Douglas personally and he will go through the issues and process together with you. Throughout the process, when you want to speak to him, he will be personally available. Douglas will be personally litigating your matter in court. Unless there is some relatively benign issue or a small, less important hearing in court where an associate may be present to save you some money, it will be Douglas standing next to you and fighting for you in court.

    However, this personalized attention to your divorce case will not come at the cost of financial prudence. The research work and writing assignments, some document preparation, filing, and other work that can and should be handled by paralegals, will be handled by them most professionally to save you on costs. The bottom line remains that when you wish to speak to Douglas, you will have the opportunity to speak to him personally. Recognizing the contingencies and emergencies that may arise in sensitive divorce and family law cases, Douglas strives to make himself available to his clients even on nights and weekends.

    If you are ready to hire an experienced and dedicated divorce and family law attorney in Orange County, California, call Pinkham & Associates now to speak to Douglas personally. Your initial consultation is free and we will be happy to provide some free legal advice and help you determine whether we are indeed the right Family Law firm to represent you.
    (714) 730-0111