San Francisco & San Mateo County family law
Contested divorce, child custody, support and property division in the San Francisco and San Mateo County family courts. You work directly with me, from the first call to the last hearing.
Practice areas
Contested and negotiated dissolutions, from the first filing through judgment. Date-of-separation disputes, automatic restraining orders, disclosures, and trial when settlement isn't possible.
Parenting plans, move-away cases, custody evaluations, and emergency orders. Preparation for Family Court Services mediation in San Francisco and San Mateo.
Guideline calculations, bonus and equity compensation, self-employment income, long-marriage spousal support, and modifications when circumstances change.
Houses, retirement accounts and pensions, stock options and RSUs, closely held businesses, separate-property tracing and reimbursement claims.
Requesting and defending against domestic violence restraining orders, and managing their effect on custody and support.
Modifying custody and support orders, enforcing judgments, dividing retirement benefits that were never transferred, and set-aside motions.
How I work
Family law cases are won by deciding early what matters and spending the client's money there. Before anything is filed, we agree on the two or three outcomes that actually change your life, and the plan is built around those. Everything else is handled efficiently or conceded.
I draft my own pleadings, take my own hearings, and return my own calls. You will always know what was filed, what it cost, and what comes next.
Regularly before the San Francisco Unified Family Court and the San Mateo County Superior Court in Redwood City, and in neighboring Bay Area counties when a matter calls for it. Local practice matters: each court has its own mediation process, scheduling habits, and bench.
Common questions
My practice is centered on the San Francisco and San Mateo County family courts, where I appear regularly and know the local procedures. I take matters in neighboring Bay Area counties when the case calls for it.
Hourly, with an engagement agreement that sets out the rate, the deposit to open the file, and monthly itemized billing. We discuss the likely cost of the first phase of your case at the consultation so there are no surprises.
With me. I don't hand cases to junior lawyers or paralegals. The person you meet at the consultation is the person who drafts your papers and stands up in court.
It is a credential issued by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization to attorneys who have passed a specialist examination, practiced family law substantially for years, and been evaluated by judges and other lawyers. Fewer than one in twenty California family law attorneys hold it.
It's the best time. Decisions made in the weeks before filing, about money, timing, and what you say to your spouse, shape the whole case.
From the blog
The summons, the automatic restraining orders, disclosures, and the first hearing, in order.
Why the calculator is only the starting point once a marriage passes ten years.
What the mediator is listening for, and the mistakes that follow parents into the courtroom.
Most people call after something has already gone wrong. The better time is before. Tell me where things stand and I'll tell you what I would do first.
Request a consultationor call 213.477.3732