Family & Matrimonial

Family law is a very emotionally-charged area that requires lawyers who are sensitive to the nature of domestic relations issues and their impact on all affected parties, especially children.

The family law team at Dickinson Wright is among the most experienced and respected in the state of Michigan. We help our clients with the full range of domestic relations issues, including: divorce, child custody and parenting time, pre-marital agreements, spousal and child support, paternity and interstate and international family law matters. Our objective is always to help our clients solve problems, not create or exacerbate them.

Whenever possible, we encourage out-of-court settlements. Our experience shows that most contested case can be settled in this way. When litigation is necessary, our clients benefit from our team’s extensive experience in state courts and in private arbitration.

In complex divorce cases, our clients can rest assured that the team at Dickinson Wright has in-depth knowledge of all related law areas (tax, pension and retirement fund, estate planning and probate, bankruptcy law and tort litigation), in addition to laws related to child-related and property issues.

Some of the family law practice’s areas of expertise include:

• Divorce, paternity, child support and spousal support (alimony), including representation of professionals, entertainers, sports figures and other high-profile or high net-worth individuals. 

• International disputes under the Hague Convention and disputes involving situations in which a parent has improperly taken a child to another state. 

• Prenuptial and postnuptial agreements involving complex business assets, inherited and gifted property and retirement accounts. 

• Division of pensions, profit sharing plans, employee stock option plans and other defined benefit and deferred compensation plans for both individuals and companies. 

• Representation of unmarried couples and same-sex couples in resolving issues concerning custody of children and division of property. 

• Acting as mediators or arbitrators (which we have been selected by the attorneys for the litigating parties to do in more than 1,200 cases).