Seattle Divorce Services: Innovative Approaches. Reasonable Solutions.

What would you like your divorce to look like? Even complex, high asset divorces can be handled efficiently and respectfully. A Seattle divorce attorney can help parents find ways to work together for their children — even when cooperating seems impossible. We have seen how the right approach can obtain results our clients never imagined.

If You Could Choose, What Would You Want for Your Divorce?

  • More problem-solving, less fighting
  • Experienced and compassionate advice
  • Resolutions tailored to your needs
  • A clear plan for successful co-parenting
  • Dispute resolution options

How Do I Know Divorce is the Right Option? 

At Seattle Divorce Services, our goal is to help you build a better life. If you decide that you want to reconcile with your spouse, we don’t try to pressure you to proceed with the divorce. With decades of experience, our divorce attorneys bring a unique perspective to your case and can provide you with honest advice regarding whether divorce is best for you. We can even refer you to a family therapist who can work with both of you to help the two of you decide whether to divorce or reconcile.

Our Seattle Family Lawyers Believe That:

  • Complex cases need a more sophisticated approach.
  • Creativity can help achieve favorable divorce outcomes, even for the most complicated divorces.
  • Skillful and compassionate family law negotiation creates better and more cost-effective results.
  • Healthy family restructuring starts with preserving relationships whenever possible.

Read Our Guide to Divorce and Your Child

Your Divorce Options

Litigation

Litigation refers to resolving matters through the courts and negotiating settlements based on what a court is likely to do. An important part of the process is helping you define your goals and helping plan the process for working toward those goals.
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Collaborative Divorce

Collaborative divorce is a nonadversarial way for divorce attorneys to work together to help their respective clients resolve their divorce issues. In a collaborative process, we seek to help the parties handle their conflict without causing further damage to the relationship.
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Divorce Mediation

Mediation is a process in which opposing parties attempt to reach an agreement outside of court with the help of a neutral third-party facilitator. This can be a good option for couples who have less need for professional advice in their negotiations.
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How We Work

A Seattle Divorce Attorney to Take the Stress Out of Going to Court

We work to de-escalate conflict rather than create it, because unneeded legal brawling accomplishes little while costing a great deal. As experienced Seattle divorce attorneys, we work to efficiently negotiate a positive result for you. In court, we prefer to focus on solutions rather than personal attacks.

Tailored Negotiations

Our Seattle family law attorneys and divorce lawyers believe that when we can reach carefully crafted negotiated agreements, with solutions tailored to your specific needs and circumstances, the agreements will be more durable, you will be happier with the results, and your needs and the needs of your children will be better met.

Dispute Resolution for Sensitive Family Law Matters

In addition to traditional representation, we often use the collaborative approach, working with a professional team to address the emotional, financial, parenting, and legal needs of both parties to develop creative solutions to tough issues. We also provide mediation if that is a better fit for the client.

Low-Cost Consultations with Top Seattle Divorce Lawyers

Since your circumstances are unique, we offer a low-cost consultation to help you better understand your options. Contact us to schedule a time to come in to talk about your divorce situation and how we might be able to help you.

Meet Our Attorneys

Have Questions? Our Seattle Family Lawyer Has Answers

Divorce law falls under the more general practice area of family law. While our firm is called Seattle Divorce Services and we often refer to ourselves as divorce lawyers, as Seattle family lawyers, we actually provide representation in the following matters in addition to divorce:

Washington is a “no-fault” divorce state, which means that you do not need to prove that the other party committed adultery or did something else that would justify a divorce. Instead, all you need to testify to is that the marriage is “irretrievably broken,” i.e., you can no longer get along, and there is no hope for reconciliation.

Thanks to television and movies, many people think that they won’t be able to get a divorce if their spouse doesn’t agree or “sign the papers.” Fortunately, this is not the case in Washington State. While you must notify your spouse that you are seeking a divorce, the law does not require them to consent or agree to the proceeding. If they do not respond to the divorce proceeding, our Seattle divorce attorney will seek a default order that allows you to move forward with your case. 

Finding a good family lawyer is essential, but we place emphasis on finding the right lawyer for you. The internet is a powerful resource, but the search results can be overwhelming. It can be difficult to determine which firm or lawyer is a good fit for you.

When searching for a Seattle family lawyer online, review their websites carefully – read their practice pages and blog posts to get a sense of their approach and experience. For instance, you will find that at our firm we emphasize a less adversarial approach aimed at preserving the ability to cooperate. Finally, we offer a low cost initial consultation. This is your opportunity to meet the lawyer in person and see if they would be a good fit for you.

You need to take full advantage of your first meeting with your prospective lawyer, so you should come prepared to discuss your situation in detail. You should also be ready to ask questions about the following:

  • How they bill for their fees and what they estimate it would cost for them to handle your case
  • What they believe the outcome of your case will be
  • Whether they see any potential issues that could make your case challenging
  • How long they think it would take to resolve your case
  • What course of action they recommend
  • How they approach cases such as yours from the perspective of a general strategy

An experienced Seattle family lawyer should be able to provide you with an answer to these questions (although estimates of final costs are very general given the many things that can happen over the course of a case that affect final cost). Before hiring a lawyer, you want to be confident that they have the knowledge and experience to handle your case efficiently and get the best possible results for you.

While you aren’t obligated to hire a lawyer to negotiate a parenting plan, a Seattle family lawyer can provide valuable guidance on what would be considered reasonable by a court, and how to increase the chances of coming to agreement by proposing a parenting plan that works well for both parents. Your lawyer can also help identify potential issues and use their experience to help navigate the practical aspects of your custody arrangement. They can also provide you with advice if your co-parent isn’t honoring the terms of your parenting plan and take whatever steps are necessary to enforce your current agreement.

Child custody can be a difficult issue, particularly when the relationship between the parents becomes adversarial. When needed, your lawyer can handle the negotiations on your behalf and help diffuse some of the tension while also making sure that your and your child’s interests are protected.

If you and your spouse have already agreed on who will keep the house, then the court will likely honor that agreement. If you are unable to agree, then the answer becomes more complicated. One of the court’s goals in a divorce proceeding is to arrive at the least disruptive solution. As a result, the spouse who has already moved out is less likely to retain possession of the house if the other spouse has remained in the home and wishes to keep it. That said, keeping the house isn’t always in your best interest, depending on the financial impacts your divorce may have. A Seattle divorce lawyer can provide invaluable guidance in deciding what to do about the marital home.