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
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.
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.
Find out more »
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.
Find out more »
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.
Find out more »
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.
Janel Ostrem
Dedicated Advocate, Tailored Approach
Mark Alexander
Sound advice, calm presence, clear explanations
Michelle Danley
Clarifying the Way Forward
Nathan Cliber
Creative and Compassionate Transitions
Alana Brown
Stop Fighting, Start Living
Michael V. Fancher
Managing Attorney
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:
- Child support
- Spousal support (commonly referred to as alimony)
- Visitation
- Paternity
- Parenting plans
- Pre- and postnuptial agreements
- Legal separation
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.
Seattle Divorce Services made me comfortable by giving me a clear understanding of the process I was going to enter. Knowing the steps made for a better experience. Mark was personable and gave very fast responses to my questions and opposing council.
Although divorce is downright awful for pretty much everyone involved, I am grateful for Seattle Divorce Services. My attorney, his paralegal, and even the receptionist were all so kind and attentive during some truly difficult times in my life. I am especially appreciative of the professionalism and calm demeanor that my attorney brought to the table when I felt anything but. I would give them more stars if I could.
I worked with Mark Alexander on my divorce. I hired him as my pro se attorney while doing most of the paperwork and legwork myself. His calm demeanor and knowledge about maneuvering the legal system and not allowing me to give up my rights and desires was invaluable. He was especially helpful guiding me through the online court system for submissions and locating progress reports. Mark was so professional and retained a personal touch throughout this painful journey.
I'm an attorney, practicing in business law, estate planning and probate. When I got divorced, I thought it was important to obtain quality legal representation for two reasons. First, I do not practice family law. Second, I do not think it's wise for an attorney to represent herself. I know many family law attorneys in Seattle. I chose to work with Mike Fancher at Seattle Divorce Services. I received excellent representation, good customer service, and high quality legal advice. I highly recommend this firm.
I just wrapped my divorce process and worked with Janel Ostrem at Seattle Divorce Services for it. I am incredibly pleased with the outcome, the representation I received, and the entire process along the way. We settled via mediation, and Janel was able to flex on both collaborative style and, when it was needed, being litigious. She was incredibly efficient, which was great in that it kept my costs down. Best, though, she was able to get me and keep me focused on the right 'bigger picture' issues, which at times was a challenge for me in getting caught up in the moment and the immediate issue or argument at hand. In the end, that was critical in getting me to a positive, cost-effective settlement. I highly recommend Janel and SDS and would be happy to share more of my experiences if it would be helpful to anyone evaluating and choosing a divorce lawyer.