A Family Law Blog by Patrick Songy
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SEPARATION WITH INTEGRITY
A Divorce Lawyer's Lessons from Practice

Falling Off the Horse: Children's View of Parents During a Divorce
Brene Brown shares a great story in one of her TED talks about a father who came with his daughters to a book-signing she was doing. As...

Dating and Divorce
"Want to turn an easy divorce into a hard divorce? Date someone while the divorce hasn't been finalized yet. Want to make it really hard?...

No Perfect Messenger, No Perfect Message - Diplomacy and Divorces
Often, when clients and I are preparing the initial paperwork for a divorce, there is major agonizing over the phrasing of the cover...

Epilogue: Talking to Your Adult Children About Divorce
Sometimes, my clients want to avoid legal conflicts because they would be difficult or costly. I certainly understand that, and sometimes...

Guest Employment Law Blog: Can I lose my job if I don’t get vaccinated?
The Guest Blog this week comes from Deno Millikan, PLLC partner Joel Nichols, whose employment law expertise has been highly sought after...

Responding to "Spaghetti Allegations" - What To Do When Everything Is Thrown Against the Wall
There is a tactic in family law litigation that I jokingly call the "Spaghetti strategy." This consists of a party coming up with every...

The Buttered Toast Principle - Watching Another Parent Make Mistakes
One of the hardest things a parent can do is separate from the other parent and watch in anguish as the other parent makes a mess of...

The Value of Another Set of Eyes
When I am not practicing family law, I practice archery. This has been a very enriching practice for me, and sometimes there are some...

The Perils of Putting Off the Divorce
Lots of people put off getting divorced. The reasons are not hard to understand. Divorces are terrifying, expensive, mysterious, and...

Mountains and Molehills - What to do when small things become battlefields
The Marine Corps publishes a manual called “Warfighting,” which includes several concise essays on core aspects of Marine outlook and...

War and Roses - What Type of Lawyer to Hire?
I am not in the habit of making recommendations for non-divorce books on my blog, but in this case, I think it is worth making an...

Chaos and Temporary Orders - You Missed an Issue!
When the parties go to court to get temporary orders in a divorce, there is a staggering number of moving pieces. Parties have to hammer...

Prenuptial Agreements - Why, What, How, and When?
There is a popular misconception that prenuptial agreements are only issues for the fabulously wealthy. This could not be farther from...

"He's such a narcissist!" - the Personality Disorder and the Myth
In my experience, there appear to always be popular psychological terms (usually diagnoses) that become popular in common usage. In the...

BIFF - the Art of Emailing and Texting Difficult Co-Parents
If you are in a high conflict divorce (or high conflict co-parenting after a divorce), there is going to be a recommendation that you...

Decision Making for People with Traumatic Thought Processes
One of the challenges people face in divorces, typically in cases with abuse, is that there can be very legitimate conflict between one’s...

Differing Grief Arcs - Why People React So Differently to Break-Ups
Let me know if this sounds familiar: You are in a romantic relationship. Your partner announces that he/she/they want to end the...

Trials Pt 2: The Actual Event
A few weeks ago, we addressed the processes involved in getting ready for trial. This post, we will talk about the trial itself, and I...

Litigating with the Future In Mind - Aggressive Lawyers
There are lots of different types of lawyers who practice family law. Many have very different methods. Some attorneys might go to trial...



















