Famly Law Section

Pitfalls in Family Law Practice

1. Causing more pain for the parties. Unlike most areas of law, when the court proceeding is over, the involvement of the parties is not. In family law there are often children involved and the parties will continue to have contact. They must be able to work together for the best interests of the child and creating permanent damage will not help them accomplish that.

2. Thinking that family law cases are easy. Family law has become a very complex area of law. The procedures for juvenile court and for practice before the Domestic Relations Commissioners are different than other civil practice.

3. Failure to respond to inquiries by the client. A large number of complaints to the Utah State Bar are made because the client felt they were not getting necessary information.

4. Failure to understand the psychological aspects of family law. People who are in the midst of family crisis often need psychological help to deal with the issues. Their responses are often based on emotion and not on reasonable behavior. It is important that you understand the issues with which the parties may be dealing.

5. Understanding options in family law. Litigation and the adversarial process are not the only options to settlement of family law issues. Mediation, arbitration and collaborative law are also ways of handling the issues.