Family Law Paralegals
Family law paralegals may work in one of the most emotionally charged areas of law. As a family law paralegal, it is important that you refrain from becoming too emotionally involved with your clients so that you can assist them in a manner that is both practical and beneficial to those involved.
The term family law includes a lot of different aspects of law. Family law firms may decide to specialize in a particular aspect of family law rather than offering legal support for the many different types of family law.
For example, you may frequently see specialty attorneys such as divorce attorneys or adoption lawyers. So depending on what type of family law firm you work for, your duties may differ.
Here is a breakdown of different subspecialities within family law and common paralegal duties associated with each type:
Divorce
There will be many types of documents that will need to be prepared for divorce proceedings. A paralegal may be responsible for calendaring hearings and/or trials, assisting with preparation of documents concerning spousal support/alimony, marital settle agreements, custody rights, division of assets and debts, creating equitable distribution spreadsheets, and so on.
Depending on the complexity and the willingness to cooperate between the divorcing couple, the divorce process can take as little as a few months up to several years.
If issues cannot be resolved between two parties, even through mediation, then a trial may ensue which will create a lot of litigation duties for the paralegal, including pleadings, discovery, subpoenas, depositions, trials, settlements, and other processes.
An extension to the arena of divorce law will include child support issues, spousal support, paternity testing, child custody and visitation rights, and other related issues.
Adoption
There are different types of adoption under the larger umbrella of adoption law, these include open adoption, closed adoption, step-parent adoption, international adoption, and so on. As an adoption paralegal you may have duties including drafting petitions for adoption, calendaring and preparing for hearings, drafting post-adoption contract agreements, assisting with preparation of a contested adoption, and other legal matters involved with the many different types of adoption.
Marriage
Marriage is also a subspecialty of family law and paralegal duties can include drafting prenuptial agreements, mediation and arbitration agreements, discovery requests and responses, premarital and cohabitation agreements, and assisting with preparing petitions for annulment of marriage. A marriage law firm may also work with cases involving common law marriages, same-sex marriages, domestic partnerships, etc.
Family law differs from state to state and even from county to county, so it is important that a family law paralegal keep current with the changing laws in his or her local region.
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