Indianapolis Family Law Attorney

Client relationships become true and lasting friendships. For example, we first represented Jane in 2006 for her divorce, which included custody and domestic violence issues. Since then, Jane has used our firm for other legal issues she’s had through the years; she’s referred members of her immediate and extended family to us, as well as co-workers and friends; we’ve watched each other’s children grow up and each other’s significant life events through Facebook. That representation was 17 years ago, and this fall, Jane and 3 of us from the firm (Amy, Janet, and Jessica) are all going together to see Pink in concert.

We challenged attorneys and staff to meet a visionary annual revenue goal for 2019. In response to the announcement of this goal, someone joked, "What will we get if we hit the visionary goal?" Jessica replied that she would take them all to Mexico, all expenses paid. It was clear in October 2019 that we were going to meet the goal. Jessica told the whole firm to make sure they had their passports, and she booked our trip at an all-inclusive resort in the Riviera Maya for January 2020. Our team met and surpassed the visionary goal we set. The trip brought our whole team closer together. 

Sometimes we learn lessons about what NOT to do from other attorneys. For example, Jessica was representing a client in a post-divorce case. The court order in place required child support to be paid by Income Withholding Order sent to the obligor’s employer. In this case, the obligor changed jobs. Both Jessica and our client had tried to get the obligor’s new employer information, to no avail. Rather than file a contempt action (our client was not interested in punishing the obligor), Jessica filed a motion to compel the obligor to provide his new employer information, and the court set a hearing. The day before the hearing, Jessica got a call from the obligor’s attorney, who requested that we vacate the hearing to have time to exchange discovery. Jessica told him she’d happily vacate the hearing if he would provide the name and location of the obligor’s employer. He refused and was so smug he told Jessica to "bring her checkbook” to the hearing. Contrary to opposing counsel's confidence that Jessica would end up paying his fees, his client was ordered to pay Jessica's attorney fees! It never pays to be smug.

There are situations in which the best option is not always litigation or may not require the hiring of an attorney. We try to look at all options - legal and otherwise - to help the client find a solution. About 5 years ago, a lovely lady on the far side of 50 came in because she was unable to get her driver’s license renewed because she could not produce all of the documents the BMV requires. The issue was that she could not produce adequate documentation for her name. She had been married by common law in another state (common law marriage is not recognized in Indiana), and she had adopted her husband's last name. Subsequently, she was divorced, but her divorce decree made no reference to her maiden name. She did not have a marriage certificate. When she came in, she was very frustrated and was prepared to hire our firm for a legal name change just so that she could get her Real ID driver’s license. Rather than giving her a fee agreement, Jessica looked up the documents required by the BMV and looked up the requirements for a passport. A passport application does not require any name change documentation, and the BMV would accept a passport in lieu of documentation of a name change. We helped her fill out the passport application, called Walgreens and set an appointment for her to get her passport photos immediately after leaving our office. We called a local post office branch and made a same-day appointment to submit her passport application. She incurred significantly lower costs to apply for a passport than the fees, costs, and time of petitioning for a name change.

Denise’s bio reflects her sense of humor. We deal with serious issues, issues that can have a huge impact on our clients and on our clients’ families. Levity often helps lighten the burden of shouldering those very real and very serious issues, even if just for a moment.