New Orleans Divorce Lawyers

Divorce

A major life change like divorce requires making important and often difficult decisions about your future. This is why it’s essential to have an attorney on your side who is compassionate, knowledgeable, and ready to help you make choices in your family’s best interest.

New Orleans Divorce Attorney Camille Patti is a skilled advocate who will ensure the best possible outcome for your situation.

Making Informed Decisions

When going through the personal and stressful legal process, it’s important to have an experienced and responsive lawyer who you can trust to communicate with you, help you understand all the details involved in your divorce, and assist you in making well-informed decisions.

Camille establishes genuine connections with her clients. She will educate you on your options, communicate clearly and effectively, and provide the best possible representation for you.

Considerations for a Divorce

Some specific considerations for divorce in Louisiana include:

• State residency: one of the spouses must be domiciled in Louisiana at the time of filing for divorce
• Duration of the marriage
• Do you and your spouse have children?
• Did you and your spouse acquire community property that you need to divide?
• Do you want to pursue a no-fault divorce or allege that your spouse was at fault in the breakup of your marriage? Currently, the grounds for fault in Louisiana are adultery, one spouse being convicted of a felony with a punishment of death or imprisonment at hard labor, and domestic abuse.
• Do you and your spouse have an amicable enough separation that you can agree on the issues surrounding your divorce, including child custody, child support, and division of assets? If so, you can choose flat fee, uncontested options and save yourself time, money, and stress.
• Was there domestic violence during the marriage? Even if you pursue a no-fault option for divorce, domestic violence still affects custody and support.

Camille will guide you through these considerations and help you make the right decisions for you throughout the divorce process.

Uncontested Divorces in Louisiana

An uncontested divorce takes place when all issues are agreed upon by both parties. In these situations, the almost-former spouse agrees to accept the divorce petition. Louisiana requires spouses living separate for a required length of time prior to finalizing the divorce.

• If there are minor children, you must live separate and apart without reconciliation for 365 days.
• If there are no minor children, you must live separate and apart for 180 days without reconciliation.
• You can file for divorce either prior to separation or after separation, but the divorce cannot be finalized until you have been separated for the requisite amount of time.
• Filing after you have already been separated results in a more streamlined legal process. Filing prior to separation gives you and your ex time to work out the legal details prior to finalizing your divorce.

If you need assistance with your uncontested divorce, Camille is ready to help you through the process.

Contested Divorces in Louisiana

A contested divorce takes place when spouses can’t agree, either on the divorce itself or the matters related to it. In reality, because of the no-fault divorce statutes, the things that spouses commonly fight about in contested divorces (aside from fault), are the ancillary matters related to divorce, like custody, support, and property partition. In contested divorces, the case will go to a judge who will have to decide issues such as child custody, spousal support, and property/debt division. Camille has helped numerous individuals work through contested divorce proceedings.

Division of Property in a Divorce (Property partition)

Louisiana is a community property state, which means that unless you and your partner have a pre or post-nuptial agreement, there is a presumption that all of the assets owned by either one of you at the time of divorce are owned 50-50. This is a rebuttable presumption—you can prove that property is in fact separate, but litigating a property partition in the absence of the agreement of the spouses can be a lengthy and therefore expensive process.

If you and your spouse can agree on the division of assets, then you can choose an uncontested partition package either as an add-on to your uncontested divorce or as a standalone option.

Efficient and Affordable Family Law Attorney

Family law issues affect people from all walks of life. All individuals, regardless of socioeconomic status, should have quality legal representation available for their situation.

Divorce fees often depend on how complicated the divorce is. If the spouses can come to an agreement, then that makes the process much more straightforward and affordable.

Camille believes affordable access to legal services is important, so she offers a variety of accessible pricing options, including:

• Payment plans
• Limited scope legal services
• Flat fee packages
• Hourly billing

To learn more about limited-scope legal services and flat fee packages, or how to make your divorce more affordable, contact Camille today.

Contact Camille Patti for Your Divorce

If you need a New Orleans divorce lawyer, reach out to Camille today. Her experience and affordable legal services are designed to provide families like yours the best possible options during divorce.