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Tag: Adoption

Man signing legal paperwork with happy woman and child. Adoption concept.

What Does an Adoption Lawyer Do?

Written by George McCoy on . Posted in Family Law. No Comments on What Does an Adoption Lawyer Do?

When you decide that adoption is the right choice for your family, there are a series of steps that need to be taken. Finding an agency, choosing your child, and being matched with them are just a few. One of the steps people often overlook is the need to hire an adoption lawyer. An adoption lawyer is a legal professional who specializes in adoption-related services pertaining to law. Finding an adoption lawyer in Portland, Oregon, is as easy as finding a firm that deals with family law. Warren Allen LLP has lawyers that deal specifically with familial issues, such as issues regarding custody and adoptions.

Though it may seem like a cut-and-dry situation, adopting a child actually involves a large amount of legal work. Because there are so many things at stake when it comes to adoption, it’s best to hire someone who is familiar with and can walk you through any legal requirements necessary. They can assist you in making the decisions that will help you to expand your family and have a positive adoption experience.

Here are just a few of the things that adoption lawyers do.

Help Find an Agency

Adoption lawyers can assist you in even the earliest steps of the adoption process. That can include finding the best adoption agency in the area. An adoption agency is a licensed establishment that can let you place or adopt a child. A good adoption agency will assist your adoption lawyer in making the adoption process as easy as possible, and an established adoption lawyer will have good working relationships with local agencies.

The need to find an agency can be for prospective adoptive parents as well as parents looking to place a child with a prospective family. An agency can help you through this process, but an adoption lawyer can protect you and all of your legal rights before, during, and after. Having both an adoption agency and an adoption lawyer is the most popular and secure way that people move through the adoption process.

Complete Identified Adoptions

Not all adoptions happen in the same way. In some instances, families decide that they want to bring a child into their family without knowing who the child is beforehand. On the other hand, some families have already matched with a birth mother and don’t need the help of an adoption agency to place a child in their care. This can happen when the child is a distant member of a family or the child of a close friend. These types of situations are called identified adoption and require the help of an adoption lawyer to make them official.

Another form of identified adoption can involve stepparents. In some cases, a stepparent may wish to be the legal guardian of their stepchild through adoption. Despite the child being identified already, having an adoption lawyer can still work in your favor. They can assist you in collecting the proper paperwork and notifying the child’s birth parent, as well as represent you if you end up going to court.

Take Care of Paperwork

When you decide that adoption is the right choice for your family, you’ll need to fill out a variety of paperwork to make it official. Having all the necessary paperwork and filling it out correctly is what can officially establish someone as a parent. Not doing so can cause issues or delay the completion of your adoption. With the help of your adoption lawyer, you’ll be able to collect the proper paperwork and have it well organized by the time you need to present it.

One thing that people often overlook is the need to have an adoption lawyer even when you’re doing an identified adoption. Though you’ll skip the need to enlist an adoption agency to work on your behalf, there are still many legal steps you’ll need to take to secure adoption. Since that paperwork can differ from what is needed for traditional adoption, adoption lawyers can help you gather and present those documents as well.

Walk You Through the Requirements

There are various requirements that a prospective adoptive parent must meet in order to move forward. These conditions are different depending on the type of adoption you’re looking into. For instance, if you’re adopting a child from out of the country, families will need to be found eligible by not only US federal and state laws, but also the laws of the country you’re intending to adopt from.

Some of the other requirements include being a US citizen, being at least 25 years of age if you’re unmarried, and jointly adopting as a couple if you are married. You must also meet certain requirements that determine your suitability. These will require background checks, home studies, and fingerprinting. An adoption lawyer can help you understand the requirements and make sure you meet them all before attempting to move forward.

Provide Legal Council

No matter how you choose to move forward with the adoption process, you’ll likely face some challenging decisions. Those decisions will have consequences that can affect the adoption process now or later down the line. To make sure that your wishes are properly stated and that things go the way you’ve planned, it can be helpful to have an adoption lawyer speaking on your behalf. Adoption lawyers are familiar with the ins and outs of adoption law and can guide you in a direction that avoids any potential delays. Adoption lawyers can also provide legal services such as speaking on your behalf. Depending on the situation, you may need to go to court to complete your adoption process.

Assist You With Other Family Legal Issues

A great benefit to finding a good adoption lawyer is that they are usually well versed in other family law issues. Situations such as divorce, establishing paternity, separations, and custody all fall under the arena of family law, and establishing a good relationship with them now could make it easier for you to get their help in the future. Warren Allen LLP has a variety of lawyers in Portland, Oregon, that can assist with both adoption and other familial legal issues.

What Services Are Offered By Family Law Firms in Portland?

What Services Are Offered By Family Law Firms in Portland?

Written by George McCoy on . Posted in Family Law. No Comments on What Services Are Offered By Family Law Firms in Portland?

Family legal issues are some of the most sensitive topics to discuss, as they are deeply personal and often extremely important. When you can’t come to an agreement within your family about legal matters, it’s often best to enlist the help of a family law firm. Family law firms in Portland, Oregon, can help guide you through those difficult times and help you to come to an agreement that’s in the best interests of you and your family.

Family law firms deal with a variety of issues that can arise within families, including divorces, child custody agreements, adoptions, and much more. With the help of family law firms such as Warren Allen LLP, you can feel at ease knowing that knowledgeable professionals are on your side. If you’re having legal issues within your family, you may be able to benefit from hiring a lawyer from a family law firm. Here are a few of the services offered by family law firms.

Prenuptial Agreements

If you’re considering getting married and want to come up with a way to protect your assets in case of divorce, a prenuptial agreement may be a good choice for you. A prenuptial agreement is a contract that two people sign prior to becoming a married couple. What the contract states will be unique to each couple, but it’s generally a signed contract that explains how their assets will be divided if they get divorced. This could cover topics like property ownership, spousal support, and financial assets.

When the couple signs this agreement, they will have a much easier process of divorce should they ever choose to end their marriage. One of the biggest conflicts that divorced couples have is agreeing on how they will split up the things that they own jointly, but with a prenuptial agreement, those decisions are already made.

When you want to create a prenuptial agreement, you’ll need the help of a family law firm. Family law firms in Portland, Oregon, will consult both parties on which things should be covered in their agreement. They will also be the ones drawing up the agreement and taking care of legalities.

Divorce

Not many people consider the fact that they may get divorced, which often leaves them unprepared when divorce becomes an option. People divorce for a variety of reasons, but most stem from having two people with different ideas for how they want the rest of their lives to go. When it gets to this point, it can be hard for those same two people to come to a mutual understanding about the things that matter most. This time can be intense for all parties involved, which often leads them to need a family law firm to act as a mediator.

A divorce lawyer at a family law firm in Portland can help you to figure out what happens next after you decide to get divorced. Having this third party can make conversations less confrontational and provide needed support in a time of stress and intense emotions. A family lawyer can also help couples come to an understanding before ever having to go to court. With an experienced law firm like Warren Allen LLP on your side, you can ensure that you get what’s fair after your divorce.

Child Custody Agreements

In divorces or separations where the couple has children, figuring out who gets what time with the children can be difficult. With both parties typically very emotionally attached, it can be impossible to come to a fair agreement without the help of a third party. These situations are also more likely to become confrontational. When you enlist the help of a family law firm, a lawyer will help you to fight for the time you want with your child and create a more professional environment to come to that conclusion.

Coming to agreements about child custody can cause enormous tension within families. This is especially relevant in cases where an agreement was attempted outside of the court and one party is failing to uphold that agreement. The benefit of going through a family law firm and drafting a legal agreement is that the law is on your side in the case that someone breaks that agreement. In your contract, there will be specific repercussions for not adhering to the rules of the contract. This helps to hold each party accountable. When dealing with child custody issues, going through a family law firm can be the easiest way to a solution.

Adoption

If you’re interested in expanding your family through adoption, a family lawyer can assist you in navigating the legal requirements. Adoption isn’t as easy as just wanting to bring a child into your home. You have to prove that you’re fit and sometimes be chosen by a birth mother.

Aside from having a lawyer to help you adopt successfully, they can also help you to understand your rights after the child is in your care. Some people run into situations where the birthmother rescinds her offer, there are undisclosed health issues, or a stillbirth occurs. Having a lawyer draw up documents that detail how these situations will be handled beforehand can protect you should any complications arise.

Paternity

If you need to prove the paternity of a child, a family law firm could be of assistance to you. Mothers often choose this route to legally determine the paternity of their child when the father is absent. This allows the mother to file for child support payments from their child’s father by showing proof that the child biologically belongs to them, despite their current role in the child’s life. The mother has a right to these payments, and hiring a lawyer will assist her in obtaining them.

Mothers aren’t the only ones who can benefit from hiring a family law firm to determine paternity. Fathers who are seeking custody of a child can use a family law firm to help them legally establish paternity and go after full or partial custody of that child. Having a family lawyer on your side can help you to understand your rights and speed up the process of obtaining custody.