Practice Areas
San Diego Family Lawyer
Family matters are often emotional and intense.
Families going through a legal separation, or adoption, have issues pertaining to child support or visitation, or need a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement may find the emotional intensity of mixing the legal with personal aspects of life to be overwhelming.
If your family is facing a legal situation that must be resolved within the legal system, you will need to have a compassionate San Diego family lawyer who will handle the matter with discretion, tact, and dedication to your interests and the interests of your children, if you are a parent.
Your San Diego family lawyer should have a finely-tuned knowledge of California law, along with an understanding of how families work and the potential consequences of the legal process and its outcome on the individual members of your family.
Your family attorney in San Diego, CA should seek to balance the emotional, psychological, and financial aspects of the matter facing your family to achieve a solution that works in your unique situation. Above all, the family law attorney you choose should be someone you trust and to whom you feel comfortable speaking to openly. Contact the San Diego family law attorneys at Boyd Law today or call us at (619)-232-1206.
Why Choose Our San Diego Family Attorneys at Boyd Law?
We have decades of combined legal experience specifically handling family law matters. Karie Boyd, our lead attorney, and her esteemed associates are some of the most experienced and successful family lawyers in California, serving multiple areas across the state.
Karie Boyd has undergone additional training and education to obtain her board certification in family law, and is also a Certified Family Law Specialist (CFLS).
Our team has the ability to tackle complex family law issues and overcome challenges in an increasingly complex world. Furthermore we are determined to help you fight for your rights to help you achieve the best possible outcome. We have also earned trust amongst our clients by working with family law clients for more than fifteen years across Southern California, as all of our offices prioritize exceptional service, along with personalized attention.
When you choose a San Diego family lawyer from Boyd Law, you are not a number or a statistic. You are someone we will fight for during every phase of this period of your life. Let us do the hard work for you so you can focus on your healing during this difficult time.
Meet Family Law Attorney Karie Boyd
Attorney Karie Boyd, Founder and CEO of Boyd Law, is a board-certified specialist in family law, meaning she has extra training and education in divorce law. She is dedicated and devoted to giving her time to your case.
Karie Boyd has over fifteen years of experience exclusively handling divorce and family law disputes to help her clients get the justice that they deserve. As of recent, The National Association of Distinguished Counsel ranked her in the “Top 1% of Attorneys in the Nation.” She was also selected to the 2021 Super Lawyers List.
Testimonials
Here’s what some our happy clients have to say.
“I am so happy with the results of my dissolution. It was a long process but in the end it was well worth the wait. I would definitely recommend my lawyers both Joshua Fabian and Matthew Caldwell who both resolved my case. Ashley Hoffman is also amazing, her communication was on point and stayed on top of my case as a paralegal, if I had any small questions she was my go too. Thank you to Karie Boyd for having such an amazing legal team!”
– Keesha Becker (Google Review)
“I just had Joshua Fabian represent my case, after two years of stalling by the other party he was able to help me get a resolution in his first appearance. Thank you so much, it feels great to be done.”
– Kyle Bearry (Google Review)
“Great experience overall having Matt Cadwell as my attorney. Matt understands his client, very insightful and is an expert in his field. Truly a professional and marvelous individual.”
– Steve
Table of Contents
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How Does A Family Law Attorney Help?
Benefits of Working With A CFLS
We Offer Compassionate Advocacy
Do We Offer Alternatives To Litigation?
How Does a Family Law Lawyer in San Diego Help?
The San Diego family lawyers at Boyd Law have a reputation as skilled negotiators and formidable litigators. As attorneys, we are, first and foremost, dedicated to our clients. In everything that we do, we put our clients first.
During a family legal matter, experienced legal counsel in your corner can make a large difference. Not all cases move to the court phase, but in the event that litigation is required, our attorneys have the experience necessary to navigate the case from the first phase to the court phase.
In the event of a separation, couples that do not utilize legal counsel from family law attorneys may, unbeknownst to them, make mistakes. Our experienced legal separation attorneys in San Diego assist with every aspect of family law cases while providing valuable legal advice. We are here to assist and will file the required paperwork by the necessary deadline.
What Are Our Legal Services?
We are in the field of family law for the people, not for profits. When we accept a new client, we take our time to get to know them and consult with them about their goals for the case. Then, we custom-tailor our legal services to pursue these goals. Our legal services in the area of family law include:
Consultations. Our family law attorneys in San Diego are available for in-depth initial case evaluations, where we will listen to your story and provide a list of your legal options. We offer these evaluations at no obligation to hire our law firm afterward. We simply want to give you the information that you need.
Claims filing. If you need to submit legal paperwork with the family courts, such as a divorce petition, protective order or a request for the modification of child custody, we will fill out complicated legal documents for you and file them with the correct courts before any applicable deadlines.
Settlement negotiations. We offer a range of options for negotiating family law settlements between parties, including private mediation and arbitration. We can represent you during these alternative dispute resolutions to improve the odds of settling and avoiding an expensive court trial.
Trial litigation. If your family law matter cannot be resolved through alternative dispute resolution options, we can represent you at trial in San Diego County to fight aggressively for the best possible case results on your behalf.
Compassionate counseling. We are compassionate attorneys who help individuals and families get through difficult times. We understand that our work often coincides with dark days for our clients; we do everything possible to get our clients the case outcomes they want so that they can focus on building brighter futures.
Will We Take Your Case?
Our family law firm takes on only a select number of cases at a time.
We are not a mill-type law firm that is concerned with accepting as many cases as possible. While we are a large firm with cutting-edge resources, we are selective in the cases we accept so that we can dedicate our full attention to each individual.
This allows us to provide an exceptional level of service, respect, and professionalism to every client – and it often enables us to obtain better case results.
The Benefits of Working With a Certified Family Law Specialist in San Diego
Boyd Law is a law firm composed of Certified Family Law Specialists (CFLS). A CFLS is an attorney who has been certified by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization or an equivalent entity in family law.
To do this, the San Diego family law lawyer must demonstrate special proficiency in family law by gaining additional education and experience in this field. The family attorney must also pass a written and verbal examination to become certified. All of this means that a CFLS has extra capabilities to effectively handle your case.
These family law attorneys possess special certificates that identify the attorneys that specialize in family law services.
Choosing a California Certified Family Law Specialist can help ensure that your lawyer has what it takes to successfully handle your case, no matter what obstacles arise.
A CFLS will give you an extra boost of confidence in your choice of a San Diego family law attorney.
A CFLS will provide the highest customer service standards throughout your legal matter, giving you greater peace of mind. The exceptional training and additional experience of a CFLS can also yield better case results than an ordinary attorney.
When results matter – such as in a high-stakes case involving children – choose a CFLS for the added advantages of this specialty.
What Are The Different Types of Family Law Cases Cases Our Firm Handles?
The practice area of family law deals with issues relating to familial relationships – relationships between romantic partners, married spouses, family members, and parents and children.
Family law involves domestic relations as they pertain to legal issues, including California law and child welfare. At Boyd Law, our attorneys have spent years being educated and trained specifically in the practice area of family law.
We have the ability to handle many different types of family law cases in San Diego, including:
Divorce: legal family law proceedings through which couples formally end their marital relationship.
Paternity Cases: a legal family law proceeding initiated to determine the biological father of a child when the parentage of the child is in question.
Protection Orders Against Domestic Violence: legal documents that provide immediate protection to an individual experiencing domestic violence or abuse, also known as domestic violence restraining orders, by preventing the abuser from contacting or engaging with the victim.
Child Visitation and Child Custody: legal orders determining how parents will share time with a child (physical custody) and decision-making authority (legal custody) following a legal separation or divorce.
Guardianship Cases: the process of appointing a legal guardian to make decisions on behalf of a minor, an individual with a disability or someone else who cannot make decisions independently.
Adoption: the process of granting an individual or couple parental rights over a child, making them the legal parents and creating a permanent parent-child relationship.
Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements: legal documents created before or after a marriage to decide upon matters such as the distribution of debts and property in the event of a divorce, legal separation or the death of either spouse.
Trusts and Wills: legal instruments a person can use to state his or her wishes regarding the distribution of his or her assets upon the individual’s death.
Estate Planning: the process of determining how assets will be managed and distributed during an individual’s lifetime as well as after his or her death.
Life Insurance Claims: a claim filed by a life insurance policy beneficiary seeking payment of death benefits after the death of the policyholder.
Probate Law and Litigation: various legal processes involved in administering a deceased person’s estate, including his or her assets, debts and property.
If you don’t see your legal matter on this list, that does not necessarily mean that we cannot take your case. Our highly experienced San Diego family law lawyers know how to handle many kinds of cases, including complicated legal matters and cases that other law firms turn down.
We can discuss your specific situation during an initial consultation at our local law office. If we believe we are the right fit for your case, we will offer our services to help you come to a satisfactory resolution. If not, we will direct you to someone who can help.
We Offer Compassionate Advocacy
Our firm’s compassionate and experienced San Diego family law attorneys understand the practical and emotional aspects of a family law process and have many positive client testimonials illustrating the work we do with our clients.
We will guide you through the process and provide you with the skilled advocacy that you need to achieve the positive outcome that will allow you to move on to a new life after your case is finalized, with a fair division of property and the best possible arrangement for the continued care of your children, if you are a parent.
We can often achieve a negotiated settlement without requiring court intervention. We will strongly advocate for your positions while giving you an honest and realistic legal perspective, along with clear, straightforward answers to all of your questions.
When it becomes necessary to turn to the court system to litigate matters that can’t be settled through negotiation, we are experienced San Diego family law lawyers that know how to prepare, document, and effectively argue for the outcome you desire.
Does Boyd Law Offer Alternatives to Litigation & Court Hearings?
Boyd Law offers several family law dispute solutions. Family law attorneys understand how taxing and complex family cases have on the spouses involved.
While litigation and court appearances may be inevitable in certain situations to resolve family law matters, our firm offers several alternative resolutions to help settle family law matters.
Our family lawyers help with mediation and alternative dispute resolutions. We have members of Boyd Law that are certified as Certified Family Law Specialists (CFLS), and have extensive experience and training in matters pertaining to family law cases.
Contact A San Diego Family Lawyer Today
Our family law firm has a depth of resources and a large professional staff, which allows a San Diego family law attorney to handle even the most complicated family law issues in-house. This includes issues such as business valuation and complex property division. Handling these issues internally without the need for outside counsel is a crucial component of preserving the privacy of our clients.
We also strive to resolve issues as efficiently as possible by building the strongest possible case and negotiating from a position of strength. This leads to more fruitful settlement negotiations, lessening the likelihood of a contentious trial.
We are here to help. Contact us or call us at (619)-232-1206 to arrange a time to come in and talk to us. It’s a free consultation, and there’s never any pressure or obligation to hire us.
Take your time, get to know us, and learn about the many ways we can help you and your family. You can count on our team of family lawyers in San Diego County, CA to provide you with honest advice, heartfelt support, and personalized service throughout the legal process you’re facing. Contact an experienced family law attorney.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Much Does A San Diego Family Lawyer Cost?
It depends. The cost of a family lawyer in San Diego can vary widely depending on factors such as the attorney’s experience, complexity of the case, and the amount of time involved. In California, due to higher court fees and costs of living, hourly rates typically range from $200 to $300 an hour, depending on your situation. Some of Boyd Law’s attorneys also require a retainer fee after your initial consultation.
What Is The Process for Filing For Divorce In San Diego?
The process for filing for divorce in San Diego involves completing and filing a petition for dissolution of marriage. After filing, the petitioner serves the divorce papers to the spouse. The process includes disclosure of financial information, negotiation, and potential court hearings. California law mandates a waiting period of at least six months before the divorce is finalized.
How Does Property Division Work In A San Diego Divorce?
This is often the most contentious aspect of a divorce. Property division in a San Diego divorce follows community property laws, meaning assets and debts acquired during the marriage are generally divided equally. However, the court may consider factors such as the earning capacity of each spouse and contributions to the marriage to ensure a fair and equitable distribution.
How Is Spousal Support or Alimony Calculated In San Diego?
Spousal support in San Diego is calculated based on factors like the duration of the marriage, each spouse’s income and expenses, the supported spouse’s needs, and the supporting spouse’s ability to pay. The court has discretion in determining the amount and duration of spousal support.
How Is Child Custody Determined In A Divorce Case?
California law requires custody to be determined based on the best interests of the child. This means what will best protect the child’s physical, emotional and psychological well-being. The factors considered when making a child custody decision include the child’s relationship with both parents, each parent’s ability to provide a stable environment for the child, and – if the child is old enough and mature – the child’s wishes.
How Is Child Support Calculated?
The courts will calculate a child support order using a uniform formula in accordance with the California Child Support Guidelines. This equation takes each parent’s income and uses a percentage of it based on the number of children, then makes adjustments and deductions (including accounting for how much time each parent spends with the child) to come up with a number that is in the best interest of the child.
