family law attorney – woodnicklaw.com

Why Convert a Legal Separation to Divorce?

Before a couple chooses to get married, they may be cautioned by friends or family members that “fifty percent of marriages end in divorce.” Foreboding? Yes. True? Not necessarily. First, there are a lot of demographic factors that contribute to the decision to get married or divorced, and this sweeping statistic should not be broadly […]

Benefits of Remote Family Law Mediation Services for Arizona Families

By Leslie A.W. Satterlee The pandemic wreaked havoc on our lives in many ways. For attorneys, we had to embrace technology and learn to lawyer online. Attorneys had to learn to navigate digital exhibits, meet with clients and colleagues over Zoom, sign documents remotely, and conduct trials completely online. I learned to navigate these developments, […]

Faith, Homeschooling, and the Impact on Families

By Mallory Scott The ability to freely worship is one of the fundamental aspects of the American national identity. However, a fine line exists between enthusiastic practice and severe overcommitment to a religion that may eventually become dangerous behavior. Adults can choose how, when, and which faction of faith to practice, but the children in […]

Three Parent Birth Certificates: Extending Rights Beyond the Two-Parent Family

By Markus Risinger and Mallory Scott With a new generation of parents deciding to explore familial arrangements outside the traditional two-parent family, a multitude of issues relating to custody and caretakers have also emerged within the past decade. In California, a 2013 law allowed for more than two individuals to be recognized as parents of […]

So You’ve Given Birth to a Substance Exposed Newborn

By Deandra Arena and Isabel Ranney Imagine you have a friend, Chloe, a lawyer who was prescribed pain meds after a car accident four years ago and ever since suffers from an unfortunate addiction to oxycodone. Chloe is also pregnant with her first child. When Chloe starts to go into labor, she arrives at St. […]

Both DCS and the Police have Questions for your Client—What Now?

By Gregg Woodnick and Isabel Ranney Originally Published in the Maricopa Lawyer, online edition available 08/08/21. Your client calls you saying the police and the Department of Child Safety (DCS) are at their door. You know your client is in the middle of a toxic divorce and brace for what is about to come next. “They […]

10 Years Post-Sandusky: CAPTA and Mandatory Reporting in Arizona

By Brad TenBrook and Isabel Ranney Originally Published 06/24/21 for the Maricopa County Bar Association. After Jerry Sandusky’s arrest for child sex abuse in 2011, states across the United States began paying attention. Sandusky was a well-respected assistant football coach at Penn State and the founder of a non-profit charity dedicated to helping at-risk youth […]

Arizona Parents’ Bill of Rights

By: Markus Risinger and Deborah Lee The Arizona Court of Appeals recently touched upon the Arizona Parents’ Bill of Rights Act in Jessica P. v. Department of Child Safety. In that case, the mother argued that the juvenile court had a statutory duty to apply the Parents’ Bill of Rights Act and the failure to […]

Suspected child abuse during a trip to the emergency room

By: Gregg R. Woodnick I have been practicing law for over 20 years. Throughout that time I’ve lectured for Yale on issues of child abuse and neglect and I have also been a guest instructor at medical schools and PA programs where I would teach about mandatory reporting laws. Mandatory reporting requires that certain individuals […]

Co-owning a Business with Your Ex

By: Leslie A. Satterlee and Ben Himmelstein Going through a divorce is difficult in every way, but things can get especially difficult and complicated when you own a business with your spouse. There are three main avenues that people may take regarding the community business: buying out the other spouse, selling the business, and continuing […]