Family law in Southeast Portland
Somewhere steady to stand
Divorce, custody, adoption and estate planning, in plain words. The first twenty minutes are free and commit you to nothing.
Four kinds of hard thing.
We do these, properly.
A deliberately narrow practice. If your matter falls outside these, we will tell you on the first call and point you at somebody better placed than us.
Divorce and separation
Ending a marriage without ending up as strangers who hate each other. Most of our divorces settle at a table, not in a courtroom.
Read moreCustody and parenting time
Building a schedule your children can actually live inside, and holding the other parent to it when they will not.
Read moreAdoption
The one part of family law that ends in a celebration. Stepparent, agency, foster and second-parent adoptions across Oregon.
Read moreEstate planning and guardianship
Wills, trusts, powers of attorney and guardian nominations. An afternoon of paperwork that spares your family a year of guessing.
Read more
Three things we actually promise
We answer within one working day
Every call and every email, even the ones that are only a question. Silence is what makes people frightened, so we do not do it.
You get a number before you commit
A written estimate with an honest range, re-forecast every month. Flat fees where a flat fee is fair.
One lawyer, start to finish
You will know their name before you sign anything, and you will not meet them for the first time on the courthouse steps.
Your path forward
Five steps, and you always know which one you are on
- 1
A first call, free, twenty minutes
You tell us what is happening in your own words. We tell you what area of law it lands in and roughly what it costs.
Bring nothing. Just call.
- 2
We sit down and get the picture on one page
A ninety minute meeting at the office or over video. Afterwards you get a written summary of where you stand.
Bring whatever you have. Incomplete is normal.
- 3
We agree a plan and what it costs
A written scope, a fee estimate with a range not a single number, and a decision that is yours to make.
You decide at home, not at the table.
- 4
The work, with the lights on
Negotiation, filings, mediation, and if it is genuinely needed, a courtroom. You hear from us on a schedule, not at random.
A note on the first Monday, always.
- 5
It ends, and we hand you the file
Signed judgment, a closing letter in plain English, and a list of the things you now have to actually do.
You leave with a checklist, not a mystery.
A room, not a lobby
We are on the ground floor of a 1912 house on Clinton Street, with armchairs instead of a conference table and a corner of the room with books in it for children who had to come along. There is coffee, and Aaron takes it seriously.
Step-free from the street, an accessible restroom, two reserved spaces at the back. Everything we do here can also be done over video if getting across town is the thing standing in your way.
What people say afterwards
I came in with a shoebox of paperwork and no idea what I was doing. Renata put the whole thing on one page in forty minutes and I could breathe again.
Start with a conversation, not a commitment
Twenty minutes on the phone, free, with somebody who will tell you plainly whether you even need a lawyer for this.