Family Law

• Divorce
  Linda is a Board Certified Family Law Specialist focusing her practice on family law, including divorce, child support, child custody, equitable distribution, alimony, and enforcement of orders. She also handles military divorce cases and retirement account and pension division orders. She prepares premarital, post-marital and separation agreements, and litigates all family law issues. Linda is also a North Carolina Certified Family Financial Mediator and is trained as a collaborative family law attorney.
• Child Support
  The N.C. Child Support Guidelines are used to determine a parent’s child support obligations for any case brought into court.  The Guidelines are intended to provide a standard and efficient…
• Child Custody and Visitation
  Mediation is required in North Carolina. There are two types of mediation in family court cases, custody mediation and Equitable Distribution/Financial mediation. Custody mediation is a free service provided by the state of North Carolina and takes place at the courthouse. Attorneys are not allowed to attend this mediation. You will first attend an orientation that explains everything about it and then a date will be scheduled for your mediation. You will be in the same room as the other party, but the mediator will make sure things stay civil in the mediation. Only the issue of child custody will be discussed. If an agreement is reached, the custody mediator will draft a parenting agreement for you and your attorney to review after the mediation is over. Usually custody mediation lasts approximately an hour. ED/Financial Mediation is much different. The purpose of this mediation is to attempt to resolve the property distribution. You can also try to resolve other issues in your case as well, like alimony and child support. Your attorney will be with you in one room and your spouse and his/her attorney will be in a separate room. A certified financial family mediator (who is also usually a family law attorney) will go back and forth between the rooms to help the parties negotiate. In both cases, the mediator is a neutral third party who does not make decisions about your case. They only help facilitate a resolution that you and your spouse ultimately agree upon. Frequently these mediations take an entire day to complete. At the end of the day, if an agreement is reached, both parties will sign a final Consent Order or other form of Settlement Agreement before they leave the mediation. Both parties must share the cost of the mediator. In both situations, what happens at mediation stays at mediation, meaning neither party is allowed to tell judge in court what offers were on the table.
• Adoption
• Paternity
  We offer family law legal services such as preparing premarital agreements (also known as prenuptial agreements), post-marital agreements, and separation and property settlement agreements. Our attorneys can help you settle your family law disputes without litigation, through the collaborative divorce process and mediation.  When disputes cannot be worked out agreement, we represent clients in court actions in New Hanover, Pender and Brunswick Counties. Court actions include divorce, annulment, child custody, child support, postseparation support, alimony, equitable distribution, and enforcement of orders and agreements. We also prepare pension and retirement account division orders.  In addition, we help clients with name changes, adoptions, paternity actions, legitimations, incompetency and guardianship proceedings, and cases involving allegations by the Department of Social Services of child abuse, neglect and dependency.  When parents cannot communicate and cooperate with each other, we have an experienced parenting coordinator who can help parents raise a child with less strife and acrimony.
• Premarital Agreement
  Brittany is a North Carolina Certified Family Law Specialist and exclusively handles family law matters such as child custody, child support, equitable distribution, alimony, divorce, separation agreements, premarital agreements, cases involving the Department of Social Services, and contempt proceedings.
• Guardianship
  We take our clients’ needs into consideration to craft the best plan for each situation and fully explaining the provisions in each document so that clients can be confident that their plans are the best fit for them, either to avoid taxes or to simplify the probate process.  Planning during life is the best way to avoid guardianship proceedings and estate administration challenges as well as to assure that wishes will be honored after death.
• Spousal Support
  Most people refinance the mortgage and take advantage of a “cash out” to access the equity in the home and buy out the other spouse. It may be necessary to refinance the mortgage anyway if your wife’s name is on the mortgage, as refinancing or selling are the only ways to get her name off the mortgage. Another way to buy your wife out is to offset what you owe her with another asset. For example, if your wife has a large retirement account that you are entitled to half of, you can waive all or some of your share in exchange for keeping all the equity in the house. If you are entitled to alimony, you can also waive all or some of that alimony in order to keep the equity in the home. We like to get creative in order to achieve our client’s goals.
• Legal Separation
  Probably, but it depends. To get alimony in North Carolina, you must be a dependent spouse and your spouse must be a supporting spouse. You are a dependent spouse if you are actually financially dependent on your spouse’s income. Your spouse is a supporting spouse if he/she has been actually financially supporting you. The information your attorney will need to know will relate to your husband’s employment status, his income, your ability to earn income, the age of your children and their needs and schedules, your prior work experience, etc. Once you have met the requirement of being a dependent spouse, it then boils down to your spouse’s ability to pay. The court will consider your reasonable monthly expenses and your spouse’s reasonable monthly expenses. You will be given a financial affidavit (budget form) to complete so we can more accurately assess your financial situation. One last caveat: if you are a dependent spouse and you had an extramarital affair during the marriage and prior to legal separation, you will not get alimony, unless your spouse also had an extramarital affair.
• Annulment
• Child Abuse

Business and Corporate Law

• Corporate Law
  Jeff focuses his practice on commercial and residential real estate (acquisition and development), zoning and land use planning and development, business, commercial and corporate law. He assists with formations, acquisitions, mergers and general advising of business entities.
• Mergers and Acquisitions
  Our attorneys can also help your business grow or close, assisting with the sale of your business interests, transfer of stock or membership interests, and asset or stock purchases.  In addition, we offer business succession planning so that your business can continue to function after the death of a business owner or be transferred in a manner most advantageous to your estate.
• Business Disputes
  Nate focuses his practice on residential and commercial real estate (acquisition, development, closings, refinances, and title inquiries), estate planning, estate administration, and business law.
• Business Transactions
  Our attorneys are available to assist clients in both residential and commercial transactions, development, and litigation, as well as representing HOA boards on various ongoing issues.

Property Law

• Real Estate Litigation
  Dickson is a business lawyer with over 30 years of experience, and focuses on corporate and real estate law, including business transactions and commercial real estate transactions as well as general corporate representation of closely held businesses and business owners, and disputes among business owners and between businesses. Dickson also represents financial institutions and borrowers in loans and loan workouts, and assists nonprofit organizations with formation and corporate governance.
• Construction Litigation
• Real Estate Transactions
  Our attorneys can assist with all aspects of the process, including publishing the required notices, dealing with grieving family members and other heirs, assisting with creditor settlements and payment, payment of expenses, reimbursements, and commissions, and distribution of assets, including real estate transactions and business interests, and making sure the decedent’s wishes are followed.  If there is a challenge or problem that arises during the administration of the estate, we can also assist with resolving issues with the Clerk (such as filing motions to extend time to file) and with any necessary hearings.  We take the process seriously for each estate so that the personal representative can administer the estate with the least stress possible.
• Eminent Domain
  Eminent domain is the constitutional power to seize private property for public use, provided that the seizing agency pays just compensation to the property owner.
• Easement
• Land Use and Zoning
  With extensive experience in all areas of real property law, our team of attorneys assist clients with the simple (closing a real property purchase or sale) to the complicated (developing a commercial property from start to finish).  We can assist with drafting and reviewing documents, required recordings, negotiation and assistance with negotiating, planning and zoning boards, financing, and leasing to tenants once the project is complete.  Examples of our services, though certainly not exclusive, are...

Health Law

• Personal Injury
  Chris focuses his practice on litigation, including civil, commercial, construction, real estate and trust/estate litigation. Chris also handles construction and community associations legal matters. He represents injured parties in cases related to products liability and personal injury.

Trusts and Estates

• Estate Planning
  Colin has a unique blend of litigation, real estate, and land use experience. He concentrates his practice on representing clients in complex business, financial, employment, trust and estate, real estate, and land use litigation. In addition, Colin represents energy and utility companies, developers, builders, property owners, and local governments in land use, permitting, and municipal law matters. He regularly appears in State and Federal Court, as well as before City Councils, Planning Commissions, and Boards of Adjustment related to site plans, subdivisions, annexations, text amendments, code interpretations, rezoning and special use permits.
• Wills
  When it comes to estate planning, many people are confused about their options. Most people understand wills, and many understand trusts, but what about powers of attorney, living wills and…
• Trusts
  Many people have estate plans that include trusts. Most are traditional revocable or irrevocable trusts that guide a trustee in making distributions of the grantor’s property, usually after death. Trusts…
• Power of Attorney
• Probate

Finance Law

• Foreclosure
• Tax Law
  Assisting clients with tax planning, along with beneficiary designations, charitable planning, gift giving, and real estate issues.