Domestic Relations   

Divorce, child custody, support, marriage and adoption are all integral parts of the Bean, Kinney & Korman domestic relations practice.  Our experience and familiarity with these issues that most intensely affect the lives of our clients makes us exceptionally responsive to both their emotional and legal needs. We serve clients throughout Maryland, D.C. and Virginia, including those in Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Reston, McLean and the surrounding areas. 

Separation and Divorce

The breakup of a marriage is uniquely stressful, with emotion coloring choices at a time when important legal rights are at stake.  Our attorneys, who have several decades (not just collectively, but for some, individually) of experience in representing clients in Virginia, suburban Maryland and the District of Columbia, can help guide you through this most difficult process.

We are courtroom veterans, who know the value and benefit of negotiation and mediation, providing objective counsel to our clients through separation and divorce actions of every nature, from uncontested through the most bitterly litigated.  We have achieved peer recognition in numerous local and national publications including Washingtonian magazine and The Washington Post. We are also included in ratings services, such as Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers, as outstanding family law advocates.

Personal Approach

First of all, we listen.  The dissolution of a marriage is difficult, emotional, stressful and can be extraordinarily complicated, but above all, it is acutely personal – we want to understand your position, your needs and your objectives.   And our lawyers want to help you understand your rights and your options.  We will not compromise our ethical obligations as professionals, but our development of strategies and choices of action will be responsive to your direction – this is your life and future. We don’t lose sight of that.

There are many strategies that can be pursued to accomplish your objectives – direct negotiation, alternative resolution processes, such as mediation or neutral case evaluation, collaborative law or, as a last resort, contested litigation.

We cannot make the emotional pain of a divorce go away.  We can, and do, employ our skills, experience and judgment to help guide clients through the process. We protect their interests with all of the resources at our disposal and work with them to achieve a fresh start on which to build their future.

Child Custody and Support

Children are often the unfortunate casualties in a divorce.  Our attorneys are sensitive to the intense emotions that are part of every contested custody matter. We provide understanding guidance on bringing in professional counseling assistance when that is constructive and appropriate.  Our depth of experience litigating custody matters gives us an invaluable knowledge base to draw upon in advising our clients who face these challenges.

Division of Property

Apart from the knowledge that comes from experience in litigating property division, our domestic relations attorneys have immediate access within the firm to other practices focusing on the business, real estate, tax issues and estate planning that are frequently involved in divorces (which can include the division of the value of a spousal-owned business enterprise).

An important, and often poorly understood, aspect of property division is the handling of retirement benefits of each spouse. With the large federal workforce in our region, there is an additional need for specific knowledge about how federal benefits are handled in a divorce.  These benefits require thorough analysis, have significant potential tax consequences, and require technically-qualified treatment in final divorce decrees.  We make that knowledge available to you.

Pre- and Post-Nuptial Agreements

There are times and circumstances, whether before or after marriage, when a couple may wish to have an agreement settling how their assets will be divided, or not, if they later divorce.  Although the parties may seem to be in complete agreement at the time, things can change when the marriage later fails. We are skilled in the preparation of agreements protective of our clients’ interests and designed to withstand any later challenge.

Collaborative Law

For couples seeking to end their marriage cooperatively, collaborative law is a means of resolving divorce issues without adversarial litigation.  Instead, the parties sign an agreement binding them to the process and disqualifying their respective attorneys from representing them in any future domestic relations litigation.  They are then brought together with their attorneys and any other professionals who may be necessary to address the matters involved, with the goal of reaching a negotiated resolution of those issues not previously agreed upon.  Our attorneys are skilled in this process and are happy to discuss how collaborative law could work for you. 

Adoption

To the adoptive parent or parents, adoption is usually a happier occasion for our engagement as counsel.  Sometimes there are difficulties presented by adoption procedures, and unfortunate times when the process is challenged by birth parents or others.  We have the sensitivity, knowledge and skills to guide clients through the process while making it understandable.