Family Law

Advice on diverse family matters

We provide competent advice, regardless of whether you are:

• An unmarried cohabitant
• Single
• Married

We can help you with:

• Drawing up prenuptial agreements
• Cohabitation agreements
• Property co-ownership contracts
• Making wills
• Creating future powers of attorney
• Preparing property division agreements
• Preparing agreements on residence and contact with children

Termination of cohabitation, separation or divorce

In the event of termination of cohabitation, separation or divorce, there are often three important areas that need to be clarified. We can assist with advice in all three areas:

Children

• Joint custody: Should it continue?
• Residence: Where will the children live?
• Visitation: What should visitation be like with the parent who does not have the children living with them?
• Child maintenance: We can also help with child maintenance contributions.

Sharing of assets

• In marriage: All assets that are not separate property are shared. But how should the assets be distributed, and what is their value?
• In the case of separate property: The extent of the separate property may need to be clarified, along with any assets you own jointly (e.g., a house).
• In the case of unmarried cohabitants: As a rule, only the assets you own jointly are shared.

Separation or divorce

• Should you choose to separate or divorce?
• Does one spouse have to pay maintenance to the other?

Help throughout the process

We know that questions often arise in the initial phase, along the way and afterwards. If you need help, we are ready to advise you throughout the process.

Future powers of attorney

It’s a good idea to set up a power of attorney for the future, because this enables you decide who will make decisions on your behalf if at some point you lose the ability to make your own decisions. Without a future power of attorney, there is a risk of your relatives “getting stuck” and being unable to make decisions for you.

A future power of attorney is an authorisation that covers both personal and financial decisions, but which only takes effect if this becomes necessary. The future power of attorney will therefore have no validity when it is set up, but only put into effect on the day it becomes necessary to do so, because you can no longer make your own decisions. If you do not lose the ability to make your decisions – that is, if you remain of sound mind until you die – the future power of attorney will never enter into force. It’s a bit like an insurance policy that you hope you won’t need, but is still really important to have.

A future power of attorney is an alternative to a guardianship, and there are significant advantages to it. The most important advantages are that, with a future power of attorney, you decide who should be able to act on your behalf and have the ability to determine what decisions should be made. In addition, there is a significant difference between the time it takes for the Agency of Family Law to initiate a guardianship and to bring a future power of attorney into effect. The case processing time for establishing a guardianship is currently around one year longer on average than to have a future power of attorney put into effect.