Child Custody
Step-Child Adoption in Montana
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, step-parent/step-child adoption is the most common type of adoption in the United States. Step-child adoption procedures can vary greatly from state to state, but Montana law allows a person to adopt their step-child if: (1) The person is married to one of the legal parents of the child; [...]
Online Montana Divorce Forms – BEWARE!
Even though I am a Montana attorney, I certainly do not in a fantasy world where everyone can afford to hire an attorney to assist them with their divorce. Unfortunately, hiring an attorney can be incredibly expensive and not everyone has the means to hire one. Lately, however, I have noticed a troubling influx of do-it-yourself [...]
Seven Tips to Surviving Divorce
I ran across this great article entitled 7 Tips to Help You Get Through a Divorce. It does not appear the author is an attorney, but the advice is incredibly helpful. Tip #4 is beneficial for anyone involved in any type of legal proceeding. Read before you sign!
When One Parent Refuses to Follow the Parenting Plan
One of the most frustrating situations I see clients dealing with is the situation when one parent refuses to follow the parenting plan. Often this occurs with small things. The other parents cancels scheduled visits at the last minute, or habitually returns the children late. It may come in the form of repeated requests to [...]
Paternity in Montana
Montana law presumes that a child born during the marriage is the biological child of the husband. Sometimes this is not the case, but as a general rule it works fairly well. If you believe someone else is the father, you can establish paternity by a court or administrative judgment, decree, or order. Likewise, if [...]
Dispute Resolution
Most parenting plans include a dispute resolution provision. This means that if there is a disagreement about the plan, the parties need to engage in the dispute resolution process before proceeding to Court. Even if your parenting plan does not have this, in Montana the judge can order you to try dispute resolution before returning [...]
Sample Montana Parenting Plan: Misc. Provisions
In keeping with the theme of a parenting plan in Montana being as comprehensive as possible, we have a number of provisions that don’t fit neatly into a category. Today’s post includes two of those sections from the sample parenting plan I’ve been posting on here. Designation of Custodian: Neither party is at this time designated [...]
Sample Montana Parenting Plan: Residential Changes
As we’ve discussed before, one of the primary goals of a Montana parenting plan is to craft an agreement that will grow along with the child. The process is lengthy, intensive, and expensive – ideally you will only need to do it once. One of the ways we can ensure that you do not have [...]
Sample Montana Parenting Plan: Parental Responsibilities
While a parenting plan describes how a child will be cared for by two separated parents, it really is a limitation on how the parents may behave and what they may do. In addition to limits on when the parent may see his child, or when he must deliver the child to the other parent, [...]
Sample Montana Parenting Plan: Introduction
This is the first of a series of articles where I will show you parts of an actual parenting plan prepared by my office. I’ll also shed some light on the considerations that go into drafting each section to give you an idea of a few things that are important to keep in mind when [...]
