OUR PRACTICE AREAS

We practice in all areas of family law, including:

• prenuptial and postnuptial agreements
• marital dissolution and separation
• family law mediation
• child custody and visitation
• child and spousal support
• paternity and domestic violence
• collaborative law.

Our family lawyers receive assistance from other lawyers in the firm for complex cases that involve collateral issues such as business, property, or financial matters.

CERTIFIED FAMILY LAW SPECIALISTS

FMBK has a team of nine top notch family law attorneys to service your needs. Five of our nine family law attorneys have earned the special distinction of Certified Family Law Specialists (CFLS) from the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization.

OUR DIVERSE LEGAL KNOWLEDGE

To be effective, a family lawyer must be knowledgeable about all areas of law. Divorce, in particular, often involves many different legal areas such as taxes, real estate, finance, business transactions, custody and others. FMBK’s attorneys practice in more than one area of law and can handle different aspects of your case with competence and efficiency.

FAMILY LAW MEDIATION

FMBK offers family law mediation.   Partner, Maritoni Acosta leads the firm's family law mediation department which offers a valuable alternative to traditional family law litigation.  FMBK is flexible in its approach to family law mediation, which includes initially meeting with the clients and their attorneys, if applicable to design a strategy to resolve the matter as quickly and efficiently as possible given the unique fact of each family law situation. 

UNBUNDLING OF SERVICES

We also offer our clients the option of "unbundling" our services. You may choose not to have our attorneys handle your entire case but just hire them for certain aspects of your case. For example, we can review settlement agreements, and/or prepare all the legal paperwork for you so you can attend court by yourself and represent your own case in pro per. This can be a cost effective way of handling your case. However, not all matters of law easily lend themselves to unbundling of services. Please contact Steven A. Mindel for advice as to whether your case can could be effectively handled in this manner.

WE ARE BOTH COMPASSIONATE AND TOUGH

FMBK knows that antagonistic confrontation between parties makes a family-law case longer, more frustrating and more costly. So we try to reduce the animosity between the parties and settle the case amicably, for the long-term benefit of the client. But if the other party is unreasonable or unrealistic about their expectations, we are just as able to take them to court and act as strong, faithful advocates for our client. We are able to change gears between personal compassion and toughness whenever necessary.

MINIMIZING EMOTIONAL AND FINANCIAL STRESS

Our Family Law Department has four Certified Family Law Specialists*, as well as five other lawyers, who work hard to minimize our client's emotional and financial stress. We are aware that divorce and other family-law issues can be very traumatic and expensive, so our goal is to explore a realm of solutions before even considering going to court -- and getting lost in the no-win adversarial system.

COLLABORATIVE LAW

Collaborative Law is an emerging form of resolution in family law where your matters are resolved outside of the courtroom at both parties option. Working together through your attorney, you are able negotiate for your best interest. The process tends to be less adversarial and more efficient. The parties have more control over desirable resolutions.

*Certified Family Law Specialist
State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization