section update
Family Law’s Growing Impact on all practice areas:
a Survey for atlanta bar Section members
by Jonathan J. Tuggle
Boyd Collar Nolen & Tuggle LLC
n
o matter your practice area, odds are that at some
point in time, in one way or another, you either have
encountered or will encounter a family law issue.
family law issues at their core are human issues that
transcend legal practice lines.
Whether a client seeks a corporate lawyer to incorporate a
new business, a real estate attorney to settle a boundary
dispute, or a trust and estate lawyer to draw a will, that
attorney-client relationship opens the door to an individual
who statistically will more likely than not have a family law
issue (most commonly divorce) in their lifetime.
this is a two-way street, since just as often the family law
practitioner is likely to encounter a non-family law issue.
it is not at all uncommon in a divorce case, for instance,
for the family law practitioner to have exposure to issues
of contracts, business and corporate law, tax, trusts and
estates, real estate, criminal law, bankruptcy, labor and
employment, immigration and military law among others.
When these issues arise, it may often present the opportunity
for long-term collaboration between lawyers who specialize
in areas of practice very different from family law to fully
serve a client’s best interests. such collaboration – hopefully
across the sections comprised of atlanta bar members – also
represents the axiom of knowing one’s limits and recognizing
when one has strayed beyond his or her area of expertise.
Knowing “enough to be dangerous” can make us exactly that.
in this age where a general practice has seemingly been
replaced by specialties or niche practices, family law is no
exception. historically viewed by many as an “anyone can do
it” practice, family law over the past decade has become a
highly specialized area of practice – due primarily to change
and development of the body of law.
rEcEnT FamILY LaW dEvELopmEnTS
by way of introduction to recent family law developments,
over the last 10 years there has been explosive growth in its
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ThE aTLanTa LaWYEr
march 2013
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common law due primarily to the georgia supreme court’s
pilot project by which criteria for the grant of an application for
discretionary appeal filed from a final judgment and decree
of divorce has been relaxed. the cases emanating from
the Pilot Project have had a significant impact upon issues
ranging from custody to property division, and certainly
warrant a survey before venturing into this area of practice.
Another significant development is the Georgia Legislature’s
adoption of new statutory guidelines for determining
child support and apportioning each parent’s financial
responsibility for the child. based on an “income sharing”
model, the guidelines are very technical and require a
command of its nuances and the use of an online calculator.
beyond the evolution in the law itself, the trial courts’
application of the law has also changed in many ways.
trial courts have begun deviating from long-standing rules
of thumb or “standard” arrangements so as to move with
and reflect emerging trends, including shared parenting
arrangements and the continued erosion of long term alimony
claims. this wider consideration of the issues and potential
outcomes has created much more room for advocacy by the
family law practitioner.
SUrvEY oF InTErSEcTIonS oF FamILY LaW WITh
oThEr SEcTIonS
so what do atlanta bar practitioners need to know about
family law? mainly, there is a growing opportunity for lawyers
in other practice areas to collaborate with family lawyers. the
following survey of Atlanta Bar Sections reflects the growing
overlap in family law and other areas of practice:
the work of atlanta bar bankruptcy section members,
particularly in recent economic times, has frequently
intersected with family law, most commonly dealing with the
dischargeability of personal debts that may affect a property
division and stay the divorce case. bankruptcy issues can
also arise post-decree where a former spouse (almost always
unsuccessfully) seeks to discharge alimony and/or other
obligations owed under the decree.
The Official News Publication of the Atlanta Bar Association