Divorce

My name is Eric Derleth and I have the education, training and experience to handle even the most challenging family law cases. If you have been sued for divorce, are considering separation, or you just have questions about your marital rights, you need to speak to a trial lawyer with experience in the complexities of Alaska divorce law. Alaska is not a “community property” state, but instead decides how to split marital assets and debts based on so-called “equitable distribution.” In short, equitable distribution means that the trial judge can give one spouse the majority of the marital property while saddling the other spouse with most of the marital debt. Simply put, if you earn a far greater income than your spouse, you generally might be satisfied with a 50/50 split of the “marital equity” (which is essentially all of your marital assets minus your marital debts). But, if you are the financially-disadvantaged spouse, you may be leaving money on the table if you settled for merely 50/50 (depending on certain factors under the law).

It’s been said that: “Divorce is expensive because it’s worth it.” While that may or may not be literally true, a divorce can be very expensive for both sides. Most people would benefit from hiring a lawyer who cares more about getting their client the best possible settlement than stirring the pot to keep big attorney’s fees rolling in. Even a divorce that settles early on could nevertheless cost thousands of dollars. If you hire me, you can benefit from working closely with me and my staff to keep the costs of your case down. Helping me with your case not only saves money, you will also understand what is important and what is not in a divorce case and better be able to assist in presenting your case effectively for the judge. (There is no jury in a divorce trial, only a judge.)

One thing you should understand is that divorce cases in Alaska can be very complex, largely because it is not a “community property” state. As a result of these complexities, there has been a huge volume of divorce “law” handed down by the Alaska Supreme Court. These numerous Supreme Court decisions mean there are potentially helpful cases out there, but your lawyer has to put in years’ of hard work researching these cases or they will be missed. Likewise, there are potential traps out there that could blow up your divorce case – a trap waiting to spring on you because your lawyer isn’t aware of it. I have carefully and extensively researched Alaska divorce law and I make all efforts to find the Supreme Court cases that might help, or hurt, your divorce matter.

Things TO DO if you are considering divorce:

1. Meet personally with a skilled trial lawyer who emphasizes divorce law in his or her practice as soon as possible;
2. Gather evidence of all of your assets and debts, including photographing or videoing all of your “stuff” before someone moves it or sells it;
3. Set aside money (or other property that you can turn into money) in order to live on and in case you need to hire an attorney. This does not mean hide the money from your spouse because you will have to account for it at some point. So, if you secrete it and never disclose what you did, you could be committing essentially theft. And,
4. Make sure any minor children in the home are isolated from all discussion about the divorce – children should get to be kids and let the adults handle adult issues.

Things NOT TO DO if you are considering divorce:

1. Do not take your legal advice from friends, even ones that have or claim to have legal experience, because divorces in Alaska are too complicated (so anecdotal stories that tend to start with “I had a friend … ” are not helpful to you);
2. Do not take your legal advice from your spouse;
3. Do not assume 50/50 is a fair division of “marital equity” (all of your marital assets minus your marital debts);
4. Do not try to “Do It Yourself” like it’s a leaky faucet, unless there’s nothing to lose in doing so (but unless you happen to know Alaska divorce law, that could be dangerous for you to decide on you own); and,
5. Do not file for a domestic violence restraining order unless you have actually been the victim of domestic violence – a restraining order should not be used as a tactical tool. Every time someone manipulates the system and gets a restraining order that is unnecessary, it hurts the chances of a real victim obtaining the protection they truly need and deserve. It does this by tying up valuable and limited resources with frivolous cases filed by people trying to get an unfair advantage in a divorce/custody case. If you are looking for legal help like that, don’t bother to call me. (In fact, no ethical attorney around here should want anything to do with a case or attitude like that.)

If you want me to take a look at your divorce or custody case, please CLICK HERE and fill out the confidential intake form. All information you share with my office will be kept private and not shared with anyone without your express permission. If a referral to a different law office or other professional is deemed appropriate, one may be made at that time.