Hoge Fenton’s Family Law Group provides a full range of family law services, from dissolutions of marriage and domestic partnerships to adoption and guardianship. We represent both clients whose needs are fairly basic to those with large asset estates and highly complex issues requiring specialized experience and innovative solutions.
Our team of professionals focuses on outstanding client service and finding the most favorable possible resolution for our clients. Hoge Fenton prides itself on the vigorous and thorough representation of our family law clients, with the understanding that our clients need to be able to maintain important relationships following the termination of the litigation or representation.
Our Family Law Group was founded by veteran and renowned Northern California family law practitioner Phil Hammer. We employ a team approach for the benefit of all of the firm’s family law clients. Our highly skilled attorneys and paralegal staff ensure that each client can be served in the most efficient and cost-effective manner.
Why Hire a Certified Family Law Specialist?
We are pleased to announce that two of our attorneys are Certified Specialists in Family Law as conferred by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. Only a small percentage of attorneys may call themselves Certified Specialists in a particular practice area. Lawyers who use this designation must have met strict demands laid out by the State Bar of California, including extensive experience and demonstrated success in the field.
To be certified by the State Bar of California, a lawyer must:
- Have engaged in the practice of family law (more than 25% of one’s practice) for at least five years
- Pass a rigorous, day-long written exam
- Have completed a certain number of trials, hearings, settlements, and mediations with demonstrated experience in child custody and visitation, spousal support, child support, and property division
- Complete at least 45 hours of family law-specific continuing education every three years
- Have favorable evaluations from peers and judges
Services
Dissolutions
We offer a full range of services relating to the dissolution of marriage and domestic partnerships. Our attorneys have extensive expertise in handling all aspects of family law including child custody and visitation, asset/debt division, child support, spousal/partner support, and nullity proceedings.
We set ourselves apart from firms that offer only basic family law services by providing high-level expertise in marital/partner dissolutions where significant financial assets are at stake and the issues are highly complex. Such a dissolution might involve, for example, large real estate holdings, family businesses, foreign citizenship, foreign assets, significant stock and option holdings, venture capital investment, and/or taxation issues. Our firm handles these cases from the commencement of the proceedings through the final judgment, as well as post-judgment issues such as custody and support modifications.
Prenuptial Agreements
Our firm represents individuals desiring to execute prenuptial agreements in advance of marriage/domestic partnership to preemptively protect property interest in the event of future dissolution of the marital/partner relationship. Our firm negotiates and drafts prenuptial agreements to ensure the client’s desires are accomplished and to ensure the terms of the agreement are enforceable in a court of law.
Parentage Actions
We represent individuals in all aspects of parentage actions. We help fathers and mothers establish themselves as legal parents of their minor children. We have experience in handling both sides of cases involving a dispute regarding the identity of a child’s legal parent. We represent parents trying to establish the identity of the other legal parent, and we defend against wrongful attempts to have a person deemed responsible for a child who is not his own. We also handle the issues of custody and child support in cases where parentage has already been established.
Guardianships
Our team represents grandparents, other family members, and unrelated individuals who are seeking guardianship of children who are not safe in their parents’ care. We also represent parents in such cases to ensure their rights are fully protected and to defend against inappropriate guardianship attempts.
Adoptions
Our family law professionals represent parents in all aspects of independent, step-parent, and registered domestic partner adoption proceedings.
Domestic Violence
We represent both litigants who seek orders to protect themselves and their children from domestic violence and those who seek to defend such orders. Domestic violence orders can also include orders for temporary custody, visitation, and support in the context of both marital and non-marital relationships.
