Saving Attorney Time is Saving Money

Attorneys charge most cases by the time spent.  Each minute you save our attorney is money-saved for you.

If you send a statement for your attorney to edit into a declaration, if you do not capitalize all the "i"s when you mean, "I," then that means you are paying your attorney to do it.  If you simply speak an unpunctuated free-flow of words into your phone, then a declaration that should have taken one hour to edit could take two to four, depending how hard it is to straighten out.

Here at Mason Law, we want to save clients their money, and we remind them that the more work they do on their "raw materials," then the more we can just focus on the "legal edit," and not the "English edit." Of course, we do the "English edit" as well, as needed, but we want your bill to be as reasonable as it can be.  Mason Law of Spokane, WA 509.443.3681 www.spokaneinjuryanddivorcelaw.com

"I will never get married again!"

That is the phrase you might often hear from people who had a rough divorce.

Unfortunately, they later learn that the property they accumulated in their next relationship, even though it was an unmarried relationship, is also subject to court division of the property accumulated during this time, under a "committed, intimate, relationship action" (CIR)  in which a court divides "community-like" property. (These court actions used to be called "meretricious relationship" actions, and may also be called an "equity relationship" action in today's courts.)

The ONLY way to avoid creating "community-like" property is to have a separate property agreement that completely spells out your property, and your partner's property, and who owns what in future accumulations from the labor of each of you.   These agreements also must meet certain standards of fairness when you draft and sign them or they might be subject to later attack in court, potentially putting you right back where you started.

Visitation During Divorce

During the chaos in the early stages of a divorce, the courts will be looking to maintain the stability of the children as best they can.  The courts will be looking to provide that stability by trying to determine which parent spent the most time with the children during the marriage (or relationship), and the strength and stability of the bond with each parent.  Of course, the parent should be mentally and emotionally stable, as well, to provide a secure home for the children.

The court does not know you or your children, so you will need to be ready to explain your relationship with the children, and, ideally, have long-standing friends and neighbors who can describe your parent-child relationships in written statements under oath.  "Reality" is reduced to a file of a few pages before your first hearing -- the "temporary order hearing" -- that will set the ground rules during the divorce.

Here at Mason Law, in Spokane, WA, we are accustomed to helping you gather these facts quickly and under pressure to assist you in getting the visitation with your children that will serve their best interests.  Call us at 509-443-3681 to help with your parenting plan hearings, and then, later, to help you get the best parenting plan at trial.

What is CIR?

After people have had a bad divorce experience, they often think, "I'll never get married again."  However, they then co-habitat with someone, and are shocked to discover that they are subject to a "CIR" (committed, intimate relationship) suit upon breaking up with a person after a period of years, and the court can find that they have a "community" of sorts and distribute the property they accumulated during the relationship.

Other names for a CIR include:  "Meretricious Relationship" and "Equity Relationship."

The best way to avoid a CIR is to explicitly form a separate property agreement at the beginning of the relationship.

Here at Mason Law, we have prosecuted CIR cases, defended CIR cases, and drafted property agreements -- prenuptial, post-nuptial, and separate property agreements. We can help keep you out of trouble, or get you out of trouble once you are in it.  Craig Mason of Mason Law and staff are ready to help, in Spokane, WA and Eastern Washington generally. 509.443.3681

Community Property/Separate Property

There are nine community property states: Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. In these states, all property of a married person is classified as either community property (owned jointly by both spouses) or the separate property of one spouse.

In some of those states, once the property is "characterized" as separate property, the court loses the power to give it to the other spouse. Other states are like Washington in that the court must characterize the property before making a "just and equitable distribution," but that "just and equitable distribution" can include giving separate property to the other spouse.

These cases can get very complex in the determination of whether property is separate or community, and during the course of those cases clients often learn that they should have (or should not have) gotten a prenuptial agreement, or a property agreement, or they learn many other aspects of the law that lead them to wish they had better prepared for a possible divorce.

At Mason Law, Craig Mason has years of experience with these matters in Spokane County and other Eastern Washington counties. Call Mason Law at 509-443-3681.  And for further reading see In re Marriage of Kile & Kendall, 186 Wash. App. 864, 347 P.3d 894 (2015), a case in which a Mr. Mason's appeal reversed the legal errors of a very smart judge -- community property law is simply that tricky to understand.

We at Mason Law Wish You a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.

The holidays will be difficult this year as we continue under the threat of COVID-19, and the restrictions that follow from it. The Spokane County courts have indicated that the disease is not an excuse to deviate from any of the parenting plans. All parents should still be able to see their children as ordered, and that is a blessing in these hard and unusual times -- the blanket rule is keeping people out of court, and, hopefully, in the Christmas spirit.

I am thankful that I have so much word-of-mouth business that I have to advertise very little.  I like to think that it is because I maintain the spirit of reconciliation and understanding all year long.  Yes, I fight when I have to do so, and I fight well, but my real expertise is in finding creative solutions that meet the needs of all parties sufficiently that "peace" can be found in the difficult process of divorce or other family law conflict.  No matter how calmly or heatedly a case begins, sooner or later it ends.  And if parents can think of their children, or the husband and wife can think of the other, then the case ends better for all in the long run.

So, let's end this year, and enter the next, remembering that a relationship ending, or a new dispute being addressed, can always benefit from opening your heart to the interests and needs of others.  In other words, may you enjoy your Christmas holidays, and carry a bit of that spirit with you all next year.  Best wishes from Mason Law, Spokane, WA - (509) 443-4681.

It’s Mine…No it’s Mine!

In a divorce, the ideas of "mine" and "hers or his" often come up.  However, unless there was a clear property agreement, the marriage "owns" the labors of each spouse, and all that flowed from that labor.  It is community property.  One of the partners did nothing and the other did "all the work?"  It does not matter.  You were married, and the property purchased with the fruits of that labor is community property.  Property is presumed to be community unless factors showing a separate source (such as inheritance or property owned prior to marriage) can be proven.

Courts must "characterize" property as "separate" or "community," and then the judge must make a "just and equitable" distribution of that property. And Washington has been a "no fault" state for nearly fifty years, and other than the most egregious "wasting" of assets, who earned the wealth and who consumed it will not matter to the court. In fact, if the one who consumed the assets cannot make a living, then spousal maintenance will likely be ordered until the non-working spouse has time to develop the skills to be able to make a living.

For dealing with the complex issues of "my property" versus "his or her property" contact Mason Law of Spokane, Washington at 509-443-3681, as Craig Mason has deep experience in these property issues. (For example search "Kile v. Kendall" or "Marriage of Kile" for a seminal case in which Mr. Mason won an appeal based upon these principles.) You may also use the website www.spokaneinjuryanddivorcelaw.com to contact Mason Law.

The Stress of Divorce and DUI and DV

Divorce or the separation of co-habitating parents is extremely stressful. People often get their first DUI, or their first domestic violence (DV) charge, when going through the dissolution of their relationship.

Saying this is not to excuse it, but to point to the facts of just how emotionally difficult the process can be, and the unfortunate impact these emotions can have on behavior.

I would not be the lawyer for your fifth DUI when you need to pay an expensive expert to attack the breathalyzer or the blood draw.  However, I have a lot of experience in negotiating a resolution of the criminal case of a good person who responded badly to the stress of a family law crisis, and who previously had little or no interaction with the criminal justice system.

My name is Craig Mason, and my office staff and I are happy to help you through these hard times. My office is in Spokane, and I have recently handled cases in Benton, Franklin, Whitman, Stevens, Lincoln, Adams, and Pend Oreille counties as well. Give me a call at (509) 443-3681. Please check out my website at spokaneinjuryanddivorcelaw.com.