Services
Experienced Family
Law Attorneys
Experienced Family Law Attorneys
At Collier Florance Van Scoy, we navigate our clients through the divorce process, by providing a practical plan for the future—ensuring that our clients know we are with them every step of the way.
We are a full-service family law firm in Bethesda, Maryland.
Our mission is to provide clients with the support and guidance they need to navigate one of the most challenging times of their lives.
We offer comprehensive representation in all aspects of family law, including divorce, custody, property, child support and alimony, pre- and post-nuptial agreements, separation agreements, guardianship matters, and uncontested adoptions.
We represent clients in litigation and all forms of dispute resolution, including mediation and collaborative divorce. We are trained parent coordinators and certified mediators.
Our services are not cookie-cutter—we tailor our approach to each client and their individual needs.
With our team-oriented approach, our clients can feel confident knowing they are getting the most out of our firm’s cumulative experience and expertise.
Our partners have worked together for years and have built a system of trust and collaboration to ensure our clients are provided with all possible solutions to their most urgent concerns.
We leverage our in-firm resources to be as cost-effective as possible, while still providing top-tier, comprehensive representation.
As a team and as a firm, we are committed to the highest standards of practice, and we pride ourselves on being extremely responsive, strategic thinkers, good listeners, and strong advocates.
Overview of Services
Divorce
Our team understands the emotional turmoil and personal strife involved in the divorce process and we represent our clients with compassion, fairness, and understanding, no matter the complexity of the case.
Our goal is that our clients feel at ease, heard, understood, and supported throughout the entire divorce process.
We strive to educate and empower our clients to understand their legal rights and obligations, but also to choose the best process to finalize their divorce—whether that means negotiating a Separation Agreement or Marital Settlement Agreement, mediating the terms of the divorce, or going to court to litigate.
We regularly handle complex property distribution and support issues, which may include business valuations, deferred compensation, and executive compensation structures.
We also have strong relationships with the professionals you may need, such as accountants, valuation experts, realtors, and appraisers.
We are your advocates throughout the entire process.
Child Custody
Whether you need help establishing legal or physical custody, modifying an existing custody agreement or order, or resolving enforcement issues, we focus on preserving the children’s best interests in any custody matter.
Our team regularly handles complex custody disputes, such as relocation cases and high-conflict dynamics between parents. We are also trained—and regularly appointed by the Court—to represent children in custody matters, as a Child Privilege Attorney or a Best Interest Attorney.
When custody issues are resolved, we skillfully craft comprehensive Parenting Agreements that serve our client’s and their children’s best interests and help to avoid future disputes.
Separation & Marital Settlement Agreements
When divorce and financial issues are resolved between the parties, we draft detailed Separation Agreements, also referred to as Marital Settlement Agreements.
We work closely with our clients to best represent their interests when negotiating and drafting the terms of their Separation Agreement.
We thoughtfully craft every aspect of your Agreement to help ensure that it is durable and avoids future disputes.
Because we are experienced litigators, we also understand how Courts are likely to enforce (or not enforce) your Agreement, and we use that knowledge to our clients’ benefit in drafting any Agreement.
Pre-nuptial & Post-nuptial Agreements
Pre-nuptial agreements can resolve financial issues before the marriage is official, and post-nuptial agreements can address similar concerns after the marriage ceremony or if a couple reconciles following a separation.
We take into account the unique circumstances of each of our clients to ensure that their goals in drafting the agreement are achieved.
We strive to help our clients avoid the need for future litigation and court involvement as much as possible by drafting clear agreement provisions intended to avoid any future ambiguity.
Alimony
Alimony law in Maryland is complex and can be an emotionally-fraught as well as financially challenging issue.
Our services include drafting and reviewing alimony agreements, evaluating the financial needs of the parties and the big picture economic circumstances of the matter, negotiating alimony structures, and providing legal representation in court.
We advocate for our client’s best financial interests while ensuring that they understand their rights and obligations in terms of any alimony award or alimony agreement.
Child Support
Child support is intended to provide children of parents who live in separate households the same standard of living as they would have if their family were intact.
While child support is often calculated using the Maryland Child Support Guidelines, we routinely handle “above-guidelines” cases as well, where the child support amount is determined based on a detailed budget of the family, the children’s actual expenses, and each parent’s income and financial circumstances.
Whether through litigation or compromise, we strive to ensure that the needs of the children of our clients are met while also advocating for our client’s financial interests.
We are adept at handling support-related issues as well, such as voluntary impoverishment, imputation of income, hidden or pass-through income, and replacement income issues.
We can also assist you in modifying or enforcing existing child support orders.
Adoption
Mediation
Mediation can be a helpful dispute resolution tool, and we often guide our clients through this process.
Many clients wish to use mediation as a first step in their case, but the Court also usually requires it.
However we have arrived in mediation, we always ensure that our client is fully prepared and that the mediator is provided with the necessary information to make the mediation session as productive as possible.
We pride ourselves on being keen listeners, adept negotiators and creative problem-solvers, and we put those skills to good use in any mediation setting.
All three of our partners are also certified mediators and can be engaged to serve as the neutral to mediate disputes between parties (who are often represented by their own lawyers).
In this capacity, we do not provide legal advice; however, we seek to ensure that the parties engaged in the mediation process are heard and feel understood while we facilitate their negotiations.
Parent Coordination
We provide Parent Coordination services to clients who have a difficult and contentious relationship with their co-parent and need help improving communication dynamics, discussing child-related issues, and coming to decisions on behalf of their children.
In this capacity, we serve as an objective third-party neutral, and we meet with you and your co-parent to help you resolve disputes.
The goal of Parent Coordination is to help the parents reduce the conflict between them and therefore reduce conflict for their child and resolve issues on their own, efficiently and cost-effectively and outside of the courtroom.
Guardianship
We are routinely appointed by the Court to serve as the guardian of the person or the guardian of the property.
When appointed, we represent our client with compassion, and we are adept at navigating the legal process on their behalf.