Child Custody Attorneys
30,982 verified child custody attorneys across the United States. Custody, visitation, parenting plans, and modification of custody orders. Compare verified child custody attorneys nationwide by experience, peer ratings, and client reviews — get matched with counsel in any state, free for clients.
Tucker L. Watson is an experienced trial lawyer focusing exclusively on representing clients in Northampton and Accomack Counties on Virginia's Easter...
Sergio Cabanas is a dedicated divorce lawyer and family law advocate with a deeply personal mission: to protect families from the very system that onc...
Amanda Medlin Bellotti is a lawyer practicing family law, alternative dispute resolution, mediation and 40 other areas of law. Amanda Medlin received ...
Philip L. Arnel practices at Law Office of Philip L.
Kevin Patrick Seaver is a lawyer practicing child abuse or neglect (51a) reports, custody, adoptions and 18 other areas of law. Kevin received a B.S. ...
Founder of the Law Office of Payab & Associates and a part of the State Bar of California for 20 years, David Payab, Esq. has successfully litigated m...
The founder of the Law Offices of John Schmidt & Associates PLLC, John has a personal devotion to help struggling families. The happiness and welfare ...
Legal matters can be emotionally difficult unless one has an aggressive, intelligent, and vigilant lawyer who understands the legal system and who can...
Louis F. Simonetti is a lawyer practicing matrimonial, divorce, family law and 31 other areas of law.
Mr. Roberts was a partner in a major Suffolk County law firm until 1997, when he established his own practice concentrating in matrimonial law and fam...
Jessenia Rosales is a lawyer practicing family law, alimony, annulment and 113 other areas of law. Jessenia received a B.A. degree from University of ...
Mike began practicing law in 2002 in Fort Wayne and the surrounding counties. Mike has focused his scope of legal practice to all issues involving fam...
Mr. Travis L Turner is a lawyer practicing family law, child custody, child support and 13 other areas of law.
Joshua Floyd has practiced with The Jimenez Law Firm since September 2012.Josh brings great energy, enthusiasm, and dedication to all his cases. He ha...
Reagen Kulseth practices at The Law Office of Reagen Kulseth Read Full Bio
Mr. Robert Steele Cummings is a lawyer practicing child custody, divorce & separation, speeding & traffic ticket and 1 other area of law.
Brandon B. McDonald is a lawyer practicing family law, adoptions, alimony and 39 other areas of law.
Brian Andrew Kirlew is a lawyer practicing criminal defense, white collar crime, family law and 16 other areas of law. Brian received a B.S. degree fr...
Christina Jimenez founded The Jimenez Law Firm in North Texas and her home region of Midland-Odessa with the goal of providing the best possible crimi...
Founder of Chinn & Associates, Mark A. Chinn is a seasoned Jackson, Mississippi family law attorney who has dedicated his career to helping clients th...
Daniel Joseph Marchese is a lawyer practicing family law, divorce without children, child custody dispute and 9 other areas of law. Daniel received a ...
Calvin Kourosh Azadi practices at Azadi Law Read Full Bio
Ms. Marie Hylan Hopper is a lawyer practicing child custody, speeding & traffic ticket, divorce & separation and 2 other areas of law.
Founding Editor, Domestic Law Review, 1982. Editor, Domestic Law Review-West, Family Law Section, 1992-1998.
Marc Evan Rovner is a lawyer practicing real estate, residential real estate, commercial real estate and 10 other areas of law. Marc received a B.A. d...
Anthony David Storm is a lawyer practicing family law, community property law, divorce and 6 other areas of law. Anthony received a degree from Univer...
Barbara Jean Leach is a lawyer practicing animal law, bankruptcy, family law and 9 other areas of law. Barbara received a B.A. degree from Rollins Col...
Peter John Louie is a lawyer practicing criminal defense, family law, divorce and 6 other areas of law. Peter received a degree from Grove City Colleg...
PAULINA FORREST is a graduate of the University of Central Florida (B.A., 2007) and Florida Coastal School of Law (J.D., 2010). She graduated law scho...
Mr. Stephen Wright Williams is a lawyer practicing adoptions, child custody, interstate child custody and 22 other areas of law.
Kristopher Kest is the founder of Kest Family Law, P.A. He practices and mediates exclusively in the area of marital and family law.
Mrs. Sara Gharib Khaki is a lawyer practicing social security disability law, administrative law, divorce & separation and 3 other areas of law.
Jonathan E von Kohorn is a lawyer practicing child custody, alimony, family law and 1 other area of law. Jonathan received a B.A. degree from Universi...
Candice Davis founded The Davis Family Law Firm in Norcross, Georgia with a singular mission: to provide the kind of sophisticated, personalized legal...
James Randall Krenis is a lawyer practicing personal injury, dui/dwi, no fault divorce and 8 other areas of law. James received a B.A. degree from Rut...
Phi Alpha Delta.
[Si Hablo Espanol] “My singular focus is to achieve the client's goals in a professional, cost-effective and strategic manner, to ensure that the resu...
Ms Tamara Nicole Mulembo is a lawyer practicing criminal defense, criminal law, federal criminal law and 14 other areas of law. Tamara received a B.A....
Brett Ryan Wishart is a lawyer practicing divorce, family law, dissolution of marriage and 13 other areas of law. Brett received a B.A. degree from Br...
Achieving outstanding results for my clients is worth the time that it takes to be thoroughly prepared for aggressive advocacy. I am a former Rhode Is...
Attorney Nancy Giardina's practice is devoted exclusively to helping families. She is committed to solving problems in a way that best serves her clie...
Theseus Danger Schulze is a lawyer practicing family law, divorce, child custody and 1 other area of law. Theseus has been licensed for 8 years.
Michelle J. Perkins was admitted to the bar in 1994 and practiced solo for two years before co-founding Owens & Perkins with her grandfather, C.D.
Lindsay Danielle Turner is a lawyer practicing criminal law, appellate law, criminal appeals and 3 other areas of law. Lindsay received a B.S. degree ...
Jennifer Buell is the lead attorney in the firm’s domestic law practice. She is a litigator with broad experience, including general civil and insuran...
Eric R. Posmantier is a founding member of the firm, and an experienced family law attorney who focuses his practice on all aspects of divorce, as wel...
Michelle Holmes has been practicing law for over Twenty years and is a leader in representing individuals who have been discriminated against in the w...
Susan Chana Lask is a lawyer practicing appeals & us supreme court, civil rights, divorce and child custody and 14 other areas of law. Susan received ...
Jeffrey D. Stearman is a lawyer practicing alimony, marriage & prenuptials, uncontested divorce and 21 other areas of law.
Shelley P. Carter is a lawyer practicing divorce, family law, criminal defense and 4 other areas of law.
Tamera Ann Childers is a lawyer practicing alimony, child custody, child support and 5 other areas of law. Tamera received a B.S. degree from Oklahoma...
Myers N. Massengill was born and raised in Bristol, Tenessee.
Michael D Fluke is an experienced Criminal and Family Law attorney whose practice focuses on complex Divorce and Family Law matters and substantial Cr...
I come from a long line of attorneys: the law and justice are in my blood. Since 1998, I have served clients in Auburn and King County with their fami...
Attorney is Double Board Certified in Civil Trial Law and Marital and Family Law, Florida Board of Legal Specialization and Education. Mr.
Brandon Wong is a skilled attorney recognized for his contributions to family law. He has authored notable works, including "Child Support Enforcement...
James H. Wilson, Jr. was born in Monterey, California, in 1962 and grew up in Fairfax County, Virginia.
Laura McQuesten is a lawyer practicing family law, mediation, adoptions and 7 other areas of law. Laura received a B.B.A. degree from Texas Tech Unive...
Laura L. McQuesten is a lawyer practicing family law, mediation, adoptions and 7 other areas of law.
April Kang Seo is a lawyer practicing family law, divorce/legal separation/annulment, child custody and visitation and 9 other areas of law. April rec...
What is Child Custody?
Child Custody is the branch of law that governs the rights, obligations, and disputes that arise within its subject matter. In the United States, child custody sits at the intersection of statutes enacted by Congress, the regulations issued by federal agencies, the laws passed by all fifty state legislatures, and the body of judge-made decisions known as the common law. Because every state writes its own version of the rules, the way child custody works in one jurisdiction can look noticeably different from how it works in another, and that is one of the main reasons attorneys in this area focus their practice geographically — to stay fluent in the local statutes, court rules, and judicial preferences that shape outcomes.
At a practical level, Child Custody attorneys spend their time on three categories of work. The first is advice and prevention: counselling clients on how to structure transactions, draft documents, and conduct business so that legal risk is minimised before a dispute ever begins. The second is transactional execution: producing the contracts, filings, notices, and registrations that the law actually requires to make a decision legally binding. The third is contested representation: defending or pursuing a client's interests when a dispute escalates to negotiation, regulatory enforcement, arbitration, or litigation in court.
The clients who hire Child Custody lawyers range from individuals navigating a single life event to multinational corporations with complex regulatory exposure. What unifies them is the need for an experienced lawyer who knows the relevant code sections, has appeared in the relevant courts, and can translate the strategic options into language a client can act on. AttorneyQnA currently lists 30,982 verified child custody attorneys across the United States, each with a public profile showing their bar admissions, years in practice, and the kinds of matters they have handled — with the deepest concentration of practitioners in California.
When do you need a Child Custody attorney?
Most people contact a child custody lawyer for one of two reasons: something is about to happen that they want done correctly the first time, or something has gone wrong and they need it fixed before it gets worse. The earlier you involve counsel, the more options you usually have, and the lower the cost of getting to a resolution tends to be. The scenarios below are the ones we see most often on AttorneyQnA from prospective clients searching for child custody representation.
Once your signature is on a contract, settlement, lease, or release, your bargaining leverage drops sharply. A short pre-signature review by a child custody lawyer is the cheapest insurance you can buy.
Cease-and-desist letters, regulatory notices, and demand letters all start clocks. Missing the response window can convert a manageable problem into a default judgment or formal enforcement action.
Statutes of limitations, filing windows, and appeal periods are jurisdictional — courts cannot extend them as a favour. If you can identify a date that matters, you need a lawyer before that date arrives.
The moment opposing counsel appears, the conversation moves out of normal English and into procedural language. Continuing unrepresented usually means losing ground you cannot recover later.
Forming an entity, choosing a venue, structuring a deal, or selecting a remedy each has long-term consequences. A consultation at the planning stage is far cheaper than redoing it after the fact.
Multi-state matters bring conflict-of-laws questions that change which statutes apply and which court has authority. An attorney licensed in the right jurisdiction is not optional.
If any of the situations above describes where you are right now, the next step is a focused consultation. Use the Ask a Lawyer tool for short written questions, or browse the 30,982 child custody attorneys listed above to book a paid consultation directly.
How to choose a Child Custody attorney
The single biggest factor in choosing a child custody lawyer is fit with your specific matter. A lawyer with twenty years of child custody experience but no exposure to your particular sub-issue can easily be a worse choice than a five-year associate who has handled the same problem repeatedly. We recommend running every prospective lawyer through the same five-step checklist before signing an engagement letter.
- Bar admission in the correct jurisdiction. Confirm the lawyer is admitted in the state — and where relevant, the federal district — where your matter sits. The lawyer's profile on AttorneyQnA shows every bar admission on file, and the underlying state bar's "lawyer lookup" tool will confirm active standing in under a minute.
- Direct experience with your fact pattern. Ask plainly: "How many matters like mine have you handled in the last three years, and how did they resolve?" An honest answer reveals more than years-in-practice alone.
- A written fee agreement. Whether hourly, flat fee, contingent, or hybrid, the engagement letter should specify what is included, what triggers additional charges, and how disputes are handled. Avoid lawyers who resist writing the terms down.
- Communication cadence. Decide upfront how often you expect updates, who your day-to-day contact will be, and what response time is reasonable. The number-one complaint filed with state bar grievance committees is not malpractice — it is non-communication.
- Conflict check + reputation pulse. Make sure the lawyer has run a formal conflict check, then spend ten minutes reading independent reviews and any public disciplinary history. The state bar's website is authoritative for the second; the lawyer's AttorneyQnA profile collects the first.
Once you have a shortlist, schedule consultations with two or three. Lawyers vary widely in temperament, and the right strategic match for your case is sometimes the second or third lawyer you meet — not the first.
How much does a Child Custody lawyer cost?
Legal fees in the United States are not regulated by a uniform schedule, so what you pay a child custody lawyer depends on the billing model the lawyer offers, the complexity of your matter, and the local market. There are four billing structures used in this practice area; most engagements use one, but hybrid arrangements are increasingly common.
1. Hourly billing
The default model for most non-contingent matters. Rates for child custody attorneys in the U.S. typically range from $150–$250/hour in smaller markets to $400–$700/hour in major metropolitan areas, with senior partners at large firms commanding $900/hour and above. Hourly billing is fairest when the scope of work is genuinely unpredictable, but it creates an incentive structure that the client has to monitor.
2. Flat fee
Increasingly used for well-defined transactions — incorporations, will drafting, single-issue filings, uncontested matters. A flat fee tells you exactly what the deliverable will cost, and the lawyer absorbs the risk of unexpected complexity. Ask whether the flat fee includes filing fees, third-party costs, and any post-filing follow-up.
3. Contingency
Where it is permitted by the rules of professional conduct — most often in plaintiff-side child custody work involving monetary recovery — the lawyer is paid a percentage of the proceeds, typically 33% before suit is filed and 40% after. The client pays nothing if there is no recovery. Contingency fees align the lawyer's economics with yours, but the percentage compounds across time, so very strong cases sometimes do better on hourly billing.
4. Retainer / subscription
A monthly fee that buys a defined block of access or hours. This is common for businesses with ongoing child custody needs — contract review, employee questions, regulatory check-ins. A subscription smooths out spending and gives the lawyer a reason to know your operation in depth.
Whichever model you choose, ask for an itemised written estimate before the engagement begins, and ask explicitly what is not covered. Surprise expenses are the most common source of attorney-client friction.
Frequently asked questions about child custody
How quickly can a child custody lawyer review my matter?
Most lawyers can schedule an initial consultation within 1–3 business days. Urgent matters — pending deadlines, time-sensitive notices, court-ordered hearings — should be flagged in your first message; many lawyers reserve emergency consultation slots for that reason. If you need a written answer faster, the Ask a Lawyer tool typically returns answers in under 24 hours.
Do I need a child custody lawyer in my exact city, or anywhere in my state?
Bar admission is the controlling rule: any attorney licensed in your state can represent you in that state's courts and agencies, regardless of which city they're based in. Practical proximity still matters for in-person meetings, local court familiarity, and access to the local bench and bar. For state-level filings and remote-friendly matters, an attorney elsewhere in the same state often works fine.
Will an initial consultation cost me anything?
Many child custody attorneys offer a free 15- to 30-minute initial consultation; others charge a flat consultation fee that may be credited against the engagement if you hire them. The lawyer's profile lists the consultation policy. Free does not always mean better — a fee-based consultation is sometimes the sign of a lawyer who treats their time, and yours, seriously.
What documents should I bring to the first meeting?
Bring every contract, notice, letter, filing, or written communication connected to the matter; a written timeline of events with dates; the names and contact details of every other party involved; and any deadlines or hearing dates you are already aware of. Even an incomplete file is more useful than a verbal summary alone.
Can I change lawyers if I am not happy with mine?
Yes. Clients can discharge their lawyer at any time, for any reason, by written notice. Your case file belongs to you and must be transferred to your new counsel. Any unpaid fees through the date of discharge remain owed; any unearned advance must be refunded. If you are mid-litigation, the court typically must approve the substitution, but approval is routine.
How long does a typical child custody matter take?
It depends almost entirely on whether the matter is transactional or contested. A transactional matter — a contract, a filing, a single-step transaction — can resolve in days to weeks. A contested matter — anything involving disputed facts, court intervention, or regulatory action — typically takes months at minimum, and complex cases can run multiple years. Your lawyer should give you a realistic outside estimate at intake.
Are child custody lawyer fees tax-deductible?
It depends on the nature of the matter and current tax law. Fees connected to producing or collecting taxable income, managing investment property, or operating a business are often deductible; fees for personal matters generally are not. Because rules change, confirm deductibility with a tax professional for the year in which the fees are paid.
What is the difference between child custody and the related practice areas?
Child Custody overlaps with several adjacent areas — see the related-practice-area grid below for direct links. Choosing the right lawyer often means picking the one whose primary focus matches the heart of your problem, even if multiple labels could technically apply. When you are unsure, list your situation in your own words to two lawyers from neighbouring areas and ask which one of them is the better fit; honest lawyers will tell you.
Find child custody attorneys by state
Each state link below opens the child custody roster for that jurisdiction, with the local statute of limitations, court-system overview, and verified attorneys.
Child Custody Law Firms
Main Law Firm
Winter Park
Walton Law Firm
San Marcos
Bruner Law Firm
Fort Walton Beach
J&Y Law Firm
Los Angeles
West Law Firm
Charleston
John T. Floyd Law Firm
Houston
Child Custody by State
All states →Find child custody attorneys in every US state. Each state link opens a hub with verified attorneys, the state filing deadline, and a free attorney match.