Contested Divorce Lawyers
205 verified contested divorce attorneys across the United States. Find experienced Contested Divorce counsel to evaluate your case, explain your options, and represent you through every stage of the legal process.
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...
Eric Schlimgen, a Black Hills native has been practicing since 2016 with measurable success. He prides himself on a deep tradition of excellence, ensu...
Thomas Weiss heads Vishnick McGovern Milizio’s Bankruptcy practice and is a key member of the Commercial Litigation, Real Estate Litigation, and Matri...
Attorney Eric C. Cheshire, founder of Eric C.
Lecia C. King-Wade is a lawyer practicing personal injury, automobile accidents, wrongful death and 37 other areas of law.
Lucy Matevosyan is a lawyer practicing family law, dissolution of marriage, domestic violence restraining orders and 18 other areas of law. Lucy has b...
Experienced Trial Attorney for Marital and Family Law, Adoption, and Guardianship cases. Founded on integrity, professionalism, and caring, this law o...
Attorney Sharon Jackson, LLC is a trusted divorce and family law firm serving in the State of Georgia, primarily throughout the metro Atlanta areas an...
Robert B. Pollack is a lawyer practicing divorce, separation, contested divorce and 36 other areas of law.
Elizabeth Maxey Long is a lawyer practicing family law, divorce, child custody and 98 other areas of law. Elizabeth received a J.D. degree from Univer...
Hon. Richard Gerard Collins, Jr. is a lawyer practicing dui & dwi, criminal defense, contested divorce and 4 other areas of law.
Ms. Jerbrina L.
Garth Goodman is a lawyer practicing divorce, family law, contested divorce and 19 other areas of law. Garth received a B.A. degree from Stetson Unive...
The law office of Vivien I. Stark, P.C. has over 30 years of experience in the practice of family and matrimonial law.
Shari R. Gordon is an experienced divorce and family law attorney who has been advocating for clients for over thirty-five years.
Mr. John A.
Christopher Ault is a lawyer practicing divorce, family law, child support and 21 other areas of law. Christopher received a B.S. degree from Universi...
Katherine Kay Wagner is a lawyer practicing family law, divorce, alimony and 11 other areas of law. Katherine received a B.A. degree from Duke Univers...
Angela H. Heimes is an attorney with over twenty years of experience, who has successfully negotiated and litigated on behalf of hundreds of clients.
Lisa McNorton, a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) and a State Bar Certified Specialist in Family Law, has practiced family...
Amy A Taylor-Heimberg is a lawyer practicing dui defense, criminal law, family law and 13 other areas of law. Amy received a B.A. degree from College ...
Mrs. Lindsay Choat Ronilo is a lawyer practicing divorce, uncontested divorce, contested divorce and 20 other areas of law.
Kristi Wells’ practice focuses exclusively on domestic relations issues with an emphasis on complex issues such as trusts, pre-marital agreements, clo...
Jimmie Sparrow III is a lawyer practicing criminal law, federal criminal law, criminal defense and 26 other areas of law. Jimmie received a B.A. degre...
Alyssa A. Vanstone, founder of Vanstone Law Firm, is dedicated to advocating for homeowners facing foreclosure.
Akram Louis, Esq. is a licensed attorney in New York, New Jersey, and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Kristy Belle Guy Zinna is a lawyer practicing family law, divorce, contested divorce and 15 other areas of law. Kristy received a B.A. degree from Uni...
Anthony J. Giudice is a highly regarded family law attorney serving Kane, Kendall, DuPage, and DeKalb counties.
Benjamin Isac Calev is a lawyer practicing criminal law, criminal defense, homicide and 14 other areas of law. Benjamin received a B.A. degree from Un...
Jennifer Dane was born and raised in Central Florida. After receiving her bachelor’s degree in South Carolina, Jennifer moved back to Central Florida ...
Ms. Dawn Christine Archer is a lawyer practicing flat fee divorce, contested divorce, adoption and 9 other areas of law.
William S. Foley is a seasoned family law attorney with nearly 20 years of experience serving clients throughout Tampa Bay.
With law offices in Orange County, California, Bayati Law Group strives to bring every divorce case and every family law matter that we handle to a ju...
Hon. Jennifer Barbara Shupert is a lawyer practicing divorce, uncontested divorce, military divorce and 14 other areas of law.
I am admitted to practice law both in New Jersey and New York states and practice exclusively in the area of Divorce and Family Law. Issues pertaining...
Bethany L. Notaro, Esq. is a highly respected family law attorney with deep roots in Pennsylvania’s legal community.
Ms. Martha Camden Massie is a lawyer practicing family law, custody cases, uncontested divorce and 4 other areas of law.
Richard Jessup is a lawyer practicing appeals, litigation, general practice and 18 other areas of law. Richard received a B.A. degree from Allegheny C...
Todd A. Orston is a seasoned family law attorney based in Johns Creek, Georgia, with over 27 years of legal experience.
Robert A. Hoffman is a lawyer practicing real estate, bankruptcy, personal injury and 7 other areas of law.
Chris is a Partner with Goranson Bain Ausley. He has held numerous leadership roles within the State Bar of Texas, including serving as Chair of the F...
Mr. Kaufman is one of the three founding partners and presently managing partner of the law firm of Kaufman, Nichols & Kaufman, PLLC.
Gary L. Nickelson has practiced family law exclusively for more than 50 years, including cases dealing with high-net-worth divorce, complex property d...
Beth E. Maultsby has dedicated much of her life to helping families by serving as a judge, lawyer and social worker.
Diana recognizes that divorce and other family law issues are very personal experiences, and strives to build comfortable, trusting relationships with...
Jeff Shore is a highly experienced litigator, mediator, and collaborative law attorney. His work as a civil business litigator prior to becoming a fam...
Kyle Basinger is a highly regarded family attorney who draws on deep experience and a competitive nature in seeking to prevail for his clients. A seas...
As a former child abuse caseworker and judge, Angeline Lindley Bain has witnessed firsthand the destruction that protracted conflict causes in familie...
Terry L. Kaufman is a lawyer practicing adoptions, child custody, contested divorce and 21 other areas of law.
Ms. Lanae Michelle Harden is a lawyer practicing matrimonial law, family law, child custody and 7 other areas of law.
Roseann Branda is a lawyer practicing matrimonial law, contested divorce, uncontested divorce and 6 other areas of law. Roseann received a B.A. degree...
Jason Morton is a lawyer practicing dui defense, criminal law, family law and 14 other areas of law. Jason received a B.A. degree from Swarthmore Coll...
Having gone to law school later in life, Chaim used his real-world experience to gain a deeper understanding in how the law works. After graduating in...
Ms. Courtney has practiced family law for the last 21 years, concentrating her practice in the areas of divorce, distribution of marital assets, suppo...
I was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida. I graduated from Wolfson High School in 1985.
Galvanized by family tradition, as well as an acute intellect, Brent Warkentine knew at an early age that his career goal was to practice law. While s...
Arthur J. Grossman's background is marked by a deep commitment to serving others, rooted in his early experiences as the son of a Navy Officer and as ...
Attorney Johnny D. Drizis has lived in the Tampa Bay area since 1984.
Richard Eugene Rossi is a lawyer practicing contracts & agreements, family law, divorce law and 55 other areas of law. Richard received a degree from ...
Michael Corwin Funkey is a lawyer practicing criminal defense, general practice, civil litigation and 20 other areas of law. Michael received a B.A. d...
What is Contested Divorce?
Contested Divorce is the branch of law that governs the rights, obligations, and disputes that arise within its subject matter. In the United States, contested divorce 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 contested divorce 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, Contested Divorce 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 Contested Divorce 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 205 verified contested divorce 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 Alabama.
When do you need a Contested Divorce attorney?
Most people contact a contested divorce 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 contested divorce representation.
Once your signature is on a contract, settlement, lease, or release, your bargaining leverage drops sharply. A short pre-signature review by a contested divorce 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 205 contested divorce attorneys listed above to book a paid consultation directly.
How to choose a Contested Divorce attorney
The single biggest factor in choosing a contested divorce lawyer is fit with your specific matter. A lawyer with twenty years of contested divorce 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 Contested Divorce lawyer cost?
Legal fees in the United States are not regulated by a uniform schedule, so what you pay a contested divorce 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 contested divorce 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 contested divorce 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 contested divorce 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 contested divorce
How quickly can a contested divorce 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 contested divorce 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 contested divorce 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 contested divorce 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 contested divorce 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 contested divorce and the related practice areas?
Contested Divorce 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 contested divorce attorneys by state
Each state link below opens the contested divorce roster for that jurisdiction, with the local statute of limitations, court-system overview, and verified attorneys.
Contested Divorce 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
Contested Divorce by State
All states →Find contested divorce attorneys in every US state. Each state link opens a hub with verified attorneys, the state filing deadline, and a free attorney match.