Brown Paindiris & Scott provides services in simple and complex divorce and family matters in Connecticut’s family division and probate courts. We have experience with complex financial issues such as business valuations, division of assets including retirement assets, real estate, tax-related issues and with difficult custody and parenting issues. We also have experience with the special issues facing same-sex couples.

With over 60 years of combined experience, the firm’s partners practicing divorce and family law, together with our associates and legal assistants, have the ability to handle difficult issues and to craft creative solutions to meet the needs of our clients. Our attorneys and staff work as a team to devote the time and individual attention to each matter that it deserves because no two cases are exactly alike.

Issues we handle include:

·         Divorce

·         Dissolution of Civil Unions

·         Custody

·         Parenting Agreements

·         Prenuptial Agreements

·         Child Support

·         Alimony

·         Property Division

·         Relocation

·         Modification

·         Domestic Violence

·         Enforcement of Orders

·         Step or Co-parent Adoption

·         Guardianship

·         Legal Separation

·         Annulment

We offer a variety of services to fit your needs:

Consultation – When you need to know where you stand and what the options are, we will meet with you to discuss your situation, outline the choices available to you and help you plan for your future.

Litigation – When proceedings in court are necessary, we provide effective representation to either spouse or partner, children, or grandparents in all areas of family litigation.

Out of Court Alternatives to Litigation

Mediation

 When court is not where you want to work out your marital or family disputes, mediation offers one alternative. The participants meet with a lawyer in the firm who serves as a neutral mediator to help them to understand their options and reach mutually agreeable solutions which resolve their differences. The mediator is trained to facilitate the participants’ communication during difficult moments. Mediation looks to help participants create a mutually acceptable, workable plan for their future and the futures of their children. Mediation can be used by divorcing couples, for post divorce disputes, by unmarried couples including same-sex couples, by families with issues such as care of elderly parents or settlement of estates. Mediation offers a cost-effective, less stressful alternative to litigation which emphasizes fairness and self-determination.

Collaborative Divorce

When you want to avoid airing your differences in court, but feel more comfortable working with a lawyer at your side, collaborative law may be the appropriate choice for you. Collaborative divorce is a process through which the parties and their individual attorneys commit themselves to resolving all issues of the divorce by negotiated agreement without resorting to or threatening costly court proceedings. Collaborative divorce uses informal methods such as voluntary production of financial documents, four-way conferences, negotiation, and, where needed, other collaborative trained professionals such as financial planners and family counselors as well as appraisers and accountants. Both parties have the benefit of working closely with their lawyers while remaining fully involved in all the discussions and negotiations. Collaborative Lawyers are specially trained in the collaborative process and typically belong to groups of collaboratively trained lawyers from which your spouse or partner can select the attorney of his or her choice. To see more about collaborative divorce and groups of collaborative lawyers in the area see: www.ctcollaborativedivorce.com, http://collaborative-divorce.com., and http://cccflg.nrgdev.com. 

Mediation Consultation or Review

The independent advice and review by an attorney is a vital part of the divorce mediation process. We consult with clients who seek our review and advice during the process of working with mediators outside the firm.  As Consulting Counsel, our services are focused on insuring that our client fully understands the information disclosed and the choices discussed in the mediation as well as other alternatives. We also discuss the legal issues affecting the case, strategies and ideas for settlement and our opinion on the possible outcome of a trial of the case. We also review or draft settlement agreements and other documents as needed.

Private Special Masters

Both Ronald T. Scott and Kate W. Haakonsen have served as Special Masters since the program began in the Hartford Family Court in 1986 in an effort to enlist the services of some of the most experienced family law practitioners to assist parties and their lawyers in settling their cases before trial. The program has been highly successful and has spread to most family courts in the state. However, the court-sponsored program has its limitations in terms of the time masters can spend on a case and in other respects.

Attorneys Haakonsen and Scott are available to parties and their lawyers and Private Special Masters.   Private Special Masters can offer several advantages. Lawyers and parties choose the Special Masters they feel are best able to help with their cases. Private Special Masters can spend as much time as the parties desire helping them work toward a resolution of their disputes, and the process takes place in the privacy of an office setting. Private Special Masters are not limited to divorce cases or financial issues as they are in court. The process can be used for post judgment disputes, same-sex couple dissolutions, unmarried parents and other issues where the Special Masters' experience, objective viewpoints and dispute resolution skills can assist in reaching a resolution. Attorneys Haakonsen and Scott are available to act both as a traditional gender-balanced team of lawyers, separately, and, in cases where parties seek to resolve difficult custody issues out of court, in teams with mental health professionals who serve as Special Masters in custody cases at the Regional Family Trial Docket.

Arbitration

Effective October 1, 2005, the Arbitration process became available in divorce cases for the resolution of property and alimony issues. Arbitration offers a degree of control over the process which parties do not have in the court setting. The parties agree on the schedule, the rules and other aspects of the process allowed by state arbitration statutes.

As family lawyers with over 30 years of experience in the courtroom and many years of hearing cases as Special Masters, Attorneys Scott and Haakonsen offer the skill necessary to decide cases where parties are seeking the finality of a trial without the delay and expense of the traditional court process. They also have the temperament needed to offer parties the hearing and the decisiveness they seek.