The Swanson legal team understands the fact that, from the most straightforward amicable situation to the most complex and highly contested ones, when you need an attorney to represent you in a dissolution of your marriage, you are facing a significant, life changing transition.
We are compassionate and dedicated, and we have the best interests of our clients and their families at heart. We help our clients achieve the optimal outcome in complex divorce issues such as:
- Child custody, visitation and child support
- The equitable distribution of debts and assets
- Alimony, family support, temporary support during the proceedings
- Tax consequences of the payment of support, the division of marital assets, including retirement and deferred compensation assets.
Our legal team helps you analyze the costs and the benefits of divorce litigation. We often tell clients,
“You can do this the hard way or you can do it the easy way.” 
The Hard Way usually happens when there is a real lack of trust and respect on the part of one or both spouses. It will involve lots of paperwork, financial investigations, court hearings, meetings and depositions. It will usually escalate tensions and bitterness, and will always cost a lot of money. However, it may be the only way to achieve a fair result where there is a real imbalance of knowledge, income earning capacity, funds or power between the spouses. We do not feel it is our job to "stir the pot" just to create problems. Rather, we prefer to practice "constructive advocacy," which includes the consideration of all means available to settle a dispute.
The Easy Way is less invasive, less adversarial, less tense, and more respectful of each party’s needs. Everybody collaborates to find the best compromises. We understand and appreciate the financial and emotional value of reaching a marital agreement when possible and appropriate. However, we are also well equipped and prepared when it becomes necessary to utilize our trial experience to pursue your case in court when no reasonable 
possibility of settlement exists. We help you prepare a strategy drawn from our many years of family law litigation experience. You and your spouse are the best persons to determine the path to your future, whether it’s the hard path or the easy one, so we concentrate on providing you with practical advice and helpful legal knowledge so that you can choose what is best for you and your family.
Use Of Experts
We collaborate with a number of different types of experts, depending upon the issues and needs in your case. Where child custody is an issue that cannot be resolved by the parties, then a psychologist will often be asked to perform a psychological evaluation of one or both parties, or a custody evaluation which may include face to face interviews and observations of the parties with their children, as well as some psychological testing of the parents. There may be a need to work with the family's CPA and tax advisors regarding income and asset discovery. We may need to work with real property and business appraisers to determine the value of properties and businesses. This is particularly true where there is a closely held business involving only one spouse and the other has been out of the loop or otherwise does not accept or trust the valuation by the business owner spouse. We may need to engage a forensic CPA to investigate and evaluate the business’s records, or a business appraiser or valuator to prepare a valuation report. Where rehabilitative or permanent alimony is an issue, there may be a need to engage a vocational expert to provide information and opinions on the requesting spouse’s ability (or lack thereof) to work and be self-supporting, or a forensic CPA to determine if the requesting spouse’s needs are as high as claimed (or to show that they are even higher).