Category
Family Law
15 posts in this category, newest first.
Family Law Settlement Composer on LawSensai: Drafting the Agreement With the Guardrail Scan
The LawSensai Settlement Composer drafts the family law settlement agreement from the mediation output and the calculator anchors. Every draft runs through a guardrail scan before finalize. This post explains the drafting pipeline and the scan.
Domestic Violence Protective Orders: Ex Parte Temporary Orders, the Hearing, and What the Order Can Include
Protective orders move fast in domestic violence cases. This guide walks through the ex parte temporary order, what happens at the full hearing, and the specific protections a judge can write into the final order.
Child Support Calculator on LawSensai Across All 50 States: Which Model Your State Uses
The LawSensai Child Support Calculator runs the actual state model your court will use. Most states run Income Shares. A few run Percentage of Income, Melson, Obligor-Only, or Tax-Adjusted. This post explains the models and how to read the output.
Family Law Mediation Tools on LawSensai: Async Invites, Calculator Anchors, and Impasse Detection
Family Law mediation on LawSensai runs async with HMAC magic-link invites, calculator anchors that tether proposals to real math, and impasse detection that flags when the parties are stuck. This post explains how the async track works and where the calculators come in.
How to Legally Change Your Name as an Adult: Petition, Publication, and the Order of Operations
An adult name change runs through a civil court petition, sometimes a publication step, and a long list of downstream record updates. Doing the steps in the right order saves weeks and prevents mismatched identification across federal and state agencies.
Prenuptial Agreement Basics: Enforceability, Disclosure, and the Typical Knock-Out Grounds Courts Use
A prenuptial agreement sets the rules for property and support before marriage, but only if it survives judicial review. Courts look hard at disclosure, voluntariness, and unconscionability. Understanding the knock-out grounds keeps the contract intact.
How to File for Child Support: The Application, the Calculator Step, and Modification Rules
Child support is a formula, not a negotiation. This post walks through the state application, how the calculator turns income into a monthly number, and what counts as a change in circumstances for modification.
Child Custody Basics: Legal vs Physical Custody and the Best Interests Standard Explained
Custody is two decisions, not one. Courts split legal authority from physical time and weigh both against a multi-factor best interests test. This post walks through what the labels mean and what judges actually consider.
How to get a restraining order or protective order: process by state category
Restraining orders and protective orders run through state civil and criminal courts on similar but distinct tracks. This post covers eligibility, the emergency order, the full hearing, the firearm restriction, and what enforcement looks like.
Family Law Center walkthrough: matter creation, triage, vault, packet, and attorney handoff
The LawSensai Family Law Center is the authenticated workspace for divorce, custody, and child support matters. It creates a matter, triages it, stores the documents in a vault, builds an attorney-ready packet, and routes to an attorney when the user is ready.
How to file for divorce in the United States: process, timeline, and what to gather first
Divorce filing is a state court process with shared rhythms across all fifty states. This post walks through grounds, residency, the petition, financial disclosure, and the typical timeline so you can plan the first move.
Async Mediation: How Two Parents Can Settle a Family Matter Without Being in the Same Room
Live mediation is the standard format for resolving custody and support disputes, but it does not fit every family. The Family Law Center supports async mediation through HMAC-signed magic links, calculator-anchored proposals, and impasse detection, with safety-mode protections for survivors. Here is how the format works.
How the Family Law Center Is Built With Survivor Safety on the First Click
Most legal-tech products bolt safety on after launch. LawSensai's Family Law Center was built with survivor safety baked into the first click: a quick-exit pill that is always visible, an Esc-Esc-Esc keyboard shortcut, browser-history scrub so the back button does not return to the matter, a safe-mode toggle that hides matter detail from the dashboard, shared-device detection, opt-in attorney communication, and a public Trust Center with a k-anonymity floor of 5. This post walks through what that looks like in production code, not in marketing copy.
The Documents to Gather Before Your First Divorce Consult
A divorce attorney bills the first consult by the hour, usually between $300 and $500 for 60 minutes. Showing up with the wrong documents (or no documents) burns most of that hour on questions a tax return and a pay stub would have answered in 30 seconds. Four categories cover what almost every attorney needs to give you real advice: identity and marriage, income, assets and debts, and household and children. The same documents are what your state will require for mandatory financial disclosure later, so collecting them once saves money twice.
What "Temporary Orders" Actually Do in a Divorce or Custody Case
Temporary orders set the rules a separated family lives under while the divorce or custody case is pending: who has the kids on which nights, who pays what bill, who stays in the house, and who is barred from emptying the joint account. Most are issued within the first 30 to 60 days of filing. They are called temporary, but they usually become the de facto status quo by the time the case ends, so what gets ordered at this hearing matters more than its name suggests.