Peterson Family Law, PC

About Peterson Family Law, PC

Sheila J. Peterson is a Certified Family Law Specialist and has been certified by the California Board of Legal Specialization of the State Bar of California since 2010.

Ms. Peterson's practice includes all areas of family law, including child custody and visitation, dissolutions of marriage and domestic partnerships, annulments, legal separation, parentage (paternity), domestic violence, child and spousal support, etc. Our office will provide services on a limited scope basis or representation for the entire action.

With over 25 years of legal experience, Ms. Peterson is dedicated to providing the highest quality legal services with sensitivity and compassion for the needs and goals of her clients. Ms. Peterson is dedicated to making certain that her clients consider the best interests of the children, first and foremost.

Ms. Peterson appreciates that she is assisting her clients during very difficult times and will always do her best to ease their stress by working zealously and diligently to move each case forward to completion, while balancing the legal expense of any action against the potential benefit for her clients. Additionally, Ms. Peterson believes that it is important to “pick your battles” when involved in a family law proceeding. In appropriate cases, where the parties wish to resolve their own issues and avoid going to court, Ms. Peterson provides mediation services, and can also provide services on a limited scope basis.

WHAT IS A CERTIFIED FAMILY LAW SPECIALIST?
Any attorney can practice family law and need have no specialized training to do so. However, one of the reasons a family law attorney becomes a Certified Family Law Specialist through the California State Bar is to inform the public that she has demonstrated proficiency and a certain level of competence in the field of family law. This allows the attorney to hold themselves out as a "certified family law specialist" -- thereby distinguishing her from other general attorney practitioners.

According to the California State Bar, Family Law is defined as the practice of law dealing with all aspects of the California Family Code. In addition to the basics of family law, this may also include taxation issues incident to family law practice; contempt; enforcement proceedings for child support and spousal support; mediation and/or negotiation of family law disputes; and psychological and counseling aspects of family law.

In order for an attorney to be eligible for certification as a family law specialist in the field of family law, she must have been practicing family law a minimum of 25% of the time during the prior 5 years. The attorney must be an active member of the State Bar, and must pass a mid-career family law examination which shows proficiency in all areas of Family Law. Family law specialists must recertify every 5 years by continuing to meet certain task and education requirements as well as experience requirements.