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You’d be shocked to learn how quickly a family could turn into the Bundys from Marriage…With Children when the dad becomes a successful judge and must necessarily take plenty of time away from his family to do the hard, dirty work of presiding over the legal proceedings that keep this country chugging along in relative peace.
Well, that and perhaps a little bit too much post-trial golf and time in the country club. A habit that may or may not have continued well into his retirement.
Well, the time away from my wife seemed to have finally caught up with her, and upon stumbling back into my house after another 18 hole game and a celebratory round or four of drinks in the club, I discovered it to be empty, with a neat pile of documents sitting on my armchair, divorce papers pointedly sitting at the top. While sitting there in the dark, contemplating how our witty back and forth dialogues had changed into something so dark, a new and more practical thought slid across my mind:
I’m going to need a divorce lawyer.
As poor a husband as I have been over the years, I’ve always considered myself a present and attentive father. I taught our three children how to read before they reached kindergarten, coached their sports teams when they were younger and had more time, and made sure they had a keen interest in learning more about the world. While Abby and Donnie were adults now and off at college, Brandon is still 16. If my wife really wanted to be spiteful, she could make sure I didn’t see him again until he was going off to college himself!
I needed a divorce lawyer who specialized in making sure that couldn’t happen. Brandon is a bright boy, but sensitive, and I know if this divorce ended in our separation, he might take it as bad as any kid half of his age.
I opened up my rolodex and began searching for a name I had heard many times in the courthouse and on the course for the guys who needed a divorce attorney and lived in the Santa Ana area: Shuff, of Shuff Law Firm. After briefly scanning the firm’s home page, I gave them a call that would end up saving my relationship with my son.
After a few meetings with the legal team, I knew I was in good hands. They completely understood the situation I was in with my son, and despite his age, proceeded to ensure that I would have as much access to him as possible as he went through his final years of adolescence and began transitioning into adulthood.
I was lucky – my wife was not as vindictive and hell-bent on destroying my life as some women who have been seriously neglected are, and she knew that keeping Brandon secluded from me would do nothing for him except make him resent both of us. Her lawyer played some hard ball, though, and as they icily grilled me for hours, I grew increasingly glad my financial security and access to my son was being protected by lawyers with some serious legal chops.
I’ll cut to the chase and tell you that, a year on, me and Brandon have a golf trip planned out this very weekend in San Diego – the kid can drive a ball clear from tee to green, it’s amazing – and me and my wife share custody of him amicably (mostly). It turns out she was with her yoga instructor, but that’s a story for another time.
Thankfully, my relationship with my son was saved, and it’s thanks to Shuff Law Firm, the best family law attorney that can be found in all of Santa Ana. I can’t recommend them enough, and everyone at the course has been subject to my diatribes about them many a time.
If you need family law council, please, give them a call:
Shuff Law Firm
(714) 834-0175
