Family Law

Although our office handles all kinds of family law cases, we tend to attract and handle many contested child custody and visitation matters. We have done many kinds of family law cases for all types of people in cases from San Diego to Oakland. My considerable litigation experience includes civil and criminal jury trials.

• Mediation/Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
• Restraining Orders

• Child Abuse
• Domestic Violence
• Sexual Abuse

• Adoptions
• Child Support
• Children's Rights
• Custody
• Foster Care
• Paternity
• State Child Protection
• Visitation

• Civil Unions
• Living Together/Cohabitation
• Marriage

• Colleges & Universities
• Individualized Education Plans
• Private Schools
• Public Schools
• Student Rights
• Teacher Abuse

• Competency Hearings
• Guardianships & Conservatorships

Divorce

Although our office handles all kinds of family law cases, we tend to attract and handle many contested child custody and visitation matters. We have done many kinds of family law cases for all types of people in cases from San Diego to Oakland. My considerable litigation experience includes civil and criminal jury trials.

• Alimony/Palimony/Spousal Support
• Annulment

CA, Jun 1978
Bar Number: 79679

U.S. District Court, Central District of California; U.S. District Court, Southern District of California.

Riverside County Bar Association.

I attend many local seminars offered by the local Riverside County Bar Association, the Riverside Superior Court and Inland Empire Bankruptcy Forum, and I listen to C.E.B. tapes in my car. I have also taken weekend seminars on diverse subjects such as mediation and arbitration.

Worker's Compensation: Dollars and Sense,
September 2003, Riverside County Lawyer Magazine.
Riverside Press Enterprise, 2004, quoted in article about proposed "father's rights" changes in Family Law matters.

I handle a lot of contested child custody and visitation cases in family law court, guardianship cases, and in Juvenile Court.

1

California

Since January 1978, the Law Offices of Thomas H. Hamilton has provided legal services to the counties of Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange, Los Angeles and San Diego. For nearly thirty years our office has provided legal services in a number of practice areas, but we have chosen to focus on the following:

Family Law: We provide service for divorce, separation, paternity support, child custody, juvenile court, guardianships, conservatorships and adoption. We are experienced in cases involving child abduction, child molestation and child abuse.

Bankruptcy: We are a debt relief agency. We represent individual debtors and business debtors in bankruptcy matters that include Chapter 7, Chapter 13 and Relief from Stay. Our bankruptcy practice includes representation of debtors in pre-bankruptcy, filing of petitions under bankruptcy codes, and defense of debtors in adversary complaints. We can help debtors find alternatives to bankruptcy, stop foreclosures, prevent wage garnishments and stop seizures of bank and other accounts.

Personal Injury: We handle all kinds of personal injury claims such as slip and fall, trip and fall, wrongful death, vehicle accidents and product liability.

Workers' Compensation: We provide legal services to assist you in a variety of Workers' Compensation claims, which include: workers injured on the job; claims against insured employers; temporary disability payments; medical treatments; permanent disability claims; future medical care; vocational rehab; and wrongful termination. We also prosecute claims for serious and willful violations by employers.

Before my admission to practice law in 1977, in addition to working as a paralegal, I was in law book sales for a major publishing company. I also taught French language courses at Riverside Community College, Riverside, California, courses in French language and literature at La Sierra University, and French language courses at the University of California at Riverside.

Mediation Panel, 2000 - Riverside Superior Court.
Dispute Resolution Panel, 2001 - Riverside County Bar Association.

Carolyn Hamilton

(951) 784-8124

Monday through Thursday:
9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Friday:
9:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Emergency after hours as arranged.

Yes

Fluent French, and a little Spanish. Jennifer, one of our staff, speaks Romanian and some Spanish.

Uncontested dissolution of marriage: $2,250 (plus costs of filing, service of process, misc. costs).

One-time court appearance charge: $950 for Riverside and San Bernardino hearings, more for outlying courts.

Some documents are flat-rated, such as a Marital Settlement Agreement: $650.

My hourly rate is $325 for all court time, and $300 for all other services.

For all non-injury types of cases (Personal Injury/Workers Compensation), there is an $80 consultation charge. If you retain our office for services to become your attorney of record within one week of the consultation, the interview fee is then credited toward your retainer.

For a contested dissolution of marriage, a typical retainer would be $3,500 to $4,000 plus costs. Costs of filing, service of process and miscellaneous costs typically run $753. Some of these costs may not apply to certain cases. For contested child custody or visitation cases, whether in family law court, in guardianship matters or in juvenile court cases, retainers range from $2,500 to $4,000.