In New Jersey, family law matters are seldom straightforward. They frequently involve significant personal, familial, financial, and property interests. Many times, these cases are marked by intense and emotionally charged disagreements over rights, responsibilities, privileges, and interests. Certain cases may even involve severe allegations of mental or physical abuse, such as domestic violence and stalking. The outcomes of these types of cases can set the trajectory for the involved parties for many years to come, possibly even a lifetime. That's why you need more than just a good family law attorney: you need a high-caliber Family Law Team. Attorney Joseph D. Lento founded the Lento Law Firm on this premise, knowing that when you have a great team in place, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Understanding the gravity of what's at stake for clients, the Lento Law Firm's Family Law Team was established to deliver the most effective legal services possible for our clients. We can handle all matters pertaining to family law, including child custody, child support, domestic violence, restraining orders, separation, and divorce.
With the Lento Law Firm's Family Law Team on your side, you're not just getting outstanding legal representation; you're gaining a committed team that understands the complexities of your situation and is dedicated to securing the best outcome for you. We realize most of our clients are approaching us at the most stressful moments of their lives, which is why we listen and respond with compassion while making sure your interests are properly represented--and your rights protected. Reach out to us at (888) 535-3686 or use our online form to schedule a consultation. We'd love to tell you more about how the experienced Family Law Team at the Lento Law Firm can assist you.
The Makings of a Great Family Law Team
A great legal team begins with outstanding, talented individuals who also work well together. The effectiveness of the team is gauged by the dedication, skills, and abilities of its members. At the Lento Law Firm, we value more than agreeable personalities; we prioritize hiring talented staff with respectable qualifications, commendable character traits, practical knowledge, and a collective passion for delivering the best service to our clients. The Lento Law Firm Team embodies the values of the firm, and their unwavering commitment and quality are crucial components of our successful track record.
Principal Family Law Attorneys
The founding and principal partners of a law firm help set the vision, direction, and overall culture for the firm itself. Their experience and reputation build confidence with the clients, and they guide the rest of the team in making sure the client's needs are fully met. Our principal partners typically take the lead in cases that go to Family Court.
Associate Attorneys
Our staff of associate attorneys is highly skilled and educated, capable of managing our clients' critical day-to-day issues. These key members of the Lento Law Firm Team reflect the passion and commitment of the firm's senior partners while providing excellent service for our clients and helping them obtain favorable outcomes both in and out of court. When you choose to work with our Family Law Team, you're not just collaborating with top-tier partners but with an entire team of highly skilled associates dedicated to utilizing their skills for your benefit.
Legal Assistants
An efficient legal team cannot operate without the support of proficient paralegals and legal assistants. Though they haven't undergone the extensive education that our attorneys have, they have undergone vigorous four-year degree programs, gaining skills that enable them to efficiently manage client intakes, maintain files, handle record requests, and perform many other essential tasks. Their foundational work is vital in allowing the attorneys to focus on the more complex legal issues our clients face on a regular basis. Within the Lento Law Firm Team, these professionals' primary role is to ensure that all other team members can perform at their optimal level.
Investigations
While our clients can provide plenty of information, evidence, context, and family history to bolster their own cases, they usually only know part of the story. In family law cases, the opponent (usually a spouse or ex-partner) might possess additional information that has been kept hidden. It's not uncommon for spouses to conceal aspects such as assets, addictions, affairs, abuse, criminal activities, or other wrongdoings from each other. Both parties may also lack crucial, game-changing evidence that is available if they knew where to find it. This is why investigations are often pivotal in family law cases.
At the Lento Law Firm, we don't enter family law cases blindly. To assist our legal team, we've established a robust investigative team to help us gain favorable resolutions and rulings for our clients, even in the most challenging cases.
Family Law Investigations
In the realm of family law, proficient investigators can offer a variety of beneficial services. For instance, where intimate affairs are suspected or alleged, an investigator can conduct lawful surveillance, observe, photograph, or video record a liaison, and obtain other records and evidence to confirm or disprove the suspected affair. Where concealed income and assets are a concern, an investigator can scrutinize public and business records, locate and interview witnesses, and seek other evidence to substantiate or contradict the allegations.
Investigators can also search for physical evidence, look into firearm and ammunition purchases, look at cell phone and social media usage, financial transactions, employment, and other activities crucial to the outcome of the family law case. If a party alleges child neglect, injury, or abuse, an investigator can use police training to gather evidence to confirm or contradict the allegations and uncover evidence that other culprits may be responsible.
Bringing Investigative Services In-House
Because the investigation phase is so important to winning family law cases, the Lento Law Firm has taken a unique approach that sets us apart from many other law firms. Typically, when attorneys need investigative services for a case, they usually contact an outside consultant to hire the investigator just for that case. At the Lento Law Firm, we retain and employ in-house investigators as integral members of our Family Law Team to ensure our attorneys have continuous and convenient access to investigative services. Our team of investigators includes former police officers with decades of Special Investigation Unit experience. When you choose the Lento Law Firm for your family law case, you're benefiting from the services of the most skilled investigators available.
Analyzing Evidence
The investigative process of locating information, data, and evidence is just one part of the equation. Understanding what's significant and pertinent about that information, data, and evidence is just as critical. To this end, the Lento Law Firm provides our family law clients with an additional investigative service seldom offered by other attorneys and firms. We have established a strategic partnership with an intelligence analysis firm for services in select family law cases.
Intelligence analysts evaluate information and data to uncover meaningful patterns within them. For example, in a family law case, you might come across cell phone records that include hundreds of calls on different days, at varying times, to numerous numbers. An intelligence analyst can scrutinize this data to discern which numbers and calls indicate a pattern of misconduct for the investigators to probe further and for the attorneys to use in exposing the other party's wrongdoing. Intelligence analysts can examine computer drives, communication records, credit card and other financial records, and other extensive data to provide the evidence needed for your family law case. By choosing the Lento Law Firm's Family Law Team, these intelligence analysis services are available when needed to solidify your case.
The Use of Third-Party Experts in Family Law
Building a winning case often requires more than just the skills of a competent legal team. Sometimes, we must draw on the expertise of specialists in various areas who possess the education, training, and experience to testify, report, and provide opinions that will tip the scales in family law cases. Over the years, the Lento Law Firm has cultivated an extensive network of consulting experts to provide expert analysis for our client's cases and sometimes to provide expert testimony in the courtroom. These specialists serve as part of our extended team to ensure our clients have every advantage in obtaining a favorable outcome for their cases.
Child Custody Specialists
Family law cases often involve significant disputes over child custody, which frequently hinge on the fitness of one or both parents to have physical custody of the child or children. Questions of physical health, mental health (including emotional control and anger management), physical safety and security, substance abuse/addictions, and other similar issues often come into play. Our Family Law Team may engage any of the following experts to examine, review, diagnose, report, and provide opinions on fitness for child custody:
- Psychiatrists
- Psychologists
- Family counselors
- Mental health therapists
- Physical therapists
- Vocational and occupational rehab specialists
- Social workers
- Addiction specialists
- Child safety and security experts
Child Support Specialists
The courts typically determine and award child support based on relatively straightforward formulas. However, the data that each side wishes to input into the formula is often hotly contested. For instance, courts tend to base child support on each parent's ability to earn income, not necessarily the income actually earned. If a parent chooses to forego income, for example, particularly to artificially lower their support obligation, they should be subject to a support award that takes into account the income they voluntarily gave up. Thus, a parent's potential earnings can be as important as the parent's actual earnings. The Lento Law Firm Team may engage any of the following experts to weigh in on these issues:
- Labor economists
- Business appraisers
- Accountants and bookkeepers
- Forensic accountants
- Occupational rehab experts
Restraining Order Specialists
Family law cases often involve requests for restraining orders, especially in cases involving domestic violence. Courts in New Jersey should only issue such orders to ensure the safety of a party or children involved. However, in the emotionally charged context of family conflicts, false or exaggerated allegations of threats, violence, or abuse are common. Additionally, the stress of family conflict can sometimes cause parties to act in ways that might seem threatening, even when they are not, or where the perceived threat was due to a temporary misunderstanding. Expert consultation and testimony may be required, whether to provide evidence against an unfair restraining order or to prove that a restraining order is, in fact, needed. We may call on any of the following experts to help in this area as needed:
- Psychiatric experts specializing in schizophrenia, paranoia, depression, and related mental disorders
- Psychological experts in anger management, emotional control, post-traumatic stress syndrome, Stockholm Syndrome, and related psychological disorders
- Social workers specializing in household safety, security, management, care, and protection of children and other dependents
- Information technology experts for tracing cyberbullying, cyberstalking, electronic surveillance, and invasion of privacy
- Fingerprint, DNA, and hair analysis experts to evaluate evidence identifying perpetrators or suspected perpetrators
- Firearm, ballistics, and other weapons experts for identification, registration, security, and safety issues
- Substance abuse and addiction experts for evaluation and treatment recommendations in cases involving allegations of alcohol or drug use
- Sex offender experts for cases involving allegations of sexual assault, stalking, and other sexual misconduct.
Separation and Divorce Specialists
Experts can also play a crucial role in cases involving separation and divorce. These cases often involve restraining orders against personal threats or injury, court orders against concealing or theft of personal property, orders regarding spousal awards and property division, etc. The Lento Law Firm's Family Law Team has access to the following types of experts to help with these issues:
- Psychiatric, psychological, and social work experts to address household and personal safety and security issues
- Real estate appraisers and business appraisers to assess the fair value of property divided in the separation or divorce
- Labor economists and vocational experts to determine earning capacity for spousal support awards
- Banking, information technology, and forensic accounting experts to discover and trace hidden financial transactions and holdings.
A Premier Family Law Team in Your Corner
At the Lento Law Firm, we understand that family law cases can be complex and emotionally draining. Our Family Law Team is dedicated to providing you with the assistance you need to navigate these challenges effectively. This is why we have not only built a matchless team of qualified legal professionals but also surrounded ourselves with a vast network of professionals and resources to ensure we are well-equipped to handle every detail of your case. When it comes to your family, don't leave anything to chance. To schedule your consultation, call us today at (888) 535-3686 or use our online form.
