Patricia Riley was initially licensed in 1978 to practice law in California. Initially, the legal work performed was very general, including contract, criminal, corporate, bankruptcy and family matters. After two years, family law seemed to be the most comfortable mix, so the legal work was limited to divorce, custody and standard family law matters. By that time, Ventura County was home to Patricia.

California is a community property state, which requires no fault to grant a divorce, but does require equal division of marital assets. This is not as easy as it sounds, since to determine what is "equal" means a lawyer has to have a thorough knowledge of valuation of various assets such as real estate, pensions, and a familiarity with the tax rules to assure a truly equal result.

Between 1990-92, Patricia relocated to the Washington, D.C., metro area for family reasons. She practiced domestic relations law in Maryland, which operates under altogether different rules. Maryland is a "fault" state, and property awards can be affected by the marital fault of the parties, so no equal division requirement applied.

Since 1993, Patricia has practiced law in Broomfield, Colorado. By placing the office in Broomfield a lawyer has a need to be geographically flexible, and be prepared to handle cases in several counties, including Denver, Boulder, Jefferson, and Adams County, as well as the City and County of Broomfield.

Since Colorado grants divorces and divides property without consideration of marital fault, and since there is no equal division requirement, the years of experience in various other jurisdictions has provided substantial groundwork for creative and effective solutions to various marital issues as they arise.

Over the years Patricia has developed certain attitudes towards the practice of family law. The first rule is that the best interests of your children come first - and if she believes your proposal will injure your children, you can count on her to discuss this candidly. The second rule is that we do not play games with clients, other lawyers, or the court. A straight-up, realistic approach has the best chance of out of court settlement, and brings the best result when a court hearing is required.

If you are looking for a responsible, professional approach to this crisis in your life, please give a call at (303) 635-1480.