Advanced Paralegal Certificate in Family Law I: From "I do" to "Divorce granted."

The APC Family Law courses will prepare you to apply the skills you have obtained through your paralegal certificate course, or experience in the legal field, to the practice of family law. In this class we will take a case involving the primary conservatorship of children, allegations of parental alienation, possession of and access to the children, and division of the marital estate from the initial client intake through the jury and bench trial.  Skills covered will include:

1. Client intake;
2. Preparing an Original Petition for divorce with request for Temporary Restraining Order and Temporary Orders;
3. Preparing for a temporary order hearing;
4. Preparing a Financial Information Statement;
5. Preparing temporary orders;
6. Propounding and answering discovery that’s appropriate for your case;
7. Discovery deficiency letters;
8. Preparing an inventory from discovery documents and client information;
9. Preparing for mediation;
10. Court-Specific requirements, county-specific requirements, scheduling orders & calendaring;
11. How to docket due dates when a case is set for trial;
12. Pretrial Hearing documents;
13. Trial prep, trial notebooks, exhibits;
14. Preparation of Final Decree of Divorce;
15. Closing out the case.

Vanetta Peterson has over 45 years of paralegal experience, including 35 in family law. She earned her Family Law Board Certification from the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in 2002. Vanetta served as CLE Co-Chair for the Paralegal Division of the State Bar of Texas in 2010 and 2011 and chaired the Houston Area Paralegal Association-Family Law from 2004 to 2007. She is currently a member of several professional organizations, including the Paralegal Division and Family Law Section of the State Bar of Texas, the Texas Academy of Family Law Specialists, and The Texas Bar College. Vanetta brings extensive knowledge and practical experience to the Advanced Paralegal Certificate Family Law Program, which includes two courses on different topics and skills.