I left my hometown with my husband on May 5, 1974, our first anniversary, and began driving to Montana. Aside from subscribing to Missoula's newspaper for a year, we didn't know a soul in Montana, we had no idea where we would live, or what we would do to keep body and soul together. I had just completed my freshman year at college. All I knew for sure was that I would continue working toward a degree when we arrived, uh, wherever we decided that "we have arrived." I am usually a cautious person. Thirty-four years later, I'm still amazed I did such a rash thing.

Finally, I began my sophomore year in the Spring of 1988. It changed my life. In April 1989, in my junior year at The University of Montana, I separated from my husband and became a single parent (a daughter age 11 and a son age 8). See. I told you it changed my life. My children were blessed with a strange sense of humor. Part of that is hereditary, part of it is that I read Shel Silverstein to them when they were little. Their off-kilter humor helped get us through the dissolution of the marriage, their anxiety, my anxiety, and six years at The University of Montana. They were Mother Hens to me. They had begun 'cooking' when they were toddlers. At 11 and 8, they assembled our suppers; all I had to do was turn on the oven and the stove when I got home. A few years later, I was coming home to a hot meal. I became reclaimed my role as their Mother Hen when they enlisted in the military in 1996 and 1999. Never mind they had learned all sorts of skills that left me dazed and amazed -- learning to defuse mines, qualifying on all sorts of weapons, speaking Arabic -- I was sending cookies, telling them to wear sweaters when I was cold, admonishing them to take their vitamins. They are adults now, amazing people, and still have off-kilter senses of humor.

I practice what is called family law, matrimonial law, and domestic relations, depending on your state. That broad category includes dissolution of marriage (divorce in some states), parenting issues, child support, adoptions, and other relationship issues. I also do some "preventive lawyering" by helping couples who intend to live together address and work to avoid the problems that arise as a relationship dissolves. I act as Guardian ad Litem for children, representing their best interest in dissolutions and other matters. I also act as a mediator outside the courtroom to help parties resolve problems that arise during the relationship, during its dissolution, or after the dissolution. I occasionally act as substitute judge in the Missoula County Justice Court. My main pro bono commitment used to be representing petitioners at Order of Protection hearings. After about ten years, I took a break for several years and recently signed up again.

I will write a short articles here as frequently as I can. Rather than choose a topic, I would rather address your issues, your questions, and provide information would be useful to you now. Please send your questions to me at cjstevens@mymontana.com.
 

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