Why did you decide to practice family law?

I was educated to serve others! This is the premise of my college and law school education at Creighton University, a Jesuit Catholic university. This philosophy is important and what I strive to be as a person. It fit perfectly with my desire, from a very early age, to be an attorney.

Family law is where I can work directly with people in matters affecting the rest of their lives. Family law commands a need for compassion, legal knowledge and professionalism, mixed with the ability to zealously advocate for a client’s needs.

More about Teddi Ann Barry

In a child custody issue, can it be resolved amicably or will it be painful and disastrous?

While every divorce in Vail is horrible for a family facing the breakup of the life they know, the right counsel and belief that you will come out of this situation a new person, helps families work towards resolution.

Those who really want to fight, end up doing so, only to look back to see all they received was significant legal costs.

No one expects couples ending their marriage or partnership to be amicable. The goal is resolution and conclusion. If, through the process you can find an inner strength and a place of forgiveness – of yourself and the other person– then you really do get to leave the marriage or partnership properly and parent your children stuck in the middle of this family situation.

Focusing your attention on what’s best for your children’s future gives both parents a chance to clear their minds and work together to find the strength to feel that life will get better for everyone.

On the other side, by centering the attention on yourself or the parents, emotions blur the truth and people grip so tightly to old illusions and punishment of the other parent, that a resolution is a struggle.

I always tell my clients, “you have control of this situation, you can either get through this in a fair and reasonable manner without the hate and anger tainting your focus or make your decisions in anger and fear.”

Know that if you choose anger and fear, a year from now you will be back, angry still and fighting about the terrible agreement. You owe it to yourself to find resolution and restructure your family in a way that will work for everyone.

More about Child Custody

Blog: Don’t let fear decide your fate.

What makes you so passionate about saving children and restructuring families?

The passion is in witnessing the good, the relief and seeing a family come out of a divorce: healthy and with closure of what WAS, while having promise in what IS and what WILL be.

Seeing parents have that “ah-ha” moment of understanding that the divorce decree does not end the family or their obligations to their children. Watching a person get past the hurt and anger to understand that it takes two for a relationship and people can change.

The passion is to be a part of something so personal and devastating in a person’s life and watch that something become a life changing experience of how to think, how to communicate and how to move forward to a new life in a state of happiness and newness.

More about Divorce

3 Expectations of Divorce in Vail