Jackie L. Martens has been serving clients in Sonoma and Marin Counties in private practice since 1995, and has worked exclusively in the legal field for over 23 years. She graduated from Empire College School of Law in 1995, and was admitted to the Bar that year. During her final year of law school, she clerked for a family law judge in Sonoma County. Ms. Martens is a member of the Family Law Sections of the Sonoma and Marin County Bar Associations. She serves as a Judge Pro Tem in small claims matters and volunteers for Legal Aid to help low-income individuals. She appeared on the Len Tillem radio show on KGO in April 2006 to discuss the recent changes in the law effecting registered domestic partners, custody matters, and other family law issues.

Ms. Martens has helped hundreds of clients through emotionally difficult divorces, high-conflict custody matters, spousal and child support issues, and property disputes. She also assists unmarried couples, both same-sex and heterosexual couples, to establish custody and visitation rights, and to enforce agreements between couples to pool income, share assets, and provide support.

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Ms. Martens’ philosophy is to assist her clients efficiently and effectively through complex family laws issues so they can ultimately move on with their lives as smoothly as possible. Sensitive to the stress and difficulties clients experience in litigation, she seeks to resolve cases efficiently and economically through negotiation and mediation, but aggressively litigates cases, including through trial, when necessary.

In addition to family law, Ms. Martens assists clients in estate planning matters, including preparing Living Trusts, Wills, and Durable Powers of Attorney for her clients, as well as handling probate matters, and establishing conservatorships and guardianships. She also represents clients in construction matters, real estate and contract disputes, and other partnership and business disputes. Ms. Martens has handled over 80 construction defect cases, and numerous other real property cases involving failure to disclose defects upon sale, easement issues, and title disputes.

Ms. Martens is available to meet with clients in Sonoma, Santa Rosa, or San Rafael.

PRACTICE AREAS

Family Law | Probate/Estate Planning | Civil Litigation | Advising Business Owners

Family Law

Jackie L. Martens has been helping clients resolve their family law matters, including divorce, child custody and visitation, paternity, child and spousal support, and property division matters for over 10 years. She has represented clients concerning prenuptial agreements, domestic partnerships, grandparent visitation rights, adoptions, and agreements between unmarried couples (so-called Marvin agreements). She has helped establish guardianships for minor children whose parents have abandoned them or who are otherwise unavailable to care for their children. Ms. Martens is prepared to assist you with all of your family law matters. Click on “Frequently Asked Questions” for some helpful general information regarding family law matters.

Probate/Estate Planning

When a person dies without a Will, or with a simple Will but no Living Trust, and the value of the estate reaches a certain threshold, probate is required. Probate can be time-consuming and expensive, but has the benefit of a court-supervised process, which can be important where family members do not agree on matters involving the estate. A Living Trust enables clients to avoid probate and allows estate administration and distribution to be handled privately and expediently. Ms. Martens offers reasonable rates to set up Living Trusts, Wills, and Durable Powers of Attorneys. Depending on the size of the estate and the wishes of the client, sometimes all that is required is a simple Will. A Durable Power of Attorney is a document in which a client appoints the person(s) of their choice to make health care and financial decisions for them in the event they become incapacitated. In the absence of a Durable Power of Attorney, a conservatorship may become necessary. A conservatorship involves filing documents with the court to appoint a person to manage the health and/or financial matters on behalf of a disabled or incapacitated person. Court supervision is continuous, and the process can be fairly expensive, especially because periodic accountings are required.

Civil Litigation

The civil litigation portion of Ms. Martens’ practice focuses primarily on construction defect, real estate, and partnership and other business disputes. These cases include claims regarding easements, title disputes, and other issues concerning the purchase and sale of real property. In addition, Ms. Martens represented over 80 homeowners against the William Lyon Company in lawsuits involving construction defects, successfully mediating and settling the cases to minimize costs and maximize recovery for her clients. Ms. Martens also represents clients in cases involving sales of real property, including cases where the seller has failed to disclose defects, resulting in damage to the buyer. She also represents homeowners and contractors in disputes regarding remodeling and construction contracts. Such cases often involve significant discovery and compilation of information to establish or defeat claims of defective conditions in real property. All possible steps to minimize costs and stress, including working cooperatively to share discovery, conduct joint site inspections with experts, and mediation are taken before resorting to litigation.

Advising Business Owners

Business owners often require contracts to be reviewed or prepared to assure their rights are protected and their business runs smoothly. Ms. Martens’ business clients include manufacturing companies, restaurant owners, contractors, and health care providers. She provides counsel on a wide variety of issues, including employment issues, leases, and employee policy manuals and procedures. Ms. Martens has also represented businesses and employees in cases involving age and sex discrimination and harassment claims.

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