Laura Anne Sutkus

Laura was recommend by a friend and by another lawyer who knew of her knowledge, experience, professionalism, and supportive demeanor. Laura and her amazing paralegal Marcie, supported me as an unbundled client through a divorce that went to trial. I represented myself as Pro Se, but used her unbu...ndled services that she offers when I needed questions answered, legal advice, paperwork reviewed, court questions, and needed to brainstorm strategies and issues that came up throughout the divorce process. I could not have done my divorce as Pro Se without her help reviewing my paperwork, explaining what to expect for mediation and trial, how to upload documents for the court file, which documents have cover pages and which don't, how to serve paperwork, how to communicate with the bailiff for my case, how to negotiate with my ex, and what the law is for parenting plans and child support. Laura and Marcie were there for me every step of the process when I needed help and the unbundled services helped me to manage my divorce costs as I weighed what I was capable of managing myself and what I needed to delegate to Laura and Marcie to move things along. This experience was very empowering for me to have represented myself, while knowing that I had an incredible Lawyer within reach when I needed help... and I needed help! Doing this on my own terms was also empowering. Even when I felt like giving up or felt overwhelmed by the paperwork or emotions involved, they encouraged me with spot on advice. They often checked in on me to see how I was doing which helped me not feel alone in this. I am so impressed by Laura's knowledge of the details of laws and Washington Code involved with parenting plans and child support. Her years of experience and knowledge of similar cases helped me to formulate my plans for a parenting plan and for child support that benefited my children based on their needs. Laura is honest and straight forward about what the laws are and how the court will usually make decisions about parenting plans. This helped me to understand how to write a parenting plan proposal that supported my children. The final parenting plan and child support plans that I proposed were accepted by the court and Laura's help was a major part of this. The financial settlement was complicated and Laura and Marcie helped me to balance the financial separation aspect. This part was the hardest part for me in this divorce because it involved accepting the Washington law of community property. Laura really helped me to navigate the division of property paperwork and calculations so I could propose a settlement that was fair yet still protected my financial future. I am happy with the settlement that I proposed and was accepted and I am so lucky that I was able to have Laura's legal advice and Marcie's support with this and everything. Communication with Laura and Marcie was excellent and straight forward always and I found their style of information sharing valuable for my case and 100 % worthwhile. This process was one of the hardest things I have ever accomplished and I am so grateful to Laura and Marcie for their help.

What do you need in a divorce attorney? That certainly depends on your intended outcome, but in my case, I found in Laura Sutkus someone that shared and supported my human values (fair, respectful and honorable) and idea of how to end a 20-year marriage with kids. Although my divorce was nothing a...s I had hoped – a swift and cooperative ending to our marriage – instead I faced a long, cruel and dishonest divorce process that almost ended in a trial. Laura agreed to represent me, even after learning who my wife’s lawyer was (four others turned me down). Always to-the-point, practical in her approach, and efficient in her decisions, we stuck together for almost two long years, working through exaggerated and inaccurate (lies) claims, and confounded stories and representations of my kids and their health . She showed me how to be balanced and pragmatic in my decision making and reaction to the ‘crazy’. My divorce was not at all what I expected or could have imagined, but Sutkus Law kept me moving forward and ensured that, in the end, I settled/mediated in a position that was comfortable and right for me. As I reflect on my almost two-year process, I recall some traits of her that are easily overlooked during such an emotional period – attentive and able to recall every detail, understands family law inside and out, and maintains a strength and respectfulness even through the nastiness. When needed, she has excellent resources to restore or redirect an issue (i.e., QDROs and State PERS, fair sharing of child expenses). Thank you for maintaining my/our respectful approach through this difficult period.

Laura Sutkus represented me through a very difficult contested divorce. While my spouse chose to change attorneys multiple times, I stayed the course with Laura. From the very beginning, she gave excellent legal advice and support. I came to her office terrified, and she gave me the tools I nee...ded to even get started, including a book on how to respond to high conflict people. Month by month, my knowledge and strength increased and even I am surprised we have successfully resolved everything! In every phase of my divorce, there were delays and issues out of our control, but Laura managed them with ease. She is professional, meticulous and knows family law like the back of her hand. She will fight fairly and honestly for you and your children. I was so impressed in how she handled getting a parenting plan figured out, when everyone else (including the other attorney) seemed to falter. I would highly recommend working with Laura Sutkus. Our family is thriving now and she has given me the strength and freedom to move on to independence. I will be forever thankful to Laura for her role in this process.

My divorce was not my choice, and we had structured our lives such that I was poorly positioned to maximize what was most important to me, my time with my daughters. Laura gave me tools to advocate for myself and advocated on my behalf to ensure that I came out with the best situation I could atta...in under the circumstances, and something I can live with, and I am now confident I will remain an important part of my daughters' lives. Laura guided me through a grueling financial discovery process, and ensured that the financial end of the settlement was equitable for my side. We achieved a settlement with an opposing attorney who had a reputation for being difficult to bring to settlement. Importantly, Laura respected my desires for what strategies we would pursue and which we would not, and never took any action without checking with me. This helped me know that I had gone through this process honorably, and did not have any damage to control or regrets about what actions were taken on my behalf.

I was facing a very difficult divorce process and was referred to Laura Sutkus by a fellow attorney that spoke very highly of her. His referral was spot on. After an initial consultation, I was confident that Laura was the right attorney for me. She initially took me on as a pro se client through ...temporary orders and then represented me in mediation. My case involved a contentious division of assets as well as custody decisions. Laura was extremely well-versed in these areas and made me confident in her abilities. She was thorough, meticulous, detail-oriented, compassionate and thoughtful in her approach. She was on top of my case at all times, was very responsive and was well-prepared when defending my position. She’s extremely knowledgeable in family law, very articulate, and maintained a calm disposition throughout my challenging situation. She also has a great sense of humor, which I found refreshing. I would highly recommend Laura Sutkus.