Mechelle Y. Faulk

Family Law

Mechelle is an experienced, detail-oriented attorney well known for her exceptional counsel and professionalism. For more than a decade, she has provided sophisticated counsel to clients, guiding them through private family-related matters, including divorce, child custody, support and maintenance issues, and post-dissolution issues, including modification proceedings.

Skilled at handling particularly complex and intricate financial issues, Mechelle works seamlessly with experts to assess the value of assets, such as closely held companies, professional practices, private equity investments, and other types of business or trust interests. Her experience extends to representing clients regarding parental responsibilities, same-sex marriage, reproductive rights, adoption, grandparent rights, relocation issues and protective orders. In each instance, Mechelle thoroughly learns the client’s specific needs, objectives and the facts. Then she actively strategizes with the client throughout the case to help ensure that both the client’s short-term needs and long-term goals are met to the greatest extent possible.

Representative Experience

• Represented world-renowned artist with substantial, recognizable works throughout the world, addressing intellectual property, studio valuation, and fine art-related issues in a dissolution of marriage and post-decree matters.
• Successfully litigated a multimillion-dollar dissolution, valuing and tracing separate property ownership in working interests in oil and gas, and involving a privately owned oil and natural gas company engaged in exploration and production.
• Represented public or semipublic figures — including Olympians, professional athletes, professional disc jockeys, music/concert promoters, television reporters, musicians and art collectors —in divorce, family or other private matters.
• Represented highly regulated and specialized individuals — including doctors, surgeons, financial and investment advisers, hedge fund managers, executives, and business owners — in family and other private matters.
• Represented numerous real estate professionals — including custom home builders, developers and executives — in family law and other private matters.
• Worked with trust experts to establish that client’s interest in generation-skipping, intentionally defective grantor trust did not constitute property for division in divorce.
• Successfully contested ambiguous language in a prenuptial agreement to the benefit of the client.
• Successfully litigated at trial court level, and then defended on appeal, client’s position to prevent spouse from relocating children out of state.
• Worked with business valuation experts and business experts to value client’s interest in a captive insurance company and to establish the validity of that captive as a going concern.

Personal Interests

Outside the office, Mechelle enjoys spending time with her husband and two daughters traveling, skiing, hiking, gardening, reading, and teaching trial skills. She also loves live music, food from around the world and spending time with her little dogs.