GNP Morgan County Podcast
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GNP Morgan County Podcast
Family Law In Martinsville
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The toughest legal questions usually arrive wrapped in emotion: a marriage ending, a parenting schedule that no longer works, a move that changes everything for a child. We sit down with Martinsville, Indiana family law attorney Nicole McAtee to talk about what actually happens inside divorce and custody cases and what you can do to protect your family while things feel uncertain. If you’ve ever wondered how courts think about “best interests of the child,” or what a supportive but strong lawyer looks like, this conversation gets practical fast.
Nicole breaks down the big building blocks of family law in Morgan County: child custody, parenting time, child support, adoptions, and the moments when a modification becomes necessary because life changed. We talk about how to balance compassion with facts that matter in court, when mediation or informal settlement talks can lead to better outcomes than a fight, and why it’s worth talking to an attorney before you assume you “don’t have grounds” to ask for a change.
We also unpack the Guardian ad Litem (GAL) role in Indiana, including how GALs help ensure a child’s voice is heard without pulling them into the courtroom. And we tackle prenuptial, postnuptial, and cohabitation agreements, including Nicole’s clear take on why “clarity” is the real point, not pessimism. If you’re ready to take a first step, Nicole shares how to reach her at www.martinsvillefamilylaw.com.
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Welcome And Meet Nicole
SPEAKER_01This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Tim Serber.
SPEAKER_02Welcome back to the Good Neighbors Podcast, everybody. And this is the show where we sit down with business owners, leaders, and storytellers who make Morgan County a great place to live and work. I'm your host, Tim Serber, and today we've got a guest who works in one of the most personal corners of the legal world, family law. And it's right here in our hometown. So I think you're really going to enjoy this. Today, uh joining me is Nicole Mackate. She is an attorney here, right here in Martinsville, working on attorney law, handles everything from divorce, uh custody cases, adoptions, prenuptial agreements. Uh, and we're gonna go into she's she's pretty she's a pretty big star in the lawyer world. She's a super lawyer rising star, a distinguished fellow of Indianapolis Bar Foundation, and uh someone that we've even had uh in our magazine in the past, her and her family. Uh Nicole, welcome to Good Neighbors Podcast.
SPEAKER_00Thanks, Tim.
From IU To Martinsville Life
SPEAKER_02We're really excited to have you. Now, I want to start with the Martinsville piece because you know you're one of us now, you live here, you practice here, and and that's that's pretty intentional. So when did you know when did you know while you were growing up you wanted to be an attorney? Not so much in law, right in in family law, but just you wanted to be an attorney.
SPEAKER_00I always was interested in it, and then I just knew when I was in college that was just kind of coming together. I really like to write. I love to, you know, be in the courtroom. It's it's fun. Um, so it just it was a good fit.
SPEAKER_02And where are you originally from?
SPEAKER_00Originally the Fishers area, and then I lived downtown Indianapolis before I moved to Martinsville.
SPEAKER_02So you went to IU, right? Yes. And is that when you decided Martinsville could be a great place to start your your practice?
SPEAKER_00So I really wasn't familiar with Martinsville until my husband was living in Bloomington. Well, we were when we were dating, he was living in Bloomington. I was living downtown Indianapolis. So Martinsville was the logical halfway point, and we fell in love with it. We love living here.
SPEAKER_02What what's what's the things you like about the Martinsville area?
SPEAKER_00It's so it's the perfect size town. So it just feels like our our quaint little hometown, but there's still so much to do. And we love the parades, we love just all the the annual traditions that Martinsville has. It's just so fun.
Helping Families Through Hard Seasons
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and it is it is a very family-focused area, which fits perfectly for what you do. So your firm, Matatee Law, focuses on family law. And uh, of all the areas of law you you have chosen, what pulled you specifically towards family law?
SPEAKER_00I really like being able to help people when they're going through a tough time. So when I first started practicing, I did a little bit of criminal defense. I just thought, you know, the stories were interesting. I got to be in the courtroom all the time. But family law gave me that opportunity to help families. And that's really what I was interested in. And I like being able to, you know, help a family transition from whatever they're going through, whether it's uh a divorce, a relocation, anything, modification, it's just nice to be able to help people going through a tough time.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and that's uh and it's important to have an attorney that you can trust and work with, right? I mean, that's for sure, especially when you have divorce and you have kids involved. That that creates a whole different scenario. And um, I think it takes a special person to handle that that side of the law when especially when you have kids involved in everything. I know it's hard on the the the parents, but I think you can get really pulled into that being the attorney.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, you can.
SPEAKER_02Now, family law, some of it, well, most of it probably is very emotionally charged, like we were just kind of talking about. How do you balance being a strong advocate in the courtroom with being a compassionate presence for the clients who often are going through the hardest seasons of their life?
SPEAKER_00Right. Well, I'm always there to listen to my clients, and I mean they have they have their stories to tell, but at the same time, it all comes down to what information can we actually use in the courtroom. Um, I really enjoy being in court, but sometimes it is best to just have a sit-down conversation, um, whether that's through mediation or just doing some informal settlement negotiations and having to put the emotions aside sometimes and really try to try to work out a deal and see what's what is best overall for everybody.
Guardian Ad Litem Explained
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Now you're also a trained guardian of lightum, is that correct? Is that pronounced that right?
SPEAKER_00Guardian Ed Lightem, yes.
SPEAKER_02Okay, and you volunteer with Kids Voice, Kids' Voice of uh of Indiana. And for your listeners, uh our listeners who aren't familiar with that role, who does or what does guardian of ad lytium actually do? And why is that work so important to you?
SPEAKER_00Sure. So a guardian ed Lightem, or we call them GALs for short, uh, they are appointed by the court and they are the voice of the child in a family law case. And so that role is really important because the judge is relying on that report from the Garden Ed Lightem to find out how the child feels about certain things without the child ever having to be in the courtroom. So I use GALs for my really complicated cases where the kids are old enough to kind of understand the process and their input can be really important in the matter.
SPEAKER_02And where when do kids get to really voice uh in a divorce case or in cases where they're involved in, you know, of of who they live with and what they do between parents?
SPEAKER_00So per the statute, it's when they're 14, it gets more weight.
SPEAKER_02Okay. All right. Interesting. Yeah. That's I I'm always sad when I see that. I can tell you that. I hate to see kids get in the middle of that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Now you've been recognized as an up-and-coming lawyer by the Indiana lawyer, named a super lawyer's rising star multiple times, and made the distinguished fellow of Indianapolis Bar Foundation. What do those kind of recommend recon recognitions mean to you? And what do you think they reflect about your practice?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they're those are huge honors. Um, it's really exciting to earn recognition like that. I think it reflects the large amount of effort that I've put into practicing law, um, respecting everybody that's involved in the case and just building my career over the last 10 years or so. So it's a good feeling to get those.
SPEAKER_02Now, how long have you been your own attorney firm?
SPEAKER_00Um, about I think about two years now.
SPEAKER_02Okay. All right. And no plans to go to the big city, huh?
SPEAKER_00I I'm taking a break from the big city. I like I like being in Martinsville.
When To Modify Custody Orders
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I can understand that. You know, one of the most common situations families face is needing to modify an existing custody or child support order after life changes, a job move, remarriage, a child's needs changing. What should someone in our audience know about when and how to pursue a modification?
SPEAKER_00Sure. So modifying child support is a little more straightforward because we're just dealing with numbers. So someone's job changes, you know, someone has more children. There's different factors that go into how you calculate child support and what's what's appropriate. Um, and then as far as the custody and parenting time modifications, like you said, if someone is is moving, that's a big change. It's just it every case is different, of course. But if there's just something that comes up where the current custody and parenting time um situation just isn't practical, or if there's reason to say it would be in the kid's best interest if we changed it, then you can ask for a modification. But you always want to check with an attorney to see if you you do have have grounds to ask for that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and that's uh that just I just can't imagine what a stealing like with that situation, you know, how you deal with parents very emotionally charged, kids very emotionally concerned and worried and think they caused it when they're younger. Um, you know, and I know that's that's gotta be tough on you. Do those GLAs help during that time like that?
SPEAKER_00They can be very helpful in those cases, yes, especially if someone's asking for kind of a big change, like if we have a relocation, if someone's moving out of state, anything like that, then you really do want to have a gardened lightum involved so that the kids the kids' voices are heard on those issues.
Prenups And Postnups Without Stigma
SPEAKER_02Nice. So prenuptial, uh postnuptial, and cohabitation agreements still carry a big uh bit of a stigma. A lot of people uh feel like asking for ones uh is unromantic or pessimistic. What's your perspective and who actually benefits, you know, from putting one of these agreements in place?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there definitely can still be a stigma around those types of agreements, especially a prenuptial. But I always tell my clients it's like having a car insurance policy. I mean, I don't I don't want to use my car insurance policy, but it's good to have. Um, I mean, no one goes into their wedding thinking that their marriage will ever end, but unfortunately, sometimes it it does. And it's just nice to have everything spelled out and there's no there's no question on you know whose assets are are what and how is everything going to get divided up in the end. It's just it makes things very clear. I think clarity is the point of those agreements.
Giving Back And Getting Help
SPEAKER_02Yeah. All lined up in order. Now you've been involved in the community. You've served on the American Cancer Society, the Indianapolis Bar Foundation, the young professionals of Central Indiana, and you've written for the Indiana lawyer. Uh, why has community involvement in giving back been such a consistent thread in your career?
SPEAKER_00I think it's important to give back to the community, to stay involved. Um, and serving on those boards was a great way to do that. And I also got to meet a lot of really amazing people. Um, so yeah, it's it's been it's been important for sure.
SPEAKER_02And uh, you know, one last question, uh, and and this is for uh persons listening right now who who need who really need to talk to someone about issues maybe within their family, needs the family law attorney. Um, didn't really realize we I didn't realize we had one here in the in the area uh until I met you, but you know, been putting off the call because it's kind of an embarrassment, right? You know, it is something that is emotionally charged. What would you say to them and what's the best way for them to reach you at MACATELAL?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it can be daunting. And I think at least getting the information that you need to make an informed decision in whatever legal situation you may be facing, that's a step in the right direction. And I mean, of course, the consultation calls are confidential. So um, and if someone would did want to reach out to me, I can be reached at www.martinsvillefamily law.com and I have a contact form there.
SPEAKER_02Awesome. All right. Well, Nicole, I tell you, thank you for the work you do for our families in our community and for sharing it with us today. Family law is hard work and it's clear why folks uh in Morgan County trust you. I know my wife and I really enjoyed meeting you and your family, loved having you guys on our cover. Uh, and so uh I just wish you the best of luck on everything that you do. Uh, that's gonna wrap up this episode, everyone. And uh please visit our website, Good Neighbors uh podcast of Morgan County, and take a look at uh some of the other episodes we do. And until next time, let's uh get back together. We'll just have a good time until my next one, which should be here in about a half hour. So, Nicole, thanks again for everything. Enjoyed having you.
SPEAKER_00Thanks, Tim.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show. Go to gnpmorgancounty.com. That's gnpmorgancounty.com or call 317 743 2058.