Michael P. Granata, Attorney at Law

Upon graduating from law school Mr. Granata engaged in and accepted employment in the Securities industry with a local Dallas Brokerage Company. On a whim he was retained by a divorce client and more than 10 years later is still being retained by clients who are divorcing in the Dallas area. He never looked back. Having handled hundreds of family law and custody clients he believes in prompt, aggressive representation when the parties are unable to decide on the terms of the dispute. His philosophy always is that litigation is a last resort and all attempts at mediation should be explored first.

Mr. Granata has handled all types of divorce cases from simple no property cases to high value complex asset divorces. He believes his experience in the securities industry helps him tackle problems that frequently arise with divorcing couples and the division of their assets and debts.

Mr. Granata also has a passion when cases involve custody disputes. Often a court appoints a child custody evaluator to conduct an investigation of each party’s fitness to be the primary parent and weigh in on what is in the child’s best interest. These studies, which examine the social circumstances of each party, are conducted according to the professional standards of care applicable to the evaluator’s license, Texas law, administrative rules, ethical standards and guidelines adopted by the state agency that licenses the evaluator. Mr. Granata believes all custody evaluators appearing in his cases be held strictly accountable to these principles in order to insure the quality of the work which the evaluator conducts. Because his client’s child’s life is at stake, when these principles are not followed Mr. Granata believes in vigorously attacking the analysis and conclusions of any custody expert to point out any deficiencies in work product.

In his spare time, Mr. Granata is an avid runner and weight lifter and sees the potential for some sprint triathlons in his future. He is currently training for the 2010 San Diego Rock n Roll Marathon.