Your family is your priority. And with family law issues, you need more than a normal lawyer; you need an LGBT family law attorney strategist who will advocate fearlessly on your behalf.

Our leading attorney, Psonya Hackett, has been in business for 13 years and has been a practicing attorney for 26 years. She doesn’t just fill out forms; she strategizes. She fights for clients who are ready to take their power back and protect their peace, their assets, and their families.

What services do LGBT family law attorneys typically offer?

The Power of Strategy and Why It’s Your Strongest Asset

You can’t afford to leave your future to chance. While marriage equality is the law, the application of family law (specifically regarding pre-marriage assets and non-biological parental rights) can be extremely complicated.

As an LGBT family law attorney, Psonya Hackett focuses on the risks that others might overlook. Whether you’re going through a divorce, establishing your parental rights with custody or support, or protecting your assets, you deserve an attorney who knows how to leverage facts to your benefit and predict moves before they’re made.

LGBTQ+ Divorced Assets

In Tennessee, a judge’s job in a divorce is to divide Marital Property—anything earned or bought during the marriage. They generally do not touch Separate Property, which is what you owned before the wedding day.

For the LGBTQ+ community, this creates a massive legal trap. Because same-sex marriage wasn't legally recognized in Tennessee until 2015, many couples lived together, bought homes, and built retirement accounts for 10, 20, or 30 years before they could say "I do."

Theoretical Example

You and your partner bought a home in Midtown in 2005. You both paid the mortgage, but the deed was only in one name because that was "simpler" at the time. You legally married in 2015 and file for divorce in 2026.

A Memphis judge might look only at the equity built from 2015 to 2026. They could rule that the 10 years of equity built between 2005 and 2015 is "Separate Property" belonging only to the person on the deed.

You could walk away with only a fraction of that home’s value—perhaps only half of the last 11 years of growth—despite the fact that you spent 21 years paying for it and maintaining it.

How Psonya Hackett Strategizes Your Defense

We use specific legal strategies to pull those "separate" assets back into the marital estate so they can be divided fairly:

Transmutation: We prove that you treated that separate asset like a family asset. As an example, if you used joint bank accounts to pay the mortgage or spent your weekends renovating that house together, we argue the property "transmuted" into marital property.
Blended Assets: For example, if one partner had a retirement account from 1995 but continued to contribute to it using "marital" salary after 2015, the lines become blurred. We use this to argue that the entire account should be subject to division.

Substantial Contribution: In Tennessee, if you contributed to the preservation of your partner's separate property (even as a homemaker), you may be entitled to a share of its increase in value.

This is About Your Future

Without a strategic LGBT family law attorney, you are at the mercy of a system that defaults to the date on a piece of paper. Psonya Hackett leverages the facts of your entire relationship to ensure the court sees the full picture, protecting your peace and the assets you spent a lifetime building.

Parental Rights: The Birth Certificate Myth

In Shelby County, many parents believe the birth certificate is the final word. In a courtroom, it isn't.

A birth certificate is an administrative record, not a judicial order. It tells the state who was present at the birth, but it doesn’t legally "establish parentage" in the same way an adoption or a court decree does.

Without a court order, a non-biological parent is not directly considered a guardian to the child. If the biological parent passes away or becomes ill, biological grandparents or other relatives could even sue for custody, claiming you have no standing. In a medical emergency at a hospital that doesn't know your family, you could even be denied the right to make life-saving decisions.

The only way to fully protect a non-biological parent’s rights is through a court-approved adoption or parentage order. Psonya Hackett guides families through second-parent adoption, ensuring your rights are permanent, enforceable, and recognized everywhere—not just on paper.

Custody Issues When Mississippi Is Involved

If you live in or near Southaven, Olive Branch, or Holly Springs—or your child does—Mississippi law may apply to your custody case. That matters because Mississippi handles custody differently from Tennessee.

Mississippi custody cases are heard in Chancery Court, a court that focuses heavily on what is in a child’s best interest. Judges look closely at the real relationship between a parent and child.

One of the main tools Mississippi judges use is a set of guidelines known as the Albright factors. These factors help the court evaluate things like who has been the child’s primary caregiver and provider, how stable each household is, and who has been consistently involved in the child’s daily life.

Basically, the court wants to know who has actually been showing up for the child.

For LGBTQ+ families and non-biological parents, this is especially important. A strong, well-documented parenting history can carry huge importance, especially when they aren’t biologically related.

We help parents present clear evidence of their role in their child’s life and create detailed parenting plans that reflect real schedules, school routines, and family relationships. We practice in both Tennessee and Mississippi, so we use our knowledge of the law in both states to our advantage.

LGBTQ Family Law Attorney