Charles H. Montgomery

Charles Montgomery is a N.C. Board Certified Specialist in Family Law*, as certified by the North Carolina State Bar. Charles has been a certified Family Law Specialist for over nineteen years. He is one of only 243 lawyers statewide to achieve this distinction in Family Law of the more than 20,000 licensed North Carolina lawyers. His practice emphasizes equitable distribution of property, child custody, child support, alimony and divorce. In addition to more than thirty-nine years' experience as a family law attorney, he also has extensive experience in commercial real property and business litigation.

Charles received his law degree from Vanderbilt University in 1974 and his undergraduate degree with honors from Duke University in 1971. He is admitted to practice in N.C. state and federal courts and before the U.S. Supreme Court. Charles is also certified as a Superior Court mediator by the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts. He is listed in Marquis' "Who's Who in America" and "Who’s Who in American Law." In 2009, he was named a “North Carolina Super Lawyer.” Charles was appointed as Chair of the Family Law Section of the North Carolina Bar Association, serving 2012-2013. In 2014, Charles received the North Carolina Bar Association’s Citizen Lawyer Award, an award established to recognize lawyers who volunteer their time to worthy community or civic causes.

Charles has extensive experience representing clients in interstate and international child custody and support litigation. These cases involve complex applications of the Uniform Child-Custody Jurisdiction & Enforcement Act and the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act.

Charles' professional career includes broad appellate experience before the North Carolina Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. One of these cases involved complex issues of personal jurisdiction in an alimony and child support case between parties living in North Carolina and Florida. See, Boyles v. Boyles, 297 S.E.2d 405, 59 N.C. App. 389 (App. Ct. 1982); affirmed, 302 S.E.2d 790, 308 N.C. 488 (S. Ct. 1983). A more recent case involved complex alimony issues. See, Francis v. Francis, 169 N.C. App. 442 (App. Ct. 2005).

Charles was a partner for ten years in the former Raleigh, N.C. & Washington, D.C. firm of Sanford, Adams, McCullough & Beard headed by former U.S. Senator, Governor, & President of Duke University, Terry Sanford. He served a total of nine years as a member of the Cary Town Council and the Wake County Board of Commissioners. He is active in alumni affairs at Duke University where he served as President of the Reunion Class of 1971.

Charles' professional activities include participation in the Family Law Sections of the American Bar Association, NC Bar Association, and Wake County Bar Association. He is past Chair of the Family Law Section of the North Carolina Advocates for Justice (1996-1998), as well as past Chair of the Family Law Section of the North Carolina Bar Association (2012-2013). He also served two terms on the Family Law Council of the NC Bar Association Family Law Section and has served as chair of the Legislative and Pro Bono Committees of the Family Law Section. Charles is a frequent speaker on family law issues for continuing legal education (CLE) seminars, providing education and training for other lawyers.

Charles is involved in several civic and charitable activities in his community, including serving on the board of the State Capitol Foundation and as a local board member of Branch Banking & Trust Co., one of the largest banks in the U.S.

* To be certified as a specialist in Family Law, a lawyer must have been in practice for at least five years, devote a significant part of his or her practice to the Family Law practice area, attend continuing legal education (CLE) seminars in the specialty, be favorably evaluated by other lawyers and judges (peer review), and pass a rigorous written examination in the Family Law practice area.