Donelle H. Ratheal is Senior Counsel for Ratheal Family Law, PC. She was the managing partner of Ratheal, Maggard & Fortune, PLLC, from 2011 through 2019. From 1993 to 2011, she was the senior attorney at Ratheal & Associates, PC.
Donelle has over 32 years’ experience in the courtroom. The majority of her practice centers around complex family and probate issues, trials and appeals. She has successfully represented parents, grandparents and children in cases involving custody, child relocation (domestic and international), grandparent access and custody, and international enforcement of custody and support orders.
Donelle’s trial expertise includes location of missing or hidden assets, disclosure of a spouse’s dissipation of marital income and assets, and determination of the true value of a family-owned business. Donelle’s probate trial expertise includes successful results in will contests, removing a mentally ill trustee, forcing disgorgement of stolen beneficiary funds, and successfully defending against an AWOC adoption trial and appeal.
Donelle’s trial experience includes parents mired in “high conflict” divorces. She understands the emotional, relational and psychological aspects of the process. She knows what must be presented in the courtroom, through specialized expert witnesses and specific evidence, to either successfully expose unsupported allegations against her client, or to successfully support her client’s goals for a normalized relationship with a now highly resistant child.
Donelle’s substantial appellate practice includes a body of published opinions that have clarified or modified existing law. She is a speaker for the LawPracticeCLE, National Business Institute, and MyLawCLE, on substantive family law, probate and ethics issues, legal technology and law office management having earned “Distinguished Faculty” and “Outstanding Faculty” for her contributions.
Donelle is an Oklahoma Super Lawyer. She has received numerous honors during her career, including Top 25 Women Lawyers, Journal Record Leaders in the Law, OBA Golden Quill Award, OBA-FLS Outstanding Guardian ad Litem, American Institute of Family Law Attorneys’ Top 10 Family Law Attorney, Oklahoma Magazine’s “Best of the Best” Oklahoma City family law attorney, and Lawyers of Distinction (Oklahoma – Family Law).
Donelle is a classical pianist, a holiday and gift boutique owner, and a “Sheltie” mom.
Paralegals: Should a paralegal need CLE credit, the paralegal should notify LawPracticeCLE of their paralegal status, so the Accreditation Administration team can seek accreditation with the NALA for approval in their state via reciprocity.
LawPracticeCLE partners with judges, attorneys, and paralegals to produce hundreds of hours each year of the most unique and beneficial continuing legal education on the market!
