Attorney Profiles

MONICA KAUP CARY has a strong commitment to families and is no novice to change. She has lived in the Midwest and on the East Coast, and now calls Seattle home. Prior to attending law school, Monica volunteered with VISTA (the domestic peace corps), and was assigned to work in Seattle with FamilyWorks where she helped create an Employment Resource Center for customers of the Fremont Food Bank. Other responsibilities there included offering free workshops for adults on topics from cooking to intercultural parenting and recruiting volunteers to develop/present free workshops for children.

After graduating law school and joining the Oregon Bar, Monica was a judicial clerk to the Honorable Elizabeth Welch, Presiding Family Court Judge in Portland, Oregon. Returning to Seattle in 2002, she volunteered with the King County Prosecutor's office and then worked as Deputy Prosecuting Attorney in Pierce County, Washington. Through these experiences, Monica learned compassion for people in crisis and gained insight into the plight of families in the courtroom. After a few years in the trenches, she decided to return her focus to working directly with families.

Monica recognizes the loss of a marriage impacts nearly every aspect of life: emotional, financial, physical, social and spiritual. She also believes any time of great change is an opportunity to grow and learn. Her goal is to help clients feel stronger and more secure when they leave her office than they walked in.

Monica's family law experience includes arguing family law motions in King and Snohomish Counties, advising clients in mediation and settlement situations, and all aspects of trial work. Representative cases include disputes over custody, relocation, contempt and child support. Monica was recently elected Secretary of the South Asian Bar Association of Washington. She volunteers at Seattle University's Access to Justice Institute, King County Bar Association's Self Help Plus & Kinship Care Solutions programs, and the Volunteer Advocates for Immigrant Justice. She is a member of Chaya (a local South Asian domestic violence prevention organization), the King County Bar Association, and the Washington State Bar Association, family law section.

In her free time, Monica enjoys playing her six-string, cooking, traveling and spending time with her husband, her two dogs and the family cat.