Curtis P. Bounds

Curtis P. Bounds is a director at Bayard and is the senior attorney in its Family Law Group. He has practiced law at Bayard since he graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1990.
 

Curtis is experienced in all areas of domestic relations law –adoption, alimony, child support, custody, dependency/neglect, divorce, equitable distribution of property, petitions for protection from abuse, prenuptial agreements, separation agreements, termination of parental rights and visitation- and focuses his practice today on business valuation and dissolution of marital estates for high net-worth clients. Curtis has appeared in all state courts in Delaware, including appeals to the Delaware Supreme Court, and has litigated in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware enforcing parents’ rights in international child abduction cases, and prosecuting discovery requests under 28 U.S.C. §1782 for use in a foreign proceeding. Early in his career, Curtis regularly appeared before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, before turning entirely to family law in the mid-1990s.

Curtis is recognized as a leader in Delaware family law. In addition to the many years of work behind his recognitions, Curtis devotes time and energy to the needs of Delawareans and the broader Delaware family law bench and bar by serving on various committees and volunteer organizations pertaining to family law. He is a past Chair of the Family Law  Section of the Delaware State Bar Association, and the immediate-Past Chair of the Delaware Family Law Commission. He remains an active member of the Family Law Section of the Delaware State Bar Association, and the Melson-Arsht Family Law Inns of Court. Each year since 2004, he and the Family Law Group digest and report on recent family law cases to the Delaware bench and bar in the Case Review at the Family Law Update sponsored by the Delaware State Bar Association. Curtis also volunteers and serves pro bono publico at the request of the Family Court, or when asked to represent a child by the Office of the Child Advocate.

Curtis is certified as a mediator and arbitrator in family law and has mediated or rendered arbitration decisions for families in disputed property division and support claims against each other. He is a father, grandfather, spouse and proud to call Delaware his home, although he sometimes roots for any one of the many teams where his children have attended school, or the Baltimore Orioles.

Awards & Rankings

• Chambers USA, High Net Worth Guide, 2021 - 2023
• American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers Fellow, 2019 - Present
• Best Lawyers in America© Lawyer of the Year, Family Law, Wilmington, Delaware, 2015 & 2017 
• Best Lawyers in America©, 2009 - 2024 Editions
• Super Lawyers®, Family Law, Delaware, 2021 - 2023
• Delaware Today Top Lawyers Edition, Divorce & Family Law, 2008 - 2023
• LawDragon 500 Leading Family Lawyers, 2020, 2023