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Bandoske & Butler: A Woman-Owned Firm Where Both Founding Partners Are Board Certified in Family Law

Fewer than 1% of Texas family law attorneys hold Board Certification. At Bandoske & Butler, both founding partners do — a firm built from the ground up in 2015 around two attorneys who’d already earned, or would go on to earn, one of the rarest credentials in the specialty. This profile is part of Awesome Attorneys’ coverage of San Antonio family law attorney options.

At a Glance

Origin & Background

Stephanie Bandoske earned her J.D. from St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio in 2005, graduating in the top 25% of her class, after an earlier career track that included a Master’s in Human Relations from the University of Oklahoma and a civilian role with the U.S. Air Force. She has been Board Certified in Family Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization since 2012. Co-founder Ashley Butler is also Board Certified in Family Law and has served on the San Antonio Bar Association’s Family Law Section board (2016–2019). The two co-founded Bandoske & Butler, PLLC in June 2015 as a woman-owned San Antonio family law firm, joined more recently by attorney Sasha Grubbs.

San Antonio Family Law Attorney Practice Concentration

The firm handles the full range of family law matters — divorce, child custody, property division, and spousal support — with particular attention to two more complex case types the firm specifically names: business owner divorces, where valuing and dividing a business interest adds real complexity to standard property division, and contested child custody relocations. The firm handles both negotiated settlements and litigated cases.

Track Record

The firm’s public materials emphasize its board certifications and sustained peer recognitions rather than an itemized case-outcome list, consistent with family law practice generally. Family law outcomes depend on the specific facts of each family’s situation; past recognition does not guarantee a particular result in a new matter.

Client Voice

Bandoske holds a Martindale-Hubbell Distinguished peer rating and an Avvo “Excellent” rating. A client review of an attorney at the firm describes:

“I hired Sammantha, and she was truly impressive! I really appreciated her patience and understanding throughout the process. Though she may be small in stature, she transforms into a powerhouse in the courtroom… she was also considerate of my financial situation.” — client review

Awesome Attorneys did not identify negative reviews of the firm during this research.

Beyond the Courtroom

The firm’s identity as woman-owned since its 2015 founding, combined with both name partners independently earning family law board certification rather than one certified partner recruiting a non-certified co-founder, reflects a deliberate structural choice. Butler’s multi-year service on the San Antonio Bar Association’s Family Law Section board reflects sustained engagement with the local specialty bar beyond her own casework.

Recognition

Both Bandoske’s and Butler’s Board Certification in Family Law from the Texas Board of Legal Specialization are the credentials this profile treats as most significant. Bandoske’s decade-plus Super Lawyers/Rising Stars run (2011 to present, with the Rising Stars-to-Super Lawyers transition in 2016) and Butler’s parallel Rising Stars recognition since 2018 reflect sustained, multi-year peer regard rather than single-year honors.

Texas Legal Backdrop

Business owner divorces, one of the firm’s specifically named complexities, require valuing a business interest as community or separate property under Texas Family Code § 3.002 — a process that often needs a forensic or business valuation expert distinct from the divorce attorneys themselves. Child custody relocation disputes, the firm’s other named specialty, are governed by Family Code § 156.101 and related case law, which generally requires a parent seeking to relocate with a child to show the move serves the child’s best interest, not simply the relocating parent’s preference.

Awesome Attorneys Assessment

Bandoske & Butler’s clearest strength is founder-level board certification held by both partners since near the firm’s founding, paired with specific, named expertise in two genuinely harder family law case types — business owner divorces and contested relocation — rather than a generic “we handle everything” claim. The firm’s decade-plus of sustained Super Lawyers and Rising Stars recognition for both founders reinforces that this is durable peer regard.

The honest trade-off is the one common to any boutique firm: as a small, specialized practice, capacity for simultaneous complex litigation matters is worth asking about directly, and clients with the most straightforward, fully uncontested divorces may find a lower-cost general practitioner sufficient for their needs. For contested, business-owner, or relocation-related family law matters specifically, the dual board certification here is a genuine asset.

Methodology & Sourcing

This profile was compiled from the firm’s own website (sadivorceattorney.com), Super Lawyers’ attorney profile for Stephanie Bandoske, the firm’s Better Business Bureau listing, and third-party attorney directory profiles. Statutory references were checked against the Texas Family Code as published by the Texas Legislature. No case results, credentials, or quotes were invented; the client review quoted is attributed to its original source.

Publisher Disclosure & Independence Notice

Awesome Attorneys is an independent legal directory and editorial publication. This profile was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed by Bandoske & Butler, PLLC prior to publication. Awesome Attorneys may in the future offer sponsored placements clearly labeled as such, but no payment of any kind determines inclusion in, or the content of, this editorial profile. This article is for informational purposes only, does not constitute legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship between the reader and Bandoske & Butler or Awesome Attorneys.