Biography
Natalia Maldonado is a family law attorney based in San Antonio, Texas, with more than fifteen years of experience. She started her career handling divorces and has since represented clients in family law, guardianship, housing, and Social Security disability matters.
Natalia spent nearly a decade at legal aid providing legal services to families across South Texas. In private practice, she has represented clients in contested divorce and custody hearings, protective order hearings, and mediations throughout central and south Texas.
Natalia joined Modern Family Law to focus her practice on family law and to work alongside a team of attorneys, paralegals, and administrative staff who share her commitment to moving clients’ cases forward.
Her years in public interest work shaped how she practices. Natalia explains the process in plain language, prepares every case thoroughly, and keeps clients informed so they know what to expect at each stage. She works toward a negotiated resolution when it serves the client, and she is ready to go to court when it does not.
Natalia and her husband are deeply rooted in the San Antonio community. Outside of work, they spend weekends exploring events around the city or relaxing at home. Completing the household is Blue Chapo, their energetic and affectionately self-described “purebred” mutt, who keeps life lively and entertaining.
Interesting Facts
Natalia begins every case by finding out what the client actually needs: the outcome that matters most for their family, their children, and their finances.
From there, she looks for the most direct route to that outcome. Where it makes sense, that means negotiation, a Rule 11 agreement, or a mediated settlement agreement that gives her client certainty and keeps the case from dragging on. If the other side will not be reasonable, Natalia is prepared to try the case. She has represented clients in contested hearings, and she builds each case carefully, so her client’s story is presented clearly to the court.
Natalia earned her Bachelor of Arts in Communications, with a concentration in Public Relations, from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2006, where she made the Dean’s List. She earned her Juris Doctor from St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio in May 2010.
During law school, Natalia was a student attorney with the Civil Justice Clinic at the St. Mary’s University Center for Legal and Social Justice, where she worked on subpoenas, petitions, and deposition requests and took part in a videotaped deposition. She spent a summer as a legislative intern in the office of State Senator Leticia Van de Putte, and she was a member of the Hispanic Student Law Association from 2007 to 2010, receiving its Certificate of Excellence for 2008-2009. She graduated with a Pro Bono Service Certificate.
Natalia chose a career in law because she wanted a profession built on advocacy, problem-solving, and service to others. Her upbringing and her work with individuals and families facing some of the most difficult moments of their lives drew her to helping people understand and move through complex systems that can shape their futures.
Her path into family law began at legal aid, where she worked handling domestic violence intake, and reviewing and prioritizing the family law cases referred through the organization’s intake hotline and domestic violence shelter partners. That work, along with her later work in family law, housing authority representation, and public-interest legal services, reinforced her desire to be both an advocate and a steady source of guidance for clients in emotionally and legally challenging situations. Becoming an attorney allowed her to combine community service, problem-solving, and advocacy in a profession where she can make a lasting difference in other people’s lives.
Natalia and her husband share a longstanding commitment to volunteerism and local traditions. Natalia began volunteering at the annual Texas Folklife Festival at the Institute of Texan Cultures as a child, and she served as Hospitality Co-Chair from 2012 to 2019. Her husband joined her in supporting the festival from 2005 until its closure in 2019. Their connection to the festival and the community it fostered became especially meaningful when they were married at the Institute in 2013.
One of the most significant influences in Natalia’s life is her mother, whose dedication to service and education has shaped Natalia’s personal values and professional outlook. Natalia’s own commitment to community service runs through her career, from her pro bono work as a law student to her years representing low-income families.
