Parents seeking to win custody should know what to expect in advance so that they can best be prepared and anticipate each step of the process. One detail that many people don't know is that child-custody cases are not heard before a jury; that's reserved for criminal or civil cases.
Your case will be presented in front of the judge, and they will likely make an immediate decision and issue a child-custody order. You will have the right to appeal the order, but it won't be decided by a jury. 3
Reading the fine print can be tedious, but it will help you to find out for yourself what you're up against before attending the hearing. Reading up on the latest laws can also help you prepare a list of questions to ask your lawyer as your court date approaches. The better-parent standard comes into play when a parent requests sole custody.
An attorney can also use their experience to present your case before the judge in a clear and compelling fashion and communicate with the other side so that personal emotions don’t get in the way of what’s best for your child. Myers Law Firm has over 60 years of combined experience with family matters, including child custody cases.
A: The lawyer should be responsive to your questions within 24-48 hours after you left a message. If the lawyer is not responsive, perhaps he or she is on vacation and unable to return.
If your lawyer still does not respond, you can send him or her a letter explaining the communication problems. If at this point you do not hear anything from your lawyer, you should consult with a legal malpractice attorney.
If you have called your attorney, left messages, sent emails, and you still haven't heard a response, the best course of action is to send a certified letter to his or her office questioning the failure to communicate and informing them that you are prepared to find a new lawyer if the situation does not improve.
Legal malpractice is a type of negligence in which a lawyer does harm to his or her client. Typically, this concerns lawyers acting in their own interests, lawyers breaching their contract with the client, and, one of the most common cases of legal malpractice, is when lawyers fail to act on time for clients.
Once a month is a good rule of thumb if things are slow, but if you are preparing for trial or in my case an administrative benefits hearing, the contact with you and your attorney should be more frequent and specifically scheduled.
Perhaps the most common kinds of complaints against lawyers involve delay or neglect. This doesn't mean that occasionally you've had to wait for a phone call to be returned. It means there has been a pattern of the lawyer's failing to respond or to take action over a period of months.
Attorney misconduct may include: conflict of interest, overbilling, refusing to represent a client for political or professional motives, false or misleading statements, knowingly accepting worthless lawsuits, hiding evidence, abandoning a client, failing to disclose all relevant facts, arguing a position while ...
Throughout the process of getting your financial settlement after becoming injured, there may be periods of time that you do not hear from your attorney. Although this can be unnerving, it is a normal part of the legal process.
Once a case gets filed in court, things can really slow down. Common reasons why a case will take longer than one would hope can include: Trouble getting the defendant or respondent served. The case cannot proceed until the defendant on the case has been formally served with the court papers.
If the attorney loses the case, the client is still responsible for legal fees as stipulated in the original retainer contract. Some attorneys may agree to withhold billing until the end of a case, but they will still expect payment regardless of how the case ends.
Signs of a Bad LawyerBad Communicators. Communication is normal to have questions about your case. ... Not Upfront and Honest About Billing. Your attorney needs to make money, and billing for their services is how they earn a living. ... Not Confident. ... Unprofessional. ... Not Empathetic or Compassionate to Your Needs. ... Disrespectful.
No matter what name the agency in your state goes by, they will have a process you can use to file a complaint against your attorney for lying or being incompetent. Examples of these types of behavior include: Misusing your money. Failing to show up at a court hearing.
A child custody case can seem like a maze of legal paperwork, court dates, and visitation schedules; missing even a single detail in any of these areas can have a negative impact. Simply put, your relationship with your child is too important to risk letting that happen in a child custody case.Instead, you should look for an experienced family law ...
An attorney can also use their experience to present your case before the judge in a clear and compelling fashion and communicate with the other side so that personal emotions don’t get in the way of what’s best for your child.
Letting any negative feelings lead to destructive behavior or poor judgment on your part is a quick way of painting yourself in a negative light before the judge and putting yourself at a huge disadvantage in court. With that in mind, we’ve drawn from our years of experience with family law cases and compiled a list of seven things you should ...
Posted by Matthew Myers on June 15, 2016. When you’re going through a divorce, it can be hard to handle the stress and emotional turmoil. Often, the legal aspects of divorce tend to get tangled up with the emotional and personal issues that led to the end of the relationship, and arguments over child custody only complicate the situation further.
Parents who hope to win child custody must behave appropriately in court or risk losing custody. 2 Discuss proper courtroom etiquette with your lawyer to get a better understanding of what's expected, as well as any pitfalls—like emotional outbursts or accusatory statements—you need to avoid or be on the lookout for. If possible, do some roleplaying with your lawyer in advance.
on May 19, 2020. Going to your first child-custody hearing can be scary, especially for parents who are unfamiliar with the process. However, with just a little advanced planning, you can present a convincing case and win child custody. In addition to working closely with your child-custody lawyer, use the following tips to prepare ...
Child custody laws vary from state to state, 1 so one of the first things you need to do is become familiar with the laws in the state where your custody hearing will be held. Reading the fine print can be tedious, but it will help you to find out for yourself what you're up against before attending the hearing.
Essentially, the judge has to be convinced that one parent is better than the other, which can be difficult to prove. 1 . To best prepare for your child-custody hearing, be sure to find out what courts in your state are looking for and consult with your lawyer about how to show yourself to be the best caregiver for your children. 3.
One detail that many people don't know is that child-custody cases are not heard before a jury; that's reserved for criminal or civil cases. Your case will be presented in front of the judge, and he or she will likely make an immediate decision and issue a child-custody order.
When you retain a lawyer, whether for a divorce or another issue, the lawyer is ethically charged with holding what you say to him/her as confidential.
Divorce attorneys work hard to achieve favorable and fair results for their clients. Good clients appreciate the effort, even if things don't always work out the way they hoped. Many clients are never happy, win or lose, and are not afraid to let their attorney know it.
Here are five things your attorney really wants to tell you, but doesn't because he wants to maintain the relationship and keep you as a client. You're better off knowing this though because it will influence your relationship with your lawyer and the value he/she provides to you. Advertisement. 1. You call too often.
If I had to bet, I would say that one of the reasons you are getting divorced, or already divorced is because of conflicts with your spouse over parenting. It's very common and one of the more stressful phases of a divorce.
Most attorneys charge on an hourly basis, which is stated in your retainer agreement. Clients pay for an attorney's time. Your attorney is not your therapist, although I play one on t.v. I always tell clients I will talk to you as long as you want, but don't be surprised when you get the bill.
Your attorney will contact you when he/she needs something from you. There are periods in every case where nothing is going on and there is down time. Your attorney should give you periodic updates on the status of things and it's ok to check in yourself, but daily calls are unnecessary and only run up your bill.
Attorneys are not free. They get paid for provide you with their time, knowledge and services. Now, it's often the case in a divorce that money is tight and most attorneys are sensitive to this, but they have to pay their bills too and can't work for free. You can't expect them to work for free.
I would preface this by indicating that I read all of your comments. What you describe is generally not the way an Order of Protection (OP) hearing works. You always have a chance to defend. I will note, if you were denied some right, there may have been a reason. You may need to file a motion to reconsider and/or an appeal out of this.
Well, look at all the money you saved not having to pay a lawyer! An appeal will cost about twenty times what it would have cost to prepare and present the case effectively in the first instance. But if you want nothing to do with her, what do you care if there’s an OP in place?
I suspect there is something procedural that you missed. Judges do not just deny parties the right to speak unless something is wrong with the motion or similar. You really, really need to get a lawyer involved. I know you don't want to hear that, but you cannot oppose an OFP without one. It's complex...
Wow. Could you give us some additional information? Was this at a hearing, pre-trial conference or at trail itself? I agree with the post about filing an appeal.
No. It is definitely not right. As a former judge, I am shocked and appalled. I don't know the reasons for this. A judy is supposed to be a neutral party at all times and give both parties equal time to speak and present evidence to the court. I would talk to a local attorney about a potential appeal.
If an attorney manages to liase many or all all your issues, then you have already lost, especially if they have told you not to talk to the spouse and they have served their purpose by fait accompli. If it comes down to money, you have lost, that is the level of basic understanding marriage has become for males.
If you do decide to appeal the decisions of the family court, the Supreme Court, no less, will very likely uphold and support the malfeasance of the family court because the antics of the lower court personnel mirror those of the Supreme Court. I bet the family court personnel have recognized this and are busy minting.
And your are right, the judges dont know the laws and/or the Florida Statutes, so no one should take for granted that they do. But the reality is,,they dont know them because they dont have to know them, because they just fly by the seat of their pants and there is no one to check them.
The gal did not investigate any of the leads I gave him. The magistrate had a stay for seven months. And the clerk of courts refused to send out the subpoenas. The clerk of courts told my attorney’s staff they were to short of staff to fax the subpoenas over my attorney’s office the day before the trial.
At the Supreme Court, Burbine first repeated his arguments that his Miranda waiver was invalid because he had not been told of the attorney's phone call, and because she had not been told of his pending interrogation about the murder.
Burbine. In Providence, Rhode Island, Brian K. Burbine beat a woman to death with a metal pipe. Providence officers had no suspect until Burbine was arrested in nearby Cranston for a breaking and entering, and an informant gave police a tip that Burbine had committed the Providence murder.
Next, Burbine argued that the interrogation violated his Sixth Amendment right to counsel because he had formed an attorney-client relationship that police failed to honor. The court also rejected this contention. Said the court, "The suggestion that the existence of an attorney-client relationship itself triggers the protections ...
Although neither Miranda nor the Sixth Amendment right to counsel prohibits police interrogation of a willing suspect merely because his attorney has informed police his or her client is not to be questioned, some jurisdictions may have statutory rules restricting such contacts. Officers should consult local prosecutors or legal advisers to determine the existence and application of any such statutes.
Louisiana) Still later, the court ruled in Berghuis v. Thompkins that the waiver need not be express, but may be implied by the suspect's receipt of Miranda warnings, followed by his acknowledging that he understands his rights and then making a statement or answering questions.
Said the court, "The defendant may waive the Sixth Amendment right, whether or not he is already represented by counsel; the decision to waive need not itself be counseled. And when a defendant is read his Miranda rights and agrees to waive those rights, that typically does the trick.". (Montejo v. Louisiana)
Instead, the law focuses on whether the suspect is willing to talk without his or her attorney present. Although this is a well established principle dating back at least a quarter of a century, some officers and attorneys (and some judges) still experience uncertainty and nervousness about police interrogation of a represented suspect.