Top 5 Tips for Your First Meeting with a Divorce Lawyer
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Aug 06, 2019 · During an initial meeting with a divorce lawyer, it’s not unusual for clients to bring a long list of questions. A good lawyer should address your specific questions, as well as those you may have not considered. The decision of which lawyer …
Jan 13, 2021 · The first thing is that you should be completely prepared before you visit your divorce lawyer. Your divorce lawyer will need to know all the details since how and when you met your spouse to how his or her behavior, the details of the kids, your address and other details, the details of your everyday life, details of your bank accounts, financial assets, debts and …
Jul 30, 2020 · At the first meeting with a divorce lawyer The initial meeting is essentially a back-and-forth information exchange. You will explain your situation, the lawyer will ask you questions to get a better understanding of the issues, and you will …
At the first visit, the divorce attorney should explain to you what is likely community property in your case. I use the word "likely" because there are facts you may not know and which may surprise you during the divorce. Some spouse's do not know the details of when and how you and your spouse (or just your spouse) acquired certain assets.
Ask family and friends for recommendations and do an internet search to find an experienced divorce lawyer in your area. Once you have found a lawyer with expertise in family law issues such as spousal support, child support, property division, and parenting arrangements, reach out to arrange your first meeting.
When you contact the law firm to arrange your initial meeting, you will likely be given a list of documents and information to gather in advance of the meeting. For example, you should expect that you will be asked to gather:
The initial meeting is essentially a back-and-forth information exchange. You will explain your situation, the lawyer will ask you questions to get a better understanding of the issues, and you will get to ask questions about your rights and options.
The next steps will depend on your short-term and long-term needs and the issues that are at stake. There are a range of options, including litigation (in other words, starting court proceedings), mediation, arbitration, or negotiating a separation agreement.
The process of separation and divorce can be emotionally difficult and raises many complicated issues. You should protect yourself by having the services of a qualified family lawyer. Prince George’s Dick Byl Law Corporation provides trusted legal advice and handles all aspects of family law.
First, it will test the divorce attorney's knowledge and experience of the divorce process and divorce law. Second, it will educate you on what specifically the attorney can and will do with you to help mitigate the costs. Do not settle for a generic answer.
An experienced and knowledgeable divorce attorney will provide you with the tools to communicate better with your spouse. These tools include how to communicate with your spouse, when to communicate with your spouse and how to diffuse conflict.
If an attorney cannot provide you with multiple references to former clients, that attorney may not have much success representing clients. The former clients should also be types of cases similar to yours. I am not referring to you going through a divorce and getting a referral to a prior divorce client.
Spousal support, also called alimony, is either temporary or ordered at the final judgment. Most divorce cases include both temporary spousal support and spousal support at the judgment phase. We are not going to go into a lengthy discussion about spousal support.
If an attorney struggles with answering this question, he or she may be a poor communicator. Organized and disciplined attorneys have a proactive communication style that fits the particular client.
The more complex the case, the more the communication will likely take place. A typical case has communication between one to four times per month.
I use the word "likely" because there are facts you may not know and which may surprise you during the divorce.
Calendars/Journals. If you’ve been keeping a calendar of events or journaling, you should consider bringing those to help jog your memory about timeline and events. Inflammatory Documents. Don’t hold back from your attorney.
Most family law lawyers have an intake form that gives them a snapshot of the issues and your goals, and gives them important details about you and your family. At McCabe Russell, we don’t require you to fill it out our intake form advance, but if you can, it helps us move forward. Agreements.
It gives the attorney a sense of how you and your spouse or co-parent communicate, and it gives your attorney an opportunity to coach you through good and bad responses.
Heather is the firm’s managing partner and divorce law guru. Heather knows all the ins and outs of divorce in Maryland and DC, and she knows exactly what to do to put her clients in a position to accomplish their goals.
If the lawyer or the lawyer's firm has represented or consulted with anyone on the other side of the case, he or she may have a conflict and may not be able to represent you. If you have spoken with a divorce attorney about your matter, that attorney may be prevented to talking to your spouse about your matter.
A divorce attorney that does not tell you the POTENTIAL outcomes of the above is either too inexperienced or is afraid to tell you the truth, especially if it is a type of outcome that might not work in your favor. However, you need to be concerned if a Michigan divorce lawyer GUARANTEES you a specific result.
Finding a Divorce Lawyer. Firstly, it is crucial to choose an lawyer suited to your case, i.e. one that usually handles divorces. Family law is a rather specialized area, and you should look for someone who has at least a few years of experience in it. Your very first contact with the lawyer will most probably be over the phone.
Choosing, hiring, and meeting up with a divorce lawyer are some of the most important parts of the divorce process. However, it can all get a bit overwhelming if you don’t know what to expect from it all. If you will be meeting up with your divorce lawyer soon and wish to understand how it’s all going to go, read on.
So, even if you don’t hire the lawyer, all your info will not leave the room it was discussed in. All of that is due to the lawyer-client privilege, which mandates that the lawyer keep your information safe and a secret.
That is where you can actually present some aspects of the case to them and ask for advice. Lawyer can either hold these meetings for free, or they may charge an hourly rate. It depends from lawyer to lawyer.
It's important to remember that an lawyer can only give you legal advice. They will look at the case objectively and offer you an unbiased account of it. Still, all the major decisions will be up to you. You should consider all the advice and make the best choice for yourself.
What red flags did your story raise for them? What questions is the lawyer asking you about your situation? This question is your chance to 1) make sure they’ve been hearing you and 2) get insights that could help keep your divorce process moving along without surprises.
You get to choose who helps you through it. That’s why I highly recommend interviewing at least 2-3 attorneys before selecting one. Don’t let anyone pressure you into working with them, either. This process is going to get harder before it gets easier, so it’s important that the lawyer by your side – the lawyer who is going to be learning a lot about the inner workings of your marriage, your finances, and more – is someone that you trust, respect, and actually like.
Before you pull into the attorney’s parking lot, repeat this mantra: No two divorces are alike! No two divorces are alike! Having an open mind about the hard things— possible custody schedules, whether or not you need to sell the house, whether or not your family can continue to go on two weeks of vacation each summer— will help your prospective attorney come up with a strategy that meets your long term goals and makes sense for your unique circumstances.
For many women, the ‘goal’ of hiring an attorney may simply be “get me outta this marriage!” But honing in on what you want your life to look like after the divorce dust has settled can be a useful tool for identifying how you want to work through the process of ending your marriage.
Having this goal in mind helped keep things moving, and as a result, her divorce took 364 days between her initial filing and final judgment.
If you want to get your money’s worth from a consultation, make sure you bring all of the documents associated with your prenup. The same goes if you and your spouse have started working out a separation agreement (or other agreement related to your pending split) in writing.
For Christy, receiving this information allows her to give the most bang for a potential client’s buck in terms of an initial consultation. She can give a prospective client a pretty good idea of what will happen to each of those assets and liabilities in a divorce and help a potential client understand what their financial picture will look like post divorce.