Choosing a divorce attorney is a critical decision-making process. The person you employ will be responsible for obtaining or maintaining your custody of your children, your property interests, and it is up to you to minimize or maximize your support rights.
In reality, choosing a divorce attorney is also a very stressful experience. Get it right and you can breathe a sigh of relief. Do it wrong and you will spend years making up for any losses that could have been prevented.
There are some tried and true tactics that you should use when choosing a divorce attorney. Before you even start, you need to identify the type of case you will be working with. Will you mediate your divorce? Are you going to negotiate? Or, will your case be one that goes to court and becomes a knock down case, dragging out divorce litigation?
There are divorce attorneys who specialize in these different types of cases and you need to hire the type of divorce attorney that best suits the type of case you have. If you need to deal with knock down, dragging out litigation, you don’t want a mediation attorney trying to protect your interests. Likewise, if you’re going through mediation, the last thing you want is a divorce attorney who will try to stir things up and direct you to court proceedings.
So, the first step in the process of choosing a divorce attorney is to identify the type of case you have. Next, start asking people for help. Since the divorce rate in the United States is about 50%, chances are you know at least a few people who have been through a divorce. Ask about their process, how they chose divorce
lawyers, and how their lawyers work for them.
Once you’ve received the names of some of the divorce attorneys you’ve received from asking others, go online and start researching those attorneys and others. Many divorce attorneys have websites, write articles, and advertise on divorce portal websites. You can get a bit of information about how an attorney approaches cases and treats clients by reviewing their website.
After you’ve reviewed a divorce attorney’s website, make a list of at least two and as many as five divorce attorneys you feel comfortable talking to. Call the divorce attorney’s office and schedule a consultation. Some of these lawyers will charge you for a consultation; the more experience a lawyer has, the more likely you are to have to pay for time with that attorney.
When you attend a consultation with a divorce attorney, be prepared. Outline your marital history and the problems you are currently facing. If you or your partner have filed any documents in court, make sure you bring them with you. Bring a year or two of tax returns or recent financial statements so the divorce attorney can review some of your financial data before being asked questions about “results.”
Make sure you ask any divorce attorney questions about how the attorney’s office operates in response to phone calls, emails, or other client questions or needs. If you’re going to be working with a divorce attorney who doesn’t have another attorney in their office, be prepared to stand in line when you need an answer. The attorney will have other clients who have needs as important as yours, and an attorney can only respond to one client at a time. Even with those drawbacks, there may be a divorce attorney that you feel is a good fit for you who are also a solo practitioner. That’s a trade off you should probably be comfortable with.
After you’ve completed all your consultations and reviewed the answers to all your questions, decide which divorce attorney you feel most comfortable with and which you believe will work with you to get the type of outcome you want. the result you want.