Save Your Money, Save Your Sanity Free Gift By Lisa C. Decker, CDFA 50 Critical Questions You Must Ask Before Hiring a Divorce Attorney ( because you don t want to have to divorce your attorney too!) Don t hire an attorney without reading this first!
What You Need to Ask BEFORE Signing on an Attorney s Dotted Line. Where do I begin the process of getting divorced? One of the biggest determining factors in how your divorce will proceed is the choice you make in how you will divorce and the attorney or other professionals that you use to help you get there. Get educated on the paths available to you. Will you choose to start with mediation, go the collaborative divorce route, or pick a traditional litigator? Are you open to other options like working with a divorce financial planner to work out the money issues on the front end and potentially save big bucks on the back end? Take time to educate yourself and seek quality referrals. It is very important for professional mediators, attorneys, therapists, and specially trained divorce financial advisors to be involved as a team. Consider how well you communicate with each person and decide if everyone is in sync with your goals in the divorce? Figure out which divorce type will best suit you and your situation. Divorce is definitely not a one-size-fits-all situation. Look for someone who specializes in family law. You don t want this to be a side line, but rather a specialty for them. Word to the wise Don t be overly swayed by big name alma maters which do not necessarily equate to the best legal representation. Someone who is willing to commit their time and energy without their ego involved could possibly be a better fit for you. Be careful who you ask for information right now. While friends and family may mean well, they can sometimes fan the flames and make things worse. Remember that most of your best friends, neighbors, and relatives will probably not be an expert in the battle you are facing. Find professionals that suit your personal needs and have expertise in all the areas that concern you. Below is a list of quality questions that you should review and use to interview various divorce professionals. While purposely comprehensive, not every question may apply to your situation. This is not meant to be a tool to grill an attorney, but rather to provide you with a foundation of questions you may not have thought about or known to ask. Best wishes on this part of your journey.
Questions to Ask and Answer Before Hiring Your Divorce Attorney: 1. Is family law your specialty? 2. Do you practice other types of law? 3. What is your style when working a divorce case? Do you consider yourself a hawk or a dove? 4. How might both approaches be helpful? 5. Do you feel comfortable working contentious divorces? 6. Are you ok with a more peaceful approach? 7. Do you practice cooperative or collaborative divorce? 8. Do you work with mediators? 9. Do you recommend working with other professionals such as a financial advisor, business valuator, forensic accountant or therapist if needed? 10. Do you believe you have full knowledge over all the financial (real estate, retirement and pensions, bankruptcy, social security, etc) and tax aspects to prevent me from being short-changed now or having future problems? 11. Can you provide long range forecasts of what my future will look like with each proposal? 12. How long have your been practicing in your field? 13. How often do your cases end up in court? 14. What % of your cases settled out of court? 15. How many times have you won in court? 16. Has my spouse consulted with or retained anyone in this firm? 17. Are you familiar with my spouse s attorney? 18. Are you on good terms with him/her? 19. Do you know the judges in my county who might preside over my case? 20. Have you had good or bad experiences with him/her? 21. How do the judges in my county tend to rule in situations like mine? 22. What do you think my chances are for spousal support? How long? How much? 23. Do you think I might have to pay spousal support?
24. What should I reasonably expect in the way of child custody and support? 25. What is your hourly rate? 26. How do you bill? Six, ten, or fifteen minute increments? 27. What is your required retainer fee to start work on my case? 28. Is it refundable if not used? 29. Do you send regular itemized invoices to show how the retainer is being spent and how much of the retainer is still available? 30. Will you continue working on my case if the retainer has not been quickly replenished? 31. When replenishing the retainer, do you allow partial payments or do you require another full retainer to continue work? 32. May I have a copy to review of your retainer agreement and letter of engagement or any other contract like documents you use in your practice? 33. Under what circumstances can the attorney-client relationship be terminated and what is your process to do so should it become necessary? 34. Will I be given a copy of my file and any unused portion of my retainer if we terminate our relationship before my divorce if finalized? 35. Do your fees cover other matters that may come up in my divorce such as financial analysis, mediation, psychological assessments, or a child specialist? 36. If not, can you refer me to those types of professionals as needed? 37. Are you willing to you other professionals directly in order to keep my information privileged and protected in the discovery process? 38. How many clients are you currently working with? 39. Will I be working with other attorneys in your office? 40. What if they aren t a good fit for me? 41. If I work with your assistant or paralegal are the fees less? 42. Do you charge for phone calls and/or emails? 43. What kinds of costs can I expect if we need to go to court? 44. Do you think my case will have to go to court? 45. Can my spouse be made to pay all or a portion of my attorneys fees, financial advisor fees and court costs?
46. Communication is important to me. How often can I expect updates from you? 47. What time frame can I expect for you to return phone calls or emails? 48. Do you routinely provide copies of correspondence, court documents, or anything else that pertains to my case? 49. Do you charge extra for copies, couriers, filing fees, process server fees or any other fees? 50. What documents do you need to have from me to get started? Did you find this information helpful? Then you ll love what comes next! Apply for a Save Your Money, Save Your Sanity Divorce Planning Session with Lisa today and if you qualify, Lisa will personally guide you to clarity about your current financial situation, understand how much you'll need and/or will have to pay at the end of your divorce, and plan the right divorce for you and your family. Apply here now to save your money & your sanity during your divorce: www.divorcemoneymatters.com/myevaluation
About the author - Lisa C. Decker, CDFA I ve developed this ebook to help you set off on the right foot in your divorce so you really can save yourself time, money and your sanity. Tragically, too many times people don t know what they don t know and end up getting short-changed in the long run. My vision is to Improve the way America divorces, one family at a time and I want to help you to Divorce Your Spouse, Not Your Money. Wishing you peace and prosperity. Lisa Lisa C. Decker is a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst and the founder of Divorce Money Matters, located in the Metro Atlanta area. As an expert in divorce financial money matters, Lisa is a discreet problem-solver and a trusted advisor to her clients. Her work has led her to be interviewed by media outlets such as CNBC.com, CNN, Good Morning America, Business Week, The NY Times, Forbes Women s and Oprah magazines. Lisa s victory as a Breast Cancer Survivor, led her to design, develop, implement and teach a breast cancer program to over 20,000 people in a previous career. Her steadfast and determined attitude to overcome all challenges helps her bring a level of compassion to everyone that she connects with, no matter the challenge they may be facing. Throughout her career, Lisa s unique and varied background has enabled her to serve others on many levels with a wide range of life experiences which include nearly 20 years in owning a successful construction-related business; Real Estate Investing; Public Speaking; Health Education; Life and Business Coaching; Financial Services Advising, and now in her latest endeavor, strategic divorce advising as a CDFA. Ms. Decker is a Past Co-Chair and Treasurer, and a current Advisory Board member, for Visions Anew www.visionsanew.org one of the Premier Divorce Support organizations in the country. Through support groups and weekend divorce retreats, Visions Anew supports, guides, educates, encourages and ultimately empowers men, women, and families during the challenging time of divorce.
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