Selecting a Divorce Lawyer

The selection of a divorce attorney is a critical decision-making process. The person you hire will be responsible for obtaining or maintaining your child custody rights, your property interests and, depending on which side you are on, minimizing or maximizing your support rights.

In reality, selecting a divorce attorney is also an incredibly stressful experience. Do it right and you can breathe easy. Get it wrong and you’ll spend years making up for losses that could have been avoided.

There are some tried and true tactics that you should use when selecting a divorce attorney. Before you even begin, you need to identify the type of case you will be involved in. Will you mediate your divorce? Will you be trading? Or, will your case be one of those cases that goes to court and turns into a lengthy 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 lengthy litigation, you don’t want a mediation attorney trying to protect your interests. Similarly, if you are going through mediation, the last thing you want is a divorce attorney trying to stir up trouble and lead you into litigation.

So the first step in the process of selecting a divorce attorney is to identify the type of case you have. She then starts asking people for help. Since the divorce rate in the United States is around 50%, chances are she knows at least several people who have been divorced. Ask about their process, how they selected a divorce
attorney, and how their attorney performed for them.

After you’ve gotten the names of several divorce attorneys you got from asking other people, 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 quite a bit of information about how a lawyer approaches cases and treats clients by checking out their website.

After you’ve reviewed divorce attorney websites, make a list of at least two and up to five divorce attorneys that you think you’ll feel comfortable talking to. Call the offices of those divorce attorneys and schedule consultations. Some of those attorneys will charge you for a consultation; the more experienced the attorney is, the more likely you will have to pay for time with that attorney.

When you attend a consultation with a divorce attorney, be prepared. Make an outline of the history of your marriage and the problems you are facing now. If you or your spouse have filed papers with the court, be sure to bring them with you. Bring a year or two of tax returns or a recent financial statement so the divorce attorney can review some of your financial data before they ask you about the “results.”

Be sure to ask each divorce attorney questions about how that attorney’s office operates in response to phone calls, emails, or other client inquiries or needs. If you’re going to work with a divorce attorney who doesn’t have another attorney in their office, be prepared to stand in line when you need an answer. That attorney will have other clients who have needs just as significant as yours, and an attorney can serve only one client at a time. Even with that drawback, there may be a divorce attorney that you feel is right for you who is also an independent attorney. That’s a tradeoff you may have to get comfortable with.

After you have completed all of the consultations and reviewed the answers to all of your questions, decide which divorce attorney you felt most comfortable with and which one you think will work with you to get the kind of results you want.results you want .