by Mark Capozzoli

Created on: January 13, 2008

The number one tip when considering the hiring of a divorce attorney is this: What can you do to minimize your attorney's role? Yes, the goal here is to minimize you're need for the future services of a lawyer. Specifically, attempt and reconcile positions of dispute with your spouse before the lawyers get involved. In fact, if one of you is capable of drafting a model separation agreement and are both substantially content on the terms in regards to visitation, property distribution and spousal and child support, consider the possibility of remaining true to those terms when you do involve an attorney.

Involving the Lawyer

When the process eventually does involve a lawyer, you need to make sure they have been practicing in their respective family law jurisdiction for at least three to five years. Knowing the technical atmosphere in regards to court procedures is often an element overlooked by the customer when hiring an attorney. Salesmanship and charisma should always be second to a lawyer's actual "in-jurisdiction" experience. Consider even testing the lawyer if he or she can give the names of all the divorce court judges in your jurisdiction. After all, for what you're paying him or her they should at least have a good memory.

Fee Agreements

In regards to fee agreements and retainers, inquire as to the hourly amount the lawyer will charge you for all services. Ask detailed questions about telephone communication, email traffic and leaving voice mails. What you do not want to end up with is a lawyer, who charges you $450.00 an hour and charged twenty or thirty minutes on drafting an email. A way around this is to ask for weekly or monthly summations of your charges. This strategy allows you to cut-off a certain type of service if your ethical advocate is taking too long for certain tasks, causing the "alleged unintended" consequence of charging you ten minutes for being put on hold to the "clerk of courts." To a certain extent you cannot avoid some of these charges, but in the end such inquiries keep a lawyer on his or her toes and prevent overcharging.

Get that Free Consultation!

Additionally, always seek out the lawyers who give you that free consultation. What this does, is give you a footing as to what your relative chances are in regards to winning your important issues. Even more important, it is during this consultation phase where the lawyer often gives you that "emergency advice" in regards to what actions you need to protect yourself. This free advice can be invaluable to future proceedings, especially when things originally go bad (such as: when one spouse leaves with a large amount of marital assets or property).

How do I find out if a prospective attorney is available?

Finally, many people will advise one seeking a divorce attorney to find out their relative availability. This is useless advice, because virtually all "real-world" attorneys are extremely hard to contact by phone or in-person. The best way to get a lawyer to respond to you are these proven ways. One, ask them to call you regarding where to send your next payment for attorney fees, or two check their schedule for a possible early morning visit via an appointment. Lawyers like to keep their supporting staff as small as possible in order to save on overhead, so use these two tips to open up contact with that busy lawyer.

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