When it comes to a divorce, finding the right divorce attorney is crucial to ensuring that you get a satisfactory outcome rather than getting stuck with what your former spouse wants. With the right attorney, you can find yourself with a favorable division of assets, the custody agreement that best suits the needs of you and your children, and an expedited process instead of one that drags on for years.
With a good lawyer who understands your goals, you have an advocate who can communicate your needs and wants without the messy emotional entanglements that trying to do it yourself brings to the table.
Understanding Your Needs
When it comes to choosing the right divorce attorney, it’s critical to understand your own legal and emotional needs. If you or your partner have a high net worth or a large number of assets, your divorce will be more complex than if you’re renting a small apartment and have not commingled your finances.
Likewise, complex family systems with children change the type of divorce attorney needed-custody arrangements can be difficult to navigate at the best of times, especially if the children are not yet old enough to express their wishes.
Retirement funds, combined bank accounts, or any form of abuse or domestic violence also complicate the divorce process, making it especially imperative that you choose the lawyer best suited to your particular needs. Your first step upon deciding to file for divorce-or after having been served with divorce papers-should be to evaluate what you want out of the divorce and what you are willing to give up.
Researching Potential Attorneys
Referrals from friends, relatives, or coworkers can be one of the easiest ways to find a lawyer suited to your needs. Word of mouth can also be a great way to avoid a lawyer who isn’t going to be what you need.
If you decide to find your own lawyer instead of relying on one recommended by a personal connection, researching local lawyers is where you should start. A quick Google can be a good jumping-off point, although determining what kind of lawyer you need is an important step before doing a broad search.
When evaluating a lawyer’s website, you should first ensure that the firm in question serves your area. An attorney licensed in Oregon is no good for a California case! When evaluating whether or not you want to consult with a given attorney, you can use the California Bar Association’s search database to see whether the lawyer is in good standing with the Bar and whether they have any past disciplinary history.
When looking for a lawyer online, the California Bar Association has a referral program that will link you with a lawyer serving not only your geographic region but also with the correct experience for your specific situation. These services usually require that you reach out to a program via email or phone and give the basics of your situation so as to best match you with a range of firms.
Evaluating Qualifications and Experience
Finding a lawyer specializing in family law is imperative during the divorce process. The California Bar Association has a specialist search that can assist with finding someone suited to your particular needs.
Once you’ve narrowed your search down to a handful of options, it’s time to start evaluating levels of experience – a good lawyer isn’t just one who’s graduated from a good school, although education is important as well. A good lawyer has experience relevant to your situation and is empathetic and competent.
Knowing a lawyer’s disciplinary history is also important. A lawyer who’s under investigation or who has been sanctioned for ethical violations is not one you want to hire for a case as delicate as a divorce.
Initial Consultations
When preparing for a consultation with an attorney, it’s important to have all of your documents together, from any pre- or post-nuptial agreements to shared property or bank account statements. It’s also important to make sure that you have a list of questions prepared before the appointment- most consultations are thirty minutes long, so getting to the details quickly is vital. While divorce is an emotional time, an initial consult is not the time to get wound up in the emotions of the situation – a lawyer will listen to you talk, but they will also charge you for the time.
It’s also important to make sure that you like the attorney’s communication style and that they understand your goals and have a strategy to work towards them. If your attorney’s aims don’t match what you want from the divorce, you are not likely to get a satisfactory outcome and will end up giving up more than you intended. If your attorney doesn’t communicate in a way that works for you, then you run the risk of miscommunications that slow down the divorce process or lead to negative outcomes.
Making the Decision
Once you’ve narrowed down your top choices, you need to compare them. Important factors can be fees, services offered, and the personal rapport you established with the attorney during the consultation. Attorneys charge different amounts for similar services based on their location, experience, and firm size. Different law firms also offer varying services. Some might expect you to gather more documents on your own or focus more on mediation rather than litigation. Liking an attorney is also important – if you don’t like your attorney, it’s hard to work with them.
It’s also important to be confident in your choice. Trusting your attorney is vital to working well with them, and an attorney you don’t trust will struggle to get the correct information from you in order to achieve your desired results from the divorce.
Find the Right Lawyer for You at Kaspar & Lugay, LLP
Choosing a divorce attorney is not something that should be rushed. You should take your time and consider all aspects of your situation while conducting your search, then evaluate each attorney on their own merits to ensure that they will be able to resolve your case in a satisfactory manner. If you are in the process of a divorce, please consider Kaspar & Lugay, LLP as your representation.
