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What Should I be Thinking About?
There are many factors that will go into the cost of divorce or family law case at the end of the day. However, there are a few things that you have to keep in mind when you are thinking about your decision on who you ultimately hire as your attorney:
- What am I trying to achieve at the end of the day?
- Are my kids worth hiring the best attorney that I can?
- Can I afford not to hire the best lawyer that I can?
- What will I miss out on if I hire a bargain basement lawyer and he doesn’t fight for me?
We end up cleaning up other lawyer’s messes a lot when individuals don’t take these things into consideration at the beginning of their case and just hire the first attorney they find with a cheap retainer. The old adage is true, “You truly do get what you pay for.” A lot of times, individuals end up paying more or going into debt with their case if they don’t hire the best at the beginning.
I am also not just talking about financial debt. We have more than that in this world. When I talk about debt, I am also talking about 1) relationship debt, and 2) reputation debt.
How an Attorney can Affect Your Relationships
When I am talking about relationship debt, I mean that you go in the whole with the relationships you have with not only your soon to be significant others, but also others around you. There are some attorneys that push you to fight the case when the writing on the wall really says you should settle. This could cost you the relationship that you have with your soon to be ex-in-laws. You may or may not want to preserve that relationship, but if you have children, those people will still be in their lives and you will more than likely have to interact with them in the future. So, if you hire a scorched earth litigator and that is his or her only mode, it may affect your quality of life in regards to your relationships in the future. Your in-laws are only one example.
I am not saying that a scorched earth or aggressive strategy is not warranted in any case. Far from it. I am saying that each case needs to be examined and a strategy put together at the beginning. Again, there are attorneys around that the only way they know how to run a case is to go full bore and one of the reasons they may do that is to squeeze every penny out of you without regard to your best interests.
How an Attorney can Affect Your Reputation
Again, the scorched earth, aggressive in every situation lawyer can affect your reputation, but so can other types of lawyers. If you pick and stay with the wrong lawyer that is not going to stick up and fight for you, your time with your children, or the rights you have to community property or spousal maintenance, your friends and family may look down on you at the end of the case because you got the short end of the stick.
It can also have long lasting effects on the reputation and the way your children look at you and the relationship you have with them. If you don’t have an attorney willing to fight for your time with your children, and you end up with every other weekend when you should have gotten primary custody, your children may take that as you didn’t stand up and fight for them. We have seen this situation before and it could have been prevented from hiring the right lawyer (or finding a way to keep him or her on board). Again, the cost of divorce can be measured in things other than dollars.
Your Next Steps
We are very experienced in almost all situations when it comes to family law. I say almost every situation because each case is unique and we are capable of tailoring out litigation strategy to meet your goals whether that is a more negotiation heavy style or a full bore, you are getting what you want no matter what strategy. We have more than just family law trial experience. The attorneys here have experience in all areas of law and been involved in complex jury trials. So, if you need an attorney to get the job done right the first time, contact us today.