Everyone wants a free consultation – but, of course, that’s not really something that family law attorneys are known for. Though there may be the odd new attorney starting out who offers a free consultation (no, I can’t provide a list – sorry, I don’t actually know myself), that is definitely the exception and not...
Why do you require prepayment on a consultation fee?
I have a case where everything is negotiated down to one of the tiniest points imaginable. Without giving specifics, I’ll just say that it amounts to about an hour or parenting time one day a year – literally, one single hour. No one is budging. In my client’s defense, her husband has been fairly abusive...
Boundaries are a hard thing for women everywhere. There are a million reasons, but I think that most of us feel essentially required to take care of the feelings of everyone around us. The feeling that we’ve disappointed someone is almost physically painful, and we take a lot of abuse – we’re programmed, in a...
Maybe you suspect things will be difficult. Maybe he’s refusing outright to sign anything that you prepare. Maybe there’s legitimately nothing to divide in your divorce. For whatever reason, you tell your attorney, “I don’t want anything from him – anything at all – except a divorce.” When people tell me that, it makes...
It’s probably safe to say that, in divorce, most rational people end up settling. In terms of the financial outlay, it makes sense. Not just in the sense of what it costs to hire an attorney – which can be substantial – but in terms of the money involved in the marriage itself. You probably...
Going through a divorce is an isolating experience. Once you’ve made the decision to divorce and it’s time to schedule an initial consultation, it can start to feel really real. You’re emotional, maybe you’re also going through some unresolved trauma, and you’re worried for the future – financially, emotionally, logistically. You’re worried you’re not in...
The worst cases are the ones where there’s really nothing to divide but debt. It’s not that it’s hard; in fact, it’s no harder to divide debt than it is to divide most other assets (and it’s easier than some, like 401(k)s). It’s mostly that, at the end of the day, absolutely no one is...
There are very few things that go right to the heart of all the intimate things in your life like family law. I mean, I’m biased, but I like to think that lawyers everywhere are doing good work, but family lawyers are – in my opinion – one of the categories of lawyers that...