How to find and pay for an attorney in your Texas family law case

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Spring Divorce Lawyer: When you get into a position where you need to hire an attorney for your family law case, what should you do? I mean, you obviously want to hire a lawyer but what should you do to actually get into a position where you can hire a good one that will help you achieve whatever goals you have for your case? Is the method that I brought up yesterday- driving down the street and hiring the first lawyer who has a sign out- a good one? Probably not. In fact, I can offer you some advice on how to look for an attorney.

Finding the name of a good family law attorney

Nowadays we are not limited to word of mouth and signs that pop up in business-parks and office buildings. We have the internet, social media and a boatload of other sources for you to choose from when it comes to hiring an attorney. How do you choose from all of them when it comes to actually finding an attorney that you would want to work with?

I mentioned word of mouth in the prior paragraph and I still believe that this is the best place to start. If you have friends or family that have had to go through family law cases then I would suggest that you contact these folks to see who they recommend. Maybe he or she did not have a great experience with their own attorney but the opposing attorney really impressed them. That is a recommendation that you will want to inquire into.

There is an old saying that people with experiences are not at the mercy of people with opinions. It is those people, the ones with life experiences that you will want to look to during this time for guidance and help in finding an attorney. A lot of people (really, most people) have an opinion about the law and lawyers in general. That is all good and well but it makes for a bad resource when it comes to actually having to hire an attorney for your own case. Look to those who have been in your shoes before. Hiring an attorney is not just about finding the most inexpensive one and going with him or her. This is family law case. The people and things closest to you are going to be involved in your case and you want a trust level that is very high with the person you ultimately select to represent you and your interests.

Go with people whose job it is to help you

Houston Divorce Lawyer: Doctors, religious leaders or business people are also interested in helping you lead your best life. While these folks are not in a position to represent you in your divorce, they are in a position to know you well and to be able to give advice on selecting a good attorney. The other nice thing about people like this is that they likely stand to benefit in no way based on their having recommended a family law attorney to you. As a result you can feel like their advice is free from any self interest on their part.

Ultimately these folks are probably among the more savvy when it comes to learning how to judge an attorney. If they don’t trust someone then you ought to consider their opinion.

What to do and how to proceed when you cannot afford to hire an attorney

Before you hyperventilate about not being able to hire an attorney, take a deep breath and consider your options. First of all, do not assume that you cannot afford to hire an attorney just because you do (insert job here) for a living. There are plenty of people that are able to hire attorneys and do exactly what you do. Don’t use your assumed inability to pay an attorney as an excuse to mope around.

First of all you need to actually get out there an interview an attorney or three and learn all about them. Try and schedule as many sit down interviews as you can with attorneys in order to learn about their methods, legal philosophies, experience and expected fees. These are some of the most relevant factors that you need to find out for yourself.

Legal Aid as an option

If you do not earn very much income then you may be able to qualify for a free attorney through a local legal aid service. You can do a search on the internet for the various legal aid services that are available in Houston and Harris County. Depending on if you qualify or not legal aid charities match people up with attorneys at little to no cost.

Have your spouse pay for the attorney

Divorce Lawyer in Houston: Suppose that your attorney controls the family bank accounts. You do not work and stay home full time with your children. You are entirely dependent on your spouse for income, food, shelter and clothing in this regard. It is not the situation you want to be in long-term but for the immediacy of your case you can seek to have your attorney pay your attorney’s fees by filing a motion for a temporary orders hearing. At the hearing you can have an order signed that requires your spouse to pay for legal representation.

At the conclusion of your case in mediation you can again negotiate with your spouse to have him or her pay your remaining attorney fees. Many people secure judgments whereby their spouse will have to issue payments to him or her on a regular basis for years to come as a result of having negotiated this as a parent of their settlement.

Time is money- how long will your case take?

One of the most frequently asked questions that I receive from potential clients of the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC is how long I expect a person’s case to last. This is a difficult question to answer because there are so many factors at play when it comes to determining how long a case can last.

Many people want to know the answer to this question right after I tell him or her that our clients pay a monthly payment to our office for as long as their case is active. While a down payment/retainer is a one time payment, a monthly payment can stretch out to be more than the down payment in many situations. As such you will want to know how long your case is expected to last so that you can properly budget.

The minimum time for a divorce to take in Texas is two months or sixty days. The rationale behind this is that the State of Texas wants to allow you and your spouse an opportunity to reconcile before getting a divorce. The sixty days is the time period the legislature settled on as far as forcing spouses to wait to get a divorce.

From my experience, most divorces last somewhere between five to seven months on average, though there are so many factors that go into determining how long your case could last it is almost not worth it to rely on a number that you are given by an attorney.

Questions about finding, hiring and paying a family law attorney? Contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC

Divorce Attorney Houston: Thank you for your interest in this and yesterday’s blog posts on finding, hiring and paying a family law attorney. If you have any questions about this subject matter that we were not able to cover I recommend that you contact the attorneys with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC. We offer free of charge consultations six days a week with one of our licensed family law attorneys. It would be a honor to speak to you about how we can best help you and your family achieve your goals ... Continue Reading