Divorces can happen to anyone. You might be marrying your dream girl or guy and still end up being noncompatible throughout the marriage. But when the time for a divorce does happen, well it’s safe to say that things won’t be as usual.
Divorces can be gut-wrenching, awful, and simply put, disgusting affairs that no one takes enjoyment in. But a very important thing to consider is that you must win your case.
Failing to win can mean paying child alimony for a very long time, losing half of your possessions, and lots of other things. While there are no rights and wrongs when it comes to divorces, they do favor women more than men.
While we won’t get into the reasons why people file for divorces nor what is the number one reason marriages breakdown, we will tell you about 5 secrets that your divorce lawyer won’t tell you.
Think of this as your guide for 2024 as this pandemic has certainly ruined a few marriages. So, without further ado, let’s start.
Contents
1. A Good Lawyer Doesn’t Pressure You Into Anything
The first thing that you won’t be told is that you have other options; well sort of. When you’re looking for divorce lawyers, you’ll meet two types of them. You’ll meet those that are considered as “good” practitioners, and you have those that are bad.
It goes without saying that a good lawyer doesn’t force you to do anything. That cannot be said for the other type that exists. A bad lawyer will want to convince you to hire him and even force you to sing the retainer before leaving his office. Why? Well, if you do leave his office withing signing a retainer then who says you won’t go and find a better option?
This is a bad lawyer’s thought process, and it shouldn’t be underestimated. If you feel pressured at any time to sign anything before making your mind on whom to go with, do know that you should cross this person off the list.
2. You Are Free To Change Your Lawyer At Any Time
The next thing that will be kept a secret is the fact that you can change lawyers anytime you want. Again, this is something that no lawyer wants, but informing you is a decision of good morality. A bad lawyer will never mention the fact that you can fire him during the trial.
A good attorney, on the other hand, will most certainly outline it when discussing employment. But why would you need to change attorneys? Well, the answer is quite simple. If your current attorney doesn’t meet your needs, you no longer trust him, or there’s been a breakdown of communication, then you’ll be changing attorneys as quickly as changing socks.
Because of this, you should explicitly ask this question before even hiring the person. Also, you’ll be given an agreement to sign. You can find whether or not you can change attorneys in this piece of document.
So it should go without saying that you should read the agreement.
Quality family law attorneys, such as LaFevor & Slaughter, understand why it’s important to win your case. That is why quality attorneys will always give you the full rundown of the situation or case.
This brings us nicely to our next point, which is…
3. You Will Be Told What You Want To Hear
This is a HUGE issue when the lawyer starts working on your case. We cannot emphasize how important is to find a person that won’t just be a “yes man” but one that will fight tooth and nail for your money and children.
While an attorney’s primary job is to counsel, it should go without mentioning that they must offer a wide variety of options for you to choose from.
You can’t just agree on something that you think is right, but he is the person that knows everything about it. He should be the one offering counseling on what he thinks is the right approach.
You might want to ruin your spouse’s life or career because of the divorce filing, but this should be instantly debated by your attorney.
This might sound great in your head, but it’s actually a very great way to lose a case. Clarity of mind and advice is what an excellent attorney will offer each client.
4. Fees Can Be Much Higher
Now, fees are something in this line of business that is quite subjective. Fees can mean one thing but they actually are something else entirely.
You might not even experience all the fees that an attorney puts on the table, or you might end up paying for all of them. To put it simply, you might be given a general rundown of how an attorney charges fees but a bad attorney won’t tell you that they can rise throughout the duration of the case.
A quality professional will explain to you that fees can be very high and will outline how they work. A lot of people reject the prospect of hiring an attorney solely for money reasons.
A bad attorney will tell you that there’s nothing to worry about and “explain” to you that fees are very flat.
5. You Can Do Things To Lower Fees
And the last point on this list is that you can actually do stuff to lower the fees.
All it takes is to ask a simple question: “Can I do anything to lower the fees?”
If the answer is yes, then do understand you’re dealing with an attorney that knows what they’re doing. Most importantly, they’re more than happy to offer advice on how things should move forward and how you can benefit from hiring them.
A bad attorney will tell you that there’s nothing they can do about it.
Conclusion
There are many more things that an attorney won’t tell you until you ask about it. From the pool of things that exist, we’ve singled out the ones deemed most important.