So you’re trying to find an attorney. To find the one you’re looking for, you need 5 questions to ask your family law attorney.
What is your vision of how to move forward with the case? If your prospective family attorney shares your vision, you probably found your attorney. How much is this case going to cost? What are the expenses most likely going to be in the billing? The retainer often quoted may just be a starting cost.
How will it take before we see the outcome? Family courts are known to be slow and deliberate. It never proceeds at the pace you will appreciate. If things don’t go favorably, what are the options? The outcomes will not always be what you desire. You need your attorney to give you a picture of your course of action.
Click here to watch the video 5 Questions to Ask Your Family Law Attorney
You can find a lawyer in a variety of ways. The ideal method is to request the name of an attorney from someone you know and trust. You should consult with your close friends, family members, and professionals who work with and frequently contact attorneys, such as accountants, doctors, and business owners.
You should get in touch with multiple lawyers to schedule interviews after you have a few names. A free consultation is provided by some attorneys to potential clients. Checking out an attorney’s website is another way to find out more information about them. When looking for a lawyer, look for one who routinely practices in the field of law you require.
Once you find someone who seems to be an ideal candidate, ask these 5 questions.
Question 1: What is your vision of how we are going to do the case?
If your prospective attorney shares that vision, you probably found your attorney.
Nobody enters a divorce anticipating a protracted, emotionally taxing battle.
A good family lawyer, regardless of gender, should be empathetic and understanding of your circumstance and fight relentlessly on your side to obtain a resolution so that you may go on with your life and look forward. But first, you have to confirm if your attorney shares your vision. If not, can your attorney articulate an alternative vision of the outcome you can agree to?
Obviously, you want someone with a solid reputation for knowledge of the law. Your attorney ought to be a person with whom you can successfully collaborate on your case. To complete your case properly, you and your attorney must collaborate on how to approach the varied and commonly contentious areas of divorce.
It’s easy to outline the stages required to get from point A to point B if you and your partner share the same vision for how your case will develop. Point B is the intended location. Your point B could be an acquittal, child custody, increased parenting time, or a divorce settlement that works.
Tell your attorney the story of how you want your case to end. Describe the outcome you want. Then ask him how he is going to do the case based on the outcome you just told him.
You may want an amicable divorce but your attorney might turn out to be the legal version of “The Punisher” who just wants to put down anyone getting in the way.
It must be clear from the very start if your attorney is in sync with the vision of the outcome. Regardless of the outcome, you still have a lifetime of interaction with your ex-spouse after the divorce judgment becomes final.
Question 2: How much is this case going to cost?
For the costs and attorney fees related to your family law case in Michigan, you cannot provide a predetermined amount. Even if your lawyer wanted to, they couldn’t provide you with a total fee estimate. Divorce cases have too many unknowns to predict how they will turn out, and you are usually responding to the other party’s actions. This makes it even less predictable.
There are several different ways that lawyers might be compensated for their job. Any time the attorney works on your case, you are charged by the hour; as a result, every phone call, email, meeting, and court appearance will increase your fee.
Hourly Fees
If you look at the general trend across the United States, as against Michigan, the rates will even be a wider range.
Depending on the expertise, reputation, and experience of the family law business, your retainer fee could be as low as $275 or as much as $375. Moving closer to densely populated urban regions and business hubs may cause these hourly prices to rise dramatically. If you take into account the entire US, the range will be wider, with a low of $200 and a high of more than $400 per hour.
A retainer might cost anywhere from $2,000 to $6,000. The range is less than $5000 to $7000 in the grand scope of things. State-by-state and city-by-city variations are possible for this.
Attorney Retainers
In Michigan, attorneys frequently request payment in the form of contingency fees, retainers, or hourly rates. Most lawyers charge by the hour since it protects them in the event your cases take longer than anticipated to resolve. The hourly rate for divorce lawyers is normally between $100 and $500.
A retainer, often known as an upfront fee, is frequently requested by lawyers. The retainer, which may range from $1,000 to $10,000, is a down payment on their hourly rates. Each time they work on your case, the attorney will take money out of your account. Sometimes divorce lawyers will charge a set fee; this is typical in uncontested divorces.
To avoid any unpleasant surprises later in the case, if your attorney wants to charge a flat fee, be sure to ask what is included in that price upfront. In addition, your lawyer may include undiscussed extra services in the first cost that they charge you. For things like phone calls and travel time, there can be charges.
Client Driven Expenses
Numerous factors, as we have already mentioned, might affect costs. Each stage of the divorce procedure has a varied cost, as do concerns like child custody and parenting time.
Clients may take activities that aren’t genuinely motivated by justice or the interests of everyone. It is mostly motivated by pride, rage, and jealousy, which feeds hostility among ex-spouses. This is what we refer to as “acrimonious conflicts.”
There were circumstances in child custody cases where the child’s representation was so inadequate that the court had to hire another person, such as an expert, to represent the child. The parents will be responsible for paying the expert’s fees. The valuation of assets in the property division is a factor in some costs. In these circumstances, costs might rise quickly and significantly.
The hourly rate a legal firm or an attorney quotes you does not represent the overall cost. You are essentially receiving the hourly rate the lawyer will charge you when they work on your case. Because they don’t yet know how many hours they must put in before they begin working on the divorce case’s legal obligations, your attorney doesn’t truly know how much will be reflected in your billings.
Question 3: What kind of expenses will be in the billing?
Remember the retainer is not the ultimate cost. It is just the least cost. Check your fee agreement because it should reflect expenses like fax, phone calls, travel, meetings whether face-to-face or Zoom and court appearances, etc.
Remember, your attorney’s time is your expense. There are hourly fees you need to pay every time you engage your attorney. Fees and costs will be deducted from the deposited retainer until it is exhausted; thereafter, the customer is usually responsible for any further fees or costs incurred. Leading divorce attorneys usually replace the first retainer payment when it is spent.
Clients occasionally look for a family attorney who would take their case for a flat fee in the hope that they will save money. The problem with this structure is that the attorney will not go above and beyond the necessary standards. Both of them may be right; the client frequently feels as though his case is being ignored, while the lawyer frequently believes the client is intentionally attempting to monopolize their time.
Before employing an attorney, whether, on an hourly or flat fee basis, it is imperative that you have a formal fee agreement that expresses the parameters of the service in detail. This addresses issues like the lawyer’s hourly rates, the return policy for any retainers, how frequently you’ll receive statements, etc. You should be aware of the itemized costs for phone, mail, and email interaction. It is suggested that you request a copy of this fee agreement. Make sure you comprehend the fee agreement’s terms and conditions.
For additional information on the attorney fee schedule and other court charges, see our article about legal fees and cost for your family law case.
The costs mentioned above do not include yet mandated court fees.
Question 4: How long will it likely take to achieve the outcome?
When you’re asking how a family law case like divorce will take, you really are asking how quickly you can get the divorce judgment. Regardless of how skilled, experienced, influential, or knowledgeable your attorney will be, there are certain things in which they have little influence. Every divorce has a different waiting period, depending on whether you have minor children or not.
Very short marriages could end very fast, while lengthier divorces might take longer since there are so many things to work out, like how to divide the property, how to spend time with the children how to handle custody, and how to pay spousal and child support. Before filing for divorce in Michigan, there is a statutory waiting period you need to be aware of.
In Michigan, the court must wait a certain amount of time after receiving your divorce petition before scheduling the hearing required to receive a final divorce judgment. If neither you nor your spouse is the parent of any minor children, the minimum waiting period is 60 days. However, you would normally have to wait six months before receiving a hearing if you do have children.
If you have another pressing need to complete your divorce earlier than six months, or if waiting that long would impose an extreme hardship, you may ask the court to schedule the hearing after the 60-day minimum waiting time has passed.
The time frame we mentioned is assuming the contending spouses are all in agreement about all things like child custody, parenting time, child, and spousal support. We’re not even talking about contentious divorce yet.
Your divorce may take much longer if it is contested. When divorcing partners disagree, a number of legal procedures that take months to complete are triggered. A contentious matter may take a year or longer to resolve, depending on whether the parties can finally come to an agreement or whether a trial is necessary.
The clock starts ticking as soon as one of the two disputing parties formally files for divorce. And this also means, your attorney’s clock will also start ticking and the bill starts adding up.
But for a divorce to proceed rapidly, both parties must often be willing to work together to resolve any significant issues. For instance, even when there are no children involved, property partition and spousal maintenance are two regular concerns divorcing spouses must resolve. It can frequently be a difficult and protracted process. Additionally, when children are involved, courts and judges in particular typically take far longer to decide on child support and custody agreements.
Question 5: What are the options?
If it does not work out the way it was envisioned, what are the options?
Your attorney would have thought about the many ways your family law case is going to turn out. Some scenarios have already probably played out in their minds.
Don’t be shy to ask.
If your case does not yield the outcome you want, what are going to be your options?
A lot of this will be technical and procedural. Your attorney will not be able to give you a crystal clear answer unless he or she gets all the information first. The judge as a matter of procedure ensures court documentation is always made available to both parties.
If you have provided complete information and provided your attorney with honest and candid responses to the usual questions in the pre-engagement interview, your attorney should have a general idea of the options available to you.
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Goldman & Associates Law Firm is here to with information about Child Custody and Divorce in the State of Michigan.