When making your visit to a divorce attorney, there are some basic questions you need to ask in order to get a good idea about the whole case, the procedures involved, as well as the strategy and knowledge of the divorce attorney that how much knowledgeable and practically qualified he or she is for handling your case. Following are some questions which you should always ask on your first visit.
- How long have you been practicing divorce law?
Choosing the attorneys with good experience is important because of the value of experience involved. Usually, all lawyers are experts at drafting, filing, creating files and negotiations. But what really matters is the experience of the attorney in the court. This is because if your course if taken to trial there are very less chances anyone wants to be involved in this matter with an inexperienced divorce attorney. Try asking them about their experience, and what errors they learned previously from their cases.
- How many cases of this type have you taken to trial?
Divorce attorneys deal with diverse types of cases throughout their work which is why settling for the attorney who has experience in your type of cases the most will obviously earn you bonus points. Although there is no specialty of divorce lawyers, there does become a reputation over time, who is best at handling what. Ask your divorce attorney about the type of the case, and whether it has gone to trial, or what were the results of the last cases etc. A Family Lawyer Rochester MI will provide you with a range of experience divorce attorneys so you can easily depend on them to help you resolve the matter.
- What can be the best way to achieve Your goals?
Normally, we see that all the best lawyers have their own plan of actions and strategy developed for a case. Especially, when it comes to divorce cases. This is because the blame game is transferred then and again to opposing partners. There are different cases e.g. some are simple separations, whereas, some have the potential to discuss possibilities as well. According to the type of your case, ask for the road map of your case. The divorce attorney provides you with the step by step procedure of the case, any negotiation involved, possible risks involve, preparation for trial if needed etc.
- How will You communicate?
Don’t forget to ask about the preferred means of communication and preferred timings of the lawyer as well. Good communication with your divorce attorney is key to an ideal professional relationship. Discuss your preferences as well, and then work out a medium e.g. text message, phone call, email etc. This will help in strengthening the attorney-client relationship.
- How much will it cost?
This is perhaps one of the most important questions on the first visit. When you are at your first visit to the divorce attorney, you need to ask about the fee and extra costs involved in the case. This is to get an idea on how the budget is going to be and whether you can afford the lawyer or not. Ask about each and every financial detail that needs to be answered and don’t hesitate while asking such questions as well. If you are working with Family Rochester MI, you will know how the statement and package details will be explained to you in a defined manner.
- How long will it take?
Ask your divorce attorney about the estimated time of the case to complete. The time frame will be a good motivation to you as well while you make it through the paperwork, meetings and trials and will boost your morale as well. Most of the time, the project estimation is not given by the divorce attorney, but it is still important to ask at the very first visit. This is easy to do by gathering all the details of the client, the opposing party, the problem, possible issues etc.
- Who will be handling my Case?
It happens very often that we meet a firm for our case, and we are introduced with the divorce attorney that will work with us on the case. But their assistants or possible junior lawyers by the side are not told of. This is not a big deal, but it is still a legal responsibility of a divorce attorney to tell him or herself about the number of people involved in handling your case. This can sometimes be very beneficial because more people are working with technical minds to bring new ideas and solutions. Always ask about the lawyer, and any team along who will be working on the case. This is one of the very important things that you should ask on your first visit.
- What should I be doing now to protect myself?
When you have filed for divorce, or are fighting as the opposing party, the first thing you need to do on your very first visit to the lawyer is to ask about what YOU should do. This involves the contact with your ex-wife/husband, the possible custody issues of your child, or any careful step you should take before the case is settled. For instance, saving yourself or protecting yourself can involve the problem of child support, as well as any shared property involved, conflict property between you two etc. Not always divorce attorneys can give you exact figures for this but it is a good quality of a divorce attorney to provide you with this information. Ask them how you can take what measure stop protect yourself from any further loss or harm.