10 Questions When Hiring Family Lawyers

10 Questions to ask when you are hiring an attorney:

1. Their fees, do they charge hourly or do they charge a flat fee

In family law, everyone's situation is a little different when they seek to hire a family law attorney, there's usually a lot of facts a lot of things going on, so you definitely want to ask your attorney how they charge whether it's hourly or flat now remember. If it sounds too good to be true it probably is so if your case is requiring a lot of discovery maybe there's a lot of text message exchanges, or maybe it's possible that your case could be going to trial and you're only quoted four thousand dollars to handle the whole thing.

2. Billing increments, how do you bill? 

Make sure you ask your attorney on how they build some law firms bill at 30-minute increments, that means that if you talk to your attorney for five minutes you're going to get billed for 30 minutes of their time, so some attorneys can build a 15-minute increments summit 10.

3. Attorney technology

We have had to adjust to using technology to our advantage and to your advantage, so certainly ask them how they utilize technology, there's definitely an old way of practicing law drafting can take a long time, for instance in the and the client gets billed for that so ask them how they use technology to streamline their processes at continuous law. We certainly use a lot of technology to our advantage, but we have documents that even with you being the client, having to fill them out it's all done online so it's easy quick and automated saving you time and money.

4. How many team members are in a firm?

That's very important how many staff members are there is there just one attorney and one paralegal to handle all of the problems associated with family law cases, there might be then only a little bit of attention paid to your case so you certainly want to ask how many team members. 

5. Make sure that your attorney is being honest with you

Tell them the facts of your case and ask them honestly is there a case here is the law on my side if you get the feeling that the attorney is telling you what you want to hear that's not going to serve you in the long term, want to make sure as attorneys that we tell you the merits of your case and also what could be working against you in terms of what the law says about your series of facts so certainly make sure that your attorney is being honest with you it's better for them to tell you the good the bad and the ugly at the beginning of the case rather than after you've already paid the attorney and then you find out later that they weren't necessarily honest about how good or how the law is working in your favor, so certainly you must have an honest attorney.

6. How much time is spent on case strategy

Now this is very very important ask an attorney what their approach is as they strategize for cases so continuous law we use something called an outline of proof it's a document that essentially has what we need to prove in your particular case so maybe you have a paternity case, for instance so we've got all of the things the law requires that we have to prove in this document we also then have columns that tell us what do we need to prove that you are the father of this child, and what you want is in the best interests of your child so we work as a team approach again so we want you to be just as involved in your case strategy as we are too so this outline of proof helps us streamline our process and get down to the business of going through those facts and utilizing what's going to work best in your case.

7. Compatibility

Are you and the attorney that you talk are that you're talking to are you all compatible that's really important. You're going to be working with this person for the duration of your case and it's a highly stressful time, for a lot of people to be going through a legal case so you certainly want to make sure as you're speaking with this attorney ask yourself 

• Can I work with this person?
• Do I feel like they're hearing me and what my concerns?
• What my goals?
• Are they going to be able to help me?
• Can I understand what they are telling me?
• Do I feel open enough to tell them how I'm feeling
• What my frustrations or what my concerns? 

8.  How Do I Choose A Lawyer?

Consider the following:

• Comfort Level: Are you comfortable telling the lawyer personal information? Does the lawyer seem interested in solving your problem?
• Credentials: How long has the lawyer been in practice? Has the lawyer worked on other cases similar to yours?
• Cost: How are the lawyer's fees structured - hourly or flat fee? Can the lawyer estimate the cost of your case?
• City: Is the lawyer's office conveniently located near you?

9. Not Sure What Questions To Ask A Lawyer?

Here are a few to get you started:

• How long have you been in practice?
• How many cases like mine have you handled?
• How often do you settle cases out of court?
• What are your fees and costs?
• What are the next steps?

10. Check Lawyer Discipline

It is always a good idea to research your lawyer prior to hiring. Every state has a disciplinary organization that monitors attorneys, their licenses, and consumer complaints. By researching lawyer discipline you can:

• Ensure the attorney is currently licensed to practice in your state
• Gain an understanding of his or her historical disciplinary record, if any.
• Determine the seriousness of complaints/issues which could range from late bar fees to more serious issues requiring disciplinary action.

Those questions I hope you all found helpful and as you're interviewing attorneys certainly utilize these steps.