News & Insights
Family Law Attorney Maggie White for the Journal Record - How to Decide if a Divorce Lawyer is a Good Fit for You
July 2024
Journal Record
Going through a divorce can be one of the most challenging periods of your life. Your divorce will require substantial resources, including your time, your money, and your energy. As you begin the divorce process, it is important to select legal counsel that is a good fit for you. You will communicate with your divorce attorney frequently and in times of great emotional turmoil, so you want to make sure that the relationship is as comfortable as possible. When you are consulting with lawyers you might ask to represent you, you should carefully evaluate each potential attorney by:
1) Asking about the attorney’s preferred case resolution strategy. Attorneys prefer to resolve cases in different ways. Some practitioners like to settle everything that they can, while others will file motion after motion seeking relief from the Court. If you know that a specific approach is important to you, you should make sure that your attorney is well-versed in that kind of strategy. You wouldn’t ask an oral surgeon to simply clean your teeth-similarly, you don’t want to retain a lawyer who only deals in settlement when you would rather take your case to the court.
2) Learning the issues the attorney has experience handling. You want to make sure that the type of case your prospective attorney typically takes on is similar to your case. For example, if your divorce will include closely-held business interests that need to be valued and then distributed between you and your spouse, your attorney should have experience with that kind of asset. It is not a bad thing if your attorney has experience with a wide variety of clients and cases, but you want to make sure that your attorney has the knowledge and experience to resolve the specific issues in your case.
3) Trust your intuition. Whether you have a positive or negative reaction during your meetings with prospective attorneys, you should go with your gut instinct either way. Pay attention to how you feel as the consultation progresses. Do you feel increasingly more or less comfortable with the attorney as more time passes? Are you able to honestly communicate details about your case with the attorney? Do you feel intimidated or belittled at any point? You know the most about your case, and you should always trust your intuition.
While selecting a divorce attorney can add stress to your life during an already difficult time, using these considerations to evaluate potential attorneys will help you make a careful and well-informed decision that will put you on the path to moving forward with your life.
