Think You Can’t Afford An Attorney?

You Might Find You Can’t Not Afford An Attorney

You were just served with court papers. Perhaps the documents were left at your residence. Maybe it’s for a divorce, custody of your children or child support from an attorney. Maybe it’s a restraining order. Or, maybe you need to file one of these actions yourself.

You start doing some basic internet research. You find some self-help booklets. You review the forms and think, “I can do this myself.” Perhaps someone you know has already been through a similar matter and you pick their brain.

You start going through the process and realize you have questions about the forms. You are not sure about the exact procedure and are not able to get much assistance from the court. The person who went through the process doesn’t really remember and now you are not sure how similar their matter really was to yours. You still want to handle the matter on your own but you wish you had some guidance. What do you do? Where do you go? How do you start?

If you don’t follow the correct procedure, at best you will need to start over. This will incur more time and expense. At worst you can give up important rights or claims. If you get the procedure correct but don’t fully understand the law, you again are at risk. You can pay too much or not get enough. You can waive claims or benefits you don’t even know you are entitled to. You can be prevented from introducing evidence or otherwise proving your claim or defending against a claim. You will likely not get the discovery you need. Your mistakes may be undone but with more time and cost. Some mistakes are permanent. Legal assistance is crucial when handling matters on your own. As such, partial representation should be considered.

Limited Scope Representation – What is it, how does it work, why consider?

What is Limited Scope Representation: a partial representation which is relatively new and allowed in family legal matters.

How doe Limited Scope Representation work: The client, with the assistance of the attorney, decide what parts of the matter each will handle. Each is allowed to work independently but often confer for strategic purposes.

Why select a Limited Scope Representation: Cost savings and control. Legal representation is expensive. Limited Scope Representation gives the client the option of representing themselves with the benefit of an attorney for the parts of the case they feel is most important or complicated. It also gives the client more control over how their legal matter proceeds which some people see as a benefit instead of a burden.

Up until recently, this hybrid representation was not an option; the attorney was either all in or not. This arrangement makes expert legal assistance available to more people going through family legal issues. The problem is, many people don’t know about it and many attorneys do not discuss it. Please share this information.

Learn more about Limited Scope Representation

What is Limited Scope Representation?

What to do when served a subpoena?

You know you need an attorney – want an attorney – to take care of a legal matter for you. But you think you can’t afford an attorney. Or perhaps you feel that it will be cleaner and easier to handle the matter yourself, without getting attorneys involved.

So you go with your friend or family member to the court and try to handle the matter yourself. You don’t understand the process and the people at the court can’t offer you legal advice. You try to make sense of the forms and follow the rules. It’s time consuming and stressful. Everyone is full of advice but you’re not sure who to listen to. Sound about right? Perhaps Limited Scope Representation is for you.

Limited Scope Representation – What is it, how does it work, why consider?

What: Limited Scope Representation is partial representation which is relatively new and allowed in family legal matters.

How does it work: Both the attorney and the client file appearances with the court. The client, with the assistance of the attorney, decide what parts of the matter the attorney will handle and what parts of the matter the client will handle. Each is allowed to work independently but often confer for strategic purposes.

Why: Cost savings and control. Ideally, everyone would be able to afford full representation for their legal matter. Legal representation is expensive and many people just cannot afford the full boat. Limited Scope Representation gives the client the option of representing themselves with the benefit of an attorney for the parts of the case they feel is most important or complicated. It also gives the client more control over how their legal matter proceeds which some people see as a benefit instead of a burden.

Up until recently, this hybrid representation was not an option; the attorney was either all in or not. This arrangement makes expert legal assistance available to more people going through family legal issues. The problem is, many people don’t know about it and many attorneys do not discuss it. Please share this information.  If you are interested in learning more about this option, please visit our A-La-Carte Legal Services page.

Limited Scope Legal Representation?

What: Limited Scope Legal Representation is partial representation which is relatively new and allowed in family legal matters.

How it works: Both the attorney and the client file appearances with the court. The client, with the assistance of the attorney, decide what parts of the matter the attorney will handle and what parts of the matter the client will handle. Each is allowed to work independently but often confer for strategic purposes.

Why: Cost savings and control. Ideally, everyone would be able to afford full representation for their legal matter. Legal representation is expensive and many people just cannot afford the full boat. Limited Scope Representation gives the client the option of representing themselves with the benefit of an attorney for the parts of the case they feel is most important or complicated. It also gives the client more control over how their legal matter proceeds which some people see as a benefit instead of a burden. Up until recently, this hybrid representation was not an option; the attorney was either all in or not. This arrangement makes expert legal assistance available to more people going through family legal issues. The problem is, many people don’t know about it and many attorneys do not discuss it.

For more information, please visit our A-La-Carte Legal Services page

What’s Mine is Mine and What’s Yours is Mine

How do we divide the property? This is a common question when people start the divorce process. At this point in time, it is very difficult for me to answer. There are many factors that the court – and so I – must consider when fashioning a “fair and equitable” division of assets. These include, but are not limited to:

  • length of marriage;
  • fault in the breakdown of the marriage;
  • how the property was acquired;
  • how the property was maintained;
  • age and health of the parties;
  • sources of income;
  • estates of the parties;
  • liabilities and needs of the parties; and
  • dissipation of assets.

It takes me (and I would imagine any attorney) quite a while to gather the facts needed to know and be able to weigh these factors to come up with a recommendation for my client. Some of this information can be provided by my client. Some is the result of obtaining and reviewing discovery. Not surprisingly, parties often disagree on some (or most) of these factors and it becomes necessary for me to assess the strength and weakness of each of the parties’ claims. None of the information I require to do this is available to me at the start of a case.

What I can do is address some common misconceptions about division of property they may have heard:

  1. Property is divided according to whose name is on the title or according to who actually paid for the asset (NOT TRUE);
  2. Property brought into the marriage by one party or inherited by one party is off limits to the other spouse (OFTEN NOT TRUE);
  3. Jointly held property means that each party gets 50% of it (NOT ALWAYS TRUE);
  4. Property held with other family members is separate property (OFTEN NOT TRUE);
  5. My husband/wife committed adultery, so I’m going to get everything (OFTEN NOT TRUE);
  6. My family contributed to or paid for an asset so it’s more mine than his/hers (NOT ALWAYS TRUE);
  7. Retirement accounts can’t be divided by the court (NOT TRUE);
  8. Money or property that was transferred out of a parties’ name is not part of marital estate (OFTEN NOT TRUE) and
  9. Debts are not divided like property division and belong to whoever incurred the debt (NOT TRUE).

It’s easy to say, “I want that” or “I think I deserve this.” It’s quite another to prove it should be so. Educating our clients on the law and factors behind property division helps gather relevant information and manage expectations for the best possible outcome.

The Spots Are Still There

Divorce changes relationships, not people

Here is a hard truth: if your spouse is lazy, bad with money, self-centered, irresponsible, greedy, a bad parent, abusive to themselves or others, or has any number of other deficits which have contributed to the breakdown of the marriage, your ex-spouse is likely going to continue to be all those things.

Many people assume that divorce is going to “fix” the problems they have. It often fixes some problems but not others. It provides space for people. It eliminates the need to deal with the spouse on a daily basis. It allows for autonomy over finances. It often reduces conflicts over the children – or at least in front of the children. Sometimes a marriage relationship is toxic. And changing the relationship status actually allows each party to be better people for themselves and their children.

I’ve had instances where divorcing parties got along better following their divorce. In most cases, divorce does not change people. Some of my clients are incredibly frustrated by this. They have issues with timely payments of support, co-parenting, and compliance with other orders of the court. Some behavior changes occur for the better following contempt or modification motions that may be filed. The learning curve is a little slow for some. But there are others out there who just don’t change – period. As frustrating as it may be, sometimes the best thing an ex-spouse can do in these situations is to get some support to best learn how to cope with it.

There are only so many times you can go to court before the cost and emotional toll starts to cancel out any benefit received. The courts are not in a position to micromanage people and sometimes it gets to the point that the available remedies either are insufficient or actually hurtful for the person bringing the motion. Understandably, it’s very hard for some people to accept this. They feel as though there is no justice and the system has let them (and their children) down. Worse, they feel as though the other person has “won.” Being in a position to be able to let go, live your life in relative peace and not define your happiness based on someone else is the real triumph.