My first steps in your family law resolution
Facing a family breakdown is perhaps a once or twice in a lifetime experience. You don’t really know where to turn and turning to a lawyer means spending money. Everyone has a nightmare story about costly divorces and separations. It doesn’t have to be that way. A very large part of the cost of family issues arises because of the unwillingness or inability to understand compromise. This is often the case with lawyers as well as clients.
Family law is often populated by lawyers with little experience, unable to manage the totality of issues toward feasible and optimal settlement. This is where picking the right lawyer is critical. A highly experienced lawyer is often able to bring your case to successful conclusion quicker and cheaper than had you gone with a less experienced lawyer. There are many reasons for this, including that the experienced lawyer is able to quickly assess the total dollar value of what is being fought over.
As an experienced lawyer I recognize that most family cases can and should be resolved at the earliest stage. Many lawyers say this. But I am astounded at the number of trials that take place where the fight is over very small amounts of money. I never allow my ordinary middle-class clients to go to trial. I have been a trial lawyer for twenty seven years. I know the unbelievable and unacceptable costs of a trial. Only financial cases in the hundreds of thousands should ever go to trial. Almost all other financial issues should, and do settle at earlier stages.
This brings me to why you should talk to me right away, whether you have a lawyer or not. Firstly I will walk you through the court process, from the required early filings to the importance of making sure your financial statements are filed correctly.
The vast majority of clients miss the strategic importance of the financial statement. This is the form 13.1 which every client, big or small, will have to file at some point or other.
Most clients do not realize that once this form 13.1 is filed, your case, or the opposing party’s case is often irreparably damaged. Either the document is inaccurate and you will have to file a revised document and you will suffer by the fact that the judge will look with suspicion upon your documents.
It is further the case, that many clients and many lawyers do not really understand the mathematical function of the parts of the form 13.1. This oversight costs the client. A less than optimal document is filed and becomes the basis of future settlement or further dispute.
So many trials end in decisions where the judge dismisses large parts of one or the other form 13.1 to the damage of that client.
Long story short, call me (for free) to talk about your form 13.1, regardless of whether you retain me or you have another lawyer.
