Need a New Divorce Attorney?

Does Your Divorce Lawyer Have Your Best Interest in Mind or is it Time for a New Divorce Lawyer?

Has your divorce attorney told you that you are cherry picking, or even worse, has your divorce lawyer told you to “Let me handle it”? If this is the case you may want to look into getting a new divorce attorney, or even better, educate yourself about your state’s family law then deal with your family legal matters Pro-Se. What makes me tell you that you should start educating yourself on your state’s family law and possibly look at retaining a new divorce attorney or going pro-se?

Who's Best Interest is Really In Mind?

Well let me begin with the fact that although your divorce lawyer may say he/she has your best interest in mind, it is highly unlikely that is true. The only person that will have your best interest (and your children’s best interest, if you have them) in mind, is yourself. The only best interest a divorce attorney has in mind is his/her own best interest… How many times he/she can ignore the real issues to drag your divorce, child support, or child custody case as long as possible… How much money he/she can milk off of you for the retaining fee, hourly work, and court hearings… I’m sure you get the idea now.

Obviously I’m not a divorce lawyer, as I probably would not be telling you that a divorce lawyer will not have your best interest in mind if I were. I am a divorcee, who has experienced an awful lot (10 years worth) of how the family court system really works. When you retained your divorce attorney or if you are looking to retain a divorce lawyer, if the divorce lawyer you are looking to retain does not inform you of your rights first thing then they do not have your best interest in mind and you need to look at a different divorce attorney to retain. It is for that reason that my first advice to you is to start educating yourself on your state’s family law statutes, even if you do want to continue your family court battles with a divorce lawyer by your side. Knowing your state’s family law can help you make sure that your divorce attorney will keep your (and your children’s) best interest in mind.

How Do You Educate Yourself on Your State's Family Laws?

Well the first thing you can do to educate yourself on your states family law is to do a search on the Internet. Just Google your states family law statutes, if the search engine results show a link to a .org or .gov then you are in business. However, I should warn you that some states do not have their family laws accessible on the Internet. If that is the case then you are going to need to get to your local circuit court or district court (depending on what your state calls it) and go to the Pro-Se office.

The Pro-Se office at your local district court or circuit court can provide you with blank divorce forms and other family court forms to file in the family court, as well as some free legal advice to a certain extent, so even if you were able to find your state’s family laws on the Internet you are still going to want to check out your local district court or circuit court Pro-Se division. You can pick up the blank divorce forms and other family court forms for the Pro-Se office during their normal hours of operation, however, you may have to schedule an appointment with your Pro-Se office in order to talk to an attorney to get (to a certain extent) that free legal advice.

As I do not want any misunderstandings I want to make sure that you know that the free legal advice given by the Pro-Se office is not legal aid, and the lawyer who provides the free legal advice to you will not accompany you to your court hearings. If you are looking for a lawyer to accompany you to your court hearings then you are going to want to look for legal aid in your state. The downside to legal aid is that unfortunately you will have to qualify to receive legal aid where an attorney will accompany you to the court hearings and so forth, where as you do not have to qualify for the free legal advice given by the attorney at the Pro-Se office.

Now that you know that it is very unlikely any divorce lawyer will have your best interest in mind, and you know where to start searching for information on your state's family law as well as where you can get free legal advice, divorce forms, and other family court orders and motions, you should get started learning as much as you can about family law so that you can ensure that your (and your children's)best interest is in mind at that next court hearing.

Copyright © 02/13/2012 by A.K. Love (dragnhaze)

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