Working with a Family Lawyer

Working with a family lawyer can help to simplify such an overwhelming event as divorce or a child custody battle. When working with a family law lawyer, the client will need to be on their toes to help the lawyer with the case when it is new and continually developing. There are a variety of processes involved with family law and they can be difficult to keep up with without a lawyer. Each different family law attorney will charge different fees for different services. Some lawyers will charge close to $250 per hour for divorce case work while others will charge less than $250 per hour for divorce case work. Each family law lawyer's charges will vary depending on their length of practice, how successful they have been in the past, what area of family law they are working in and how long they will be representing the client involved in the case.

Processes of Family Law

• The processes of family law can be lengthy and difficult to grasp for people going through family law cases for the first time. The processes are as follows:
• Pre-litigation stage: The pre-litigation stage involves an attempt to settle out of court with the other party involved in the case. If the other party does not wish to settle out of court the lawyer will then begin to acquire evidence in favor of their client's case along with witnesses for the case too.
• Filing the lawsuit or filing for divorce: Once it is realized that the other party does not want to settle out of court and would rather go to trial, the client's lawyer will then file the lawsuit or file for divorce with the courts. The other party will be notified of the filing and will have a certain amount of time to respond to the notice.
• Litigation: Once all of the paperwork is filled out and submitted to the proper authorities, the litigation process will begin. Both parties will need to appear in court and present their side of the story to the judge.
• If it is decided before litigation that the two sides would prefer to settle their differences out of court they can opt to attend mediation meetings or arbitration meetings. Mediation is when the two sides come to a settlement with the aid of an unbiased third party. Arbitration is when the two sides present their case to an arbiter who then decides which side wins the case.
• If the case reaches court and the judge rules in favor of one or the other party, and the party not ruled in favor of disagrees with the ruling they can then appeal the decision from the judge. The client will have his or her lawyer file an appeal with the court of appeals once the first litigation process is complete.
• A date will be set for the appeal to be heard and a ruling will be made by the court of appeals regarding the case.

Fees

The fees of a family law attorney will differ from location to location and attorney to attorney. The fees are based on the area of family law the attorney is practicing, how long they have been practicing, how long the case will go on for and other variables. In some instances, the party that wins in a family law case can have the other party pay for their family law attorney fees as part of the settlement or as ruled on by the judge presiding over the case. Attorney's fees for any type of family law case can be a difficult thing to deal with but attorneys will provide their clients with different payment plans if need be.