How to find a good Divorce Attorney

This article is written for the woman who could not sleep last night because she kept thinking about her pending divorce. Unfair that you should be treated that way, he behaved so badly, and he lied to you. He lied to you. It is time to find a good divorce attorney.

Your best female friend, who also made a mistake in choosing her man, will recommend some lawyer. There are also big ads in the yellow pages, under “attorneys”. There are all kinds of attorney notices on-line. You are angry and you will like ads with words “aggressive”, “best”, or “a lawyer you do not want to represent your spouse.” But, does a big ad mean the lawyer is a good one?

Avoid the lawyer that your best female friend sees at a bar and has a drinking problem. Avoid the lawyer who dates his clients or former clients. All of your property and all of your children are now going to be in front of a judge. The judge does not know you and does not love your children. Choose a lawyer who has business on his mind, and not a date or a drink.

What did your intuition tell you about the attorney? If he implied that he was unethical and will lie to help you, then know this: the judge has known the attorney for years, knows he lies to him, and the judge does not believe him. You need the judge to help you and your children. Do not let the attorney’s bad reputation with the judge be your problem with the judge. Go look on-line for the next guy.

Make a phone call, make an appointment, and go see the lawyer and his staff. Did you spend time with the lawyer, or did you mainly spend time with his legal secretary or paralegal. When you talked to the lawyer, did the lawyer ever say, “Tell me more about that?” Spending time with legal secretaries is okay, and they are important, but you need to talk to the guy who will be with you in court. The lawyer needs to actually listen to your personal concerns and get the facts. If he does not have time to listen to you, he will not know what is important to you, and he will not tell the judge what you want the judge to hear.

Take a moment, cool your jets, and consider how complicated your divorce is. There are some cases with amazing amounts of money and property. There are cases with highly emotional custody problems. There are some cases that need immediate attention but just need tending to.

For the big deal cases, there are specialists; declared to be so by the State Bar of Texas. You will see the certificate hanging on the attorney’s office wall. There are also attorneys, not specialists, who have years of experience and a vast knowledge of how things work. There are young attorneys who are smart and determined and will put together a good case.

With whom are you most comfortable? Some want a lawyer about the same age as they are. Some just could not sleep at night without an attorney who is a specialist, just to be sure. There are, of course, both good men and good women attorneys who handle divorce cases. What does your intuition tell you about your comfort level with the style, mannerisms, and experience of this attorney?

Attorneys get 30 telephone calls, 20 emails and texts, and some letters every day. He also has appointments and goes to the Courthouse, where the judge makes him turn of his cell phone. When your best female friend give you some tidbit of news, which panics you, who is going to answer the attorney’s telephone? Since he cannot possibly answer all the telephone calls, emails, and letters on a timely basis, how are you going to actually communicate with him?  So, ask him about how he returns telephone calls. Are you comfortable with his answer?

Make the appointment, keep your eyes open, and listen to your intuition. You need a good divorce attorney and the advantages of having a good divorce attorney are incredible. You, and your children, need a good divorce attorney.