Sometimes a Consultation is all it Takes

Almost every family law and divorce case starts with an initial consultation. We charge a discounted flat-fee of $150 for this service, which includes meeting with an attorney for approximately one hour.

Some attorneys offer “free” consultations, which many times are nothing more than high-pressure sales pitches. Instead, we view an initial consultation as a comprehensive service in and of itself. During the meeting, we will evaluate and analyze your particular situation, give you real legal advice and inform you of the range of options you have for moving forward. Our goal is to provide you with the information you need to make an informed decision about how to proceed.

In some cases, our clients find they are able to handle their cases on their own or with only limited attorney assistance. Other clients find that the issues or the process are too complex to handle without attorney representation. Either way, you will walk away from the consultation with a wealth of information that will help you decide what next steps are best for you.

Occasionally some clients want to meet with an attorney several times with no long-term commitment and handle everything else in the case themselves. We will meet with you as many times as you deem necessary. After the initial discounted consultation, each subsequent one-hour consultation is charged at the rate of $325.

Second Opinions

Often times clients come see us simply because they want a second opinion regarding their legal matters. A second opinion from an experienced family law attorney can provide you with feedback and information you need to make important decisions about your existing legal representation.

When someone faces a serious illness, the benefits of obtaining a medical second opinion are numerous. The same is true of a legal second opinion. Many times we are able to offer suggestions that will allow you to work more effectively with your current attorney and give you the peace of mind that you are doing the right thing for your future and that of your children.

An experienced family law attorney can also provide you with the right questions to ask your current attorney to help develop more effective legal strategies or identify issues that might have been overlooked.

We charge the same discounted flat-rate fee of $150 for a second opinion consultation (also approximately one hour) regarding routine family law legal matters. In rare cases when a complex issue is presented that requires more in-depth analysis than can be accomplished in one hour, or requires additional legal research, we can generally quote you a flat fee for the additional work.

Document Review

Clients frequently contact us because they want to review and discuss divorce documents with an experienced family law attorney. For example, sometimes spouses will negotiate an amicable divorce settlement and prepare the documents themselves or have them prepared by a document preparation service. Other times an unrepresented spouse is handed a stack of documents by his/her spouse (or the spouse’s attorney) and instructed to “sign here.” And sometimes a client will come to us for help in understanding and responding to a prenuptial agreement that his/her future spouse just handed him/her in the weeks leading up to the wedding.

Regardless of the circumstance, we are happy to thoroughly review your settlement agreement, proposed Judgment or even prenuptial agreement and then discuss and explain the content with you. In some cases we discover problems in the documents that need to be resolved immediately before signing, while in other cases we find that the documents are completely in order and you can be assured that what you are signing is properly drafted and reflects exactly what you agreed upon with your spouse.

To analyze and discuss a typical family law settlement agreement, stipulated judgment or prenuptial agreement with a client generally starts at $750. A review of other documents can start as low as $500. Call us to find out about your particular situation.