Nolo's Essential Guide to Divorce - Emily Doskow [183]
• advocate for you in negotiations and try to settle the case
• help you inventory and assess your assets and debts, especially if you have significant assets or complicated financial arrangements
• advise you during mediation
• help you evaluate who owns what, especially in situations where you merged property you owned before the marriage with property you acquired during it
• help to protect you and your kids if your spouse is physically abusive or abuses drugs or alcohol
• keep the process moving forward if your spouse is unresponsive or impossible to talk to
• keep the playing field level if your spouse has an aggressive lawyer who you think will try to take advantage of you
• help track down assets your spouse is hiding.
How to Find and Choose a Lawyer
Chapter 5 explains how to find a lawyer if you're embroiled in a contested divorce. Much of the advice there will also help you if you're looking for a lawyer for uncontested cases, so be sure to check it out. Here's some more advice for other circumstances in which you might be hunting for a lawyer.
If you're looking for a lawyer to consult with you during mediation. Chapter 4 explains how to find a mediator, and you can look for a consulting attorney the same way:
• If you have a business lawyer or accountant, ask for referrals.
• Ask your friends and family who are divorced whether they used mediation and have a consulting attorney they would recommend. If they had an attorney for a contested divorce, see whether they're willing to ask that attorney for referrals.
• Search www.mediate.com or www.acrnet.org for divorce mediators, many of whom also provide consulting attorney services.
• Use links on divorce websites.
• Look in the phone book under "mediation" or "dispute resolution" for attorney-mediators who will serve as consulting attorneys.
If you're looking for a collaborative lawyer. Collaborative divorce is a very specialized way of practicing divorce law, so you'll need to find a lawyer who's been trained in the process. It may be harder to find personal referrals because collaborative law is so new, but ask around. Perhaps you'll find that someone you know recently settled a divorce using collaborative law and can recommend an attorney. Otherwise, ask family law attorneys, who should be aware of who's practicing collaborative law in the community.
It's also likely, if you live in a metropolitan area, that there are local collaborative law organizations. Try an Internet search for your area along with the terms "collaborative law," "collaborative divorce," and "collaborative attorney." You should get sites for local organizations as well as for local attorneys who practice collaborative law. You can also contact the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals at www.collaborativepractice.com. The website has links to collaborative professionals all over the country.
If you're looking for a lawyer to review documents or make a single appearance in court. If you want a lawyer for a single task, such as appearing in court or reviewing a document, try the tips in Chapter 5 for finding a lawyer. But your first question should always be whether the lawyer is open to working on only part of your case. Some lawyers won't do it, believing that without knowing every single thing about your case they can't provide good services. So before you waste time on questions about experience or billing practices, find out whether you're barking up the wrong tree.
For this kind of search, the lawyer directory at www.nolo.com may be a good resource for you. Each lawyer with a profile in the directory answers a series of questions, including whether the lawyer is willing to review documents and coach clients who are representing themselves.
Other Ways to Look Things Up
It's possible that you might want to look up specific laws, rules, or forms for your own state. For example, you might want to find out the waiting period for your state or get a sample form for asking to be excused from having to serve papers on your