Picking the Right Family Attorney for Your Family Dispute

The idea of having to walk into a courtroom or wrestle with a legal document is intimidating to many people especially if it deals with family, but most people will encounter the legal system in some fashion at some point in their lives. That is why it is important to hire a good family attorney when such a time may come. 

A Family Attorney Who Has Been Referred

Consult with more than one person prior to choosing the one who is right for you. Although this may add to your initial financial expense, it is important to meet with at least two different attorneys to assess the different styles and practices of lawyers in this field. Many family lawyers charge you for an initial consultation. There are others who only bill you for a consultation in the event you ultimately hire them. Confer with people you know and trust for referrals. Gather current information on the mammoth task you are about to experience and seek out the names of attorneys to assist you. It is likely that a relative or close friend has recently been through similar problems

A Family Attorney Who Is Knowledgeable

A family attorney need to have a working knowledge of many areas of law. A relationship breakdown impinges on many areas of law: from criminal law to bankruptcy; from property to tax law. A good family lawyer will know enough to seek advice from other specialist lawyers when your case requires it. A good family lawyer will also liaise with your accountant and financial planner, both to seek advice when needed, but also to make sure that the financial goals you were trying to achieve with them are consistent with the approach that is being taken in your family law matter.

A Family Attorney Who Is Compassionate

A good family lawyer needs to be sympathetic to you but will not always agree with you. You are not paying a lawyer to agree with you. You are paying a lawyer to give you their professional opinion and advice based on their experience and expertise.


Attorneys are commonly described as “sometimes scheming," but the right partner — while necessary — certainly isn't evil. Working with your attorney shouldn't be a painful experience. If you're proactive and you have a good relationship with your attorney, it can be beneficial to your business in the long run. You should feel confident in seeking a second opinion if you just don’t feel right about something your lawyer is advising. In seeking information about who to see, consult family and friends whose opinions you value. Your business lawyer, accountant or financial planner can also be a source of information and most firms have a website where you can gain a feel about the firm.

Internal Family Problems? Hire a Family Lawyer!

Some life changing events are nearly impossible to pull through without the help of others. A divorce is usually one of the hardest events to face in life, hence it is important to properly handle all the complicated details that unfortunately come during a divorce process. Choosing to hire a family lawyer will make everything associated with your specific divorce much easier, and above all protect your interests and those of your loved ones.

A family lawyer specializes in a variety of cases which include, but not limited to, divorce, child visitation rights, child support, guardianship and spousal support. The family lawyer deals with all issues that involve the family; therefore, you should contact him when you are having any family issue. Some of the situations that makes you hire a family lawyer will include:

For Child Custody issues

For many divorcing couples, this is the single most contentious issue. Children have the DNA of both parents, and both parents usually have a deep, instinctive desire to love and protect them. It can be devastating for one party to lose access to their children half- or even full-time. If you had children in your marriage there can be a struggle on who will have custody over them. If you can’t agree with your ex-spouse or you can’t see each other you should hire the child custody lawyer to act as a mediator. The lawyer should help you in reaching an agreement that will be for the best interest of your children.

For an Impending Divorce

It’s common for marriages to come to an end. If you have been divorced you know that it’s not an easy thing. A bad marriage may tempt you to take matters into your own hands and file for divorce yourself, but before you do so, you should stop and consider hiring a family law attorney. You need to consider everything that you will need to deal with during the divorce process and how a lawyer can help reduce your stress and make sure that mistakes are not made. A divorce is an extremely emotional time for both spouses. You may experience feelings of sadness, betrayal, fear, depression, rage, confusion and resignation — sometimes all on the same day! This level of heightened emotions, and the fact that you cannot possibly be objective about your case, will skew your judgement.

For Child support

Your divorce doesn’t mean that your children’s lives come to a stop. They still need to eat, go to school, and do many other things. Due to this, they need money. Studies show that most divorced couples are unable to agree on the right amount of money they should contribute to the upbringing of their children. Your child support attorney will guide you on the amount both of you should contribute.

For Distribution of property

Lawyers have experience making property divisions in countless other cases. They also understand the law as it pertains to ownership, and will be able to apply it to your case with care and fairness. Is there any high asset divorce that doesn’t have involve a tussle on who ends up with what? Absolutely, not. The struggle can see you spending years in court. The lawyer you hire will help you in equally distributing your property so that you can go on with your lives without wasting a lot of time and money in the court.

Divorce, child support, child custody, and alimony cases can be difficult for anyone to go through. The stress and emotions involved is enough to make anyone feel defeated before they even begin. While you may not be required to hire legal representation in your family law case, you’ll want to consider these benefits that come with hiring a family lawyer.

Good Reasons to Change Lawyers

Going through an internal family problem like divorce is a life-changing event. The outcome of such a case can affect your life and the lives of the children for many years to come. Therefore, it’s important to have a good lawyer with whom you have a good working relationship. If that’s not the case, the lawyer should be discharged.

If you are experiencing any of the following they have legitimate reason to be concerned and might want to consider changing lawyers. In court the family attorney seems unprepared and lacks a basic knowledge of the facts of the case. The attorney is not responding to the client’s calls or emails and the client has a very difficult time getting questions answered by either the lawyer or the lawyer’s staff.

When the client asks how to move the case forward the attorney is unable to give a clear answer and seems to have no proactive plan.

Ongoing Missed Deadlines

Has your family attorney asked for repeated time extensions from the court without a good explanation (and without it serving your best interests)? Have you received notices from the court or from another party saying that a deadline has been missed or that your case is about to be dismissed for lack of activity? Are there documents you have been promised aren’t ready when they're supposed to be. Everybody has emergencies now and then, but if this happens repeatedly, there could be a problem.

There Are No New Developments

Don’t sit by the phone while you wait for an answer – your evasive lawyer is dodging you. Sometimes, there is a lot of inactivity on your case for long periods of time. Your lawyer may have been an SOB before becoming an attorney or maybe they just think you can’t understand anything you’ve been told so far. Worse, your family attorney has no clue what he or she is doing. An incompetent attorney equals a bad outcome. Remember, nobody cares as much about your case as you do. Make sure to do your due diligence on your representative. That counsel you hired is probably just gathering clients for his portfolio; and doesn’t give a hoot if your case falls through. Every time you speak, you receive nothing but excuses. Whatever is going on in their personal life is not your problem, but your problem is their problem. And if they don’t have time for your problem, they don’t have time for your money.


Whether the reasons for switching attorneys are good or bad it is a significant decision and one that should be made after giving is serious consideration of all the issues in the case. For example, if the case is scheduled for trial in a week it would be extremely difficult for any lawyer to adequately prepare that quickly. The family attorney-client relationship does not always work out. Sometimes this is the fault of the lawyer, who fails to communicate or fails to act with diligence on the client’s legal behalf. Sometimes this is the fault of the client, who holds the lawyer to unrealistic standards or has unrealistic expectations about the outcome of the matter.