It is imperative, when meeting with your divorce attorney for the first time, that you obtain as much pertinent information as you possibly can. Any bit of info you can get your hands on may be important later, so be sure to get as much as you can. However, of course, some questions are more important than others. Maximize the time you’ll have in your initial consultation by preparing a list of questions that concern you. So, if you are meeting with a potential divorce lawyer in Hollywood FL, here is a good short list of some basic questions to get you started.
#1. What is your fee structure?
This should be your first question. You need to know whether the attorney is going to bill you with a fixed fee, or bill you for every hour spent on your case, including the time it takes you to ask these questions. Generally, you want the former, since it will likely cost you way less as compared to the latter. The reason it costs more is quite simple, divorce proceedings have a nasty habit of taking a few years to handle, so if the costs are handled by the hour, then you couldend up with a seriously hefty bill by the end of it.
#2. What do you think the timeline will look like?
Any good divorce attorney, or any attorney really, should give you a timeline of how long the proceedings will take. It’s just good etiquette, especially if you have a really hectic and busy job, to know how long everything will take and when the next major part of the proceedings will take place. Now you can plan, and inform your employer early.
#3. What are my chances of obtaining child custody?
If you have had children with your spouse, it stands to reason that you would want custody of the kids. Therefore, it’s important to know from the outset what your chances are for obtaining custody, and what you can do about it if they happen to be particularly low chances. Child custody proceedings are one of the main factors in what makes divorce proceedings take so long, so knowing everything going in can, if not make things run shorter, at least ensure that you’re prepared going in.
