As Chicago divorce attorneys, a common question we often hear from potential clients is, “When is the right time for me to hire a divorce attorney?” People are often concerned about hiring an attorney too soon – what if their spouse doesn’t know they are contemplating divorce? Can they pay the retainer fee using marital money? Will their spouse see it? Should they wait until their spouse files before hiring someone? These are all common questions for people who are contemplating a divorce in the future.
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Hiring an Attorney “Early”
The truth of the matter is that a person should hire a divorce attorney whenever they are comfortable doing so. Some folks will choose to hire an attorney very early in the process. This has some distinct benefits. While nothing may yet be filed, an attorney can consult with you and help you plan for filing the case, receive the paperwork for your spouse filing the case, assist you with researching mediators, and more. We often counsel our clients about when is the “right time” is to file and how to notify their spouse. We will often help clients by instructing them on which documents to gather to speed the process along or help them plan for the short-term and long-term items such as spousal and child support, living situations, temporary custody/allocation of parenting time, parental responsibility situations, and more.
Benefits of an Attorney in the Early Stages
Having an attorney early on is also great if you want to start negotiating a settlement with your spouse before the paperwork is filed. We often counsel clients “in the background” and advise them on what to offer for support, living arrangements, property division, parenting time schedules, and more. This is beneficial to the client. Having an attorney assist in the early stages of negotiation, even if the attorney is not the one directly negotiating with another attorney, means that whatever deal is being discussed is “lawyer approved.” The odds of the agreement becoming undone later once lawyers are involved diminish because an attorney was involved from the beginning. Oftentimes, clients will negotiate amongst themselves and believe they have an agreement, and then they will hire legal counsel. Once counsel reviews the agreement, it can unravel, especially if things were agreed upon that are contrary to how a lawyer might advise them. This risk significantly decreases when attorneys are involved from the beginning.
Hiring a Divorce Attorney After Filing
However, it is also not uncommon for someone to wait until their spouse files for divorce before hiring a lawyer. If the parties are not trying to resolve the issues or negotiate before filing, there is very little risk in waiting to hire a lawyer. It is always beneficial to have an attorney involved as early as possible, but if there are no negotiations taking place there is no risk of “undoing” what has been agreed to. However, the filing date can be significant in certain cases, especially ones that involve maintenance, so, again, it is always a good idea to consult with an attorney as early on in the process as possible. Someone who would be entitled to a long award of spousal maintenance could be cutting their maintenance duration short by filing too soon or by becoming employed when they had previously not worked for years and years.
Generally, it is never too late to hire an attorney, even if the process has already begun. You can hire an attorney at any time in your divorce process. However, having early insight and input from an attorney who practices in this field every day is invaluable, and the earlier, the better. People are usually more concerned about if they are hiring an attorney too soon.
When you are ready, you may want to review our checklist for choosing a divorce attorney so that you make informed choices
Download Our ‘Choosing a Divorce Attorney Checklist’
When should You hire a divorce attorney?
It’s best to hire a divorce attorney as early as possible, even if you haven’t officially filed for divorce. Hiring an attorney early offers benefits such as legal guidance, assistance in gathering documents, and help in negotiating settlements before any paperwork is filed. Early involvement reduces the risk of agreements falling apart later. However, it’s never too late to hire an attorney during the divorce process, and you can seek counsel at any stage, even after filing.
It is never too soon.
If you know divorce is in your future, you can have a divorce attorney on retainer for months before anyone actually files something, and they will guide you through the preliminary process, tell you what documents to start gathering, what types of events to log and journal, and more. It is never too early to get the help that you need. If you’re in the Chicago area, get started by scheduling a scheduling a free consultation.
