Divorce and family law attorneys have a reputation for being expensive. Many potential clients ask us to give them a “ball park” estimate as to how much their case and attorney’s fees will cost. This is nearly impossible for any attorney to predict because there are so many moving parts involved in each case, which can significantly impact the final cost. There are ways, however, for potential clients to try and manage their case costs and attorney’s fees so that they are receiving the best possible divorce representation and maximizing their funds spent.
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3 Tips Keep Your Attorney’s Fees Down
While there are a number of unpredictable things that occur in the course of the divorce process, here are three helpful tips that can help keep your attorney’s fees down in a divorce.
Tip #1: Be Prompt When Responding to Your Divorce Attorney
The first “tip” is to always respond to your attorney in a timely fashion. Your chicago divorce attorney will likely ask you to review pleadings, discovery, send discovery and more. If you respond to your attorney in a timely manner then they don’t have to “chase you down” for a response. Anytime an attorney has to contact you there is typically cost involved. Staying on top of your case and on top of the tasks your attorney asks you to complete will maximize your representation and minimize your cost.
Tip #2: Provide Your Attorney with All Discovery Documents and Responses As Quickly As Possible
A second “tip” is to turn over discovery as completely and as quickly as you can, in an organized fashion. If you turn over documents that are organized in a way that the attorney can quickly review them, you are cutting down on attorney’s fees for time being billed to go through those documents. Additionally, like the tip of promptly responding to your attorney, if your attorney doesn’t have to chase you down to obtain these documents you are automatically prevented from spending money on having your attorney ask you to comply with the discovery request.
Tip #3: Always Listen to Your Divorce Attorney
Finally, a third “tip” is to listen to your attorney. This might sound like a silly tip, but there is an art to listening. When your attorney calls you there is a purpose and that purpose is not to find out every horrible thing your ex-spouse has done over the past few years. Your attorney calls you for a specific reason. Be the listener and listen to what your attorney is asking you, and then stay on track and respond to only what you are being asked. This will minimize phone conversation time and also minimize your bill. If you spend a lot of time on the phone with your lawyer talking about issues that are not relevant to the case or the current proceedings, then you are spending money on attorney’s fees that could be put to better use in your case.
There are always aspects of a divorce or family law case that can drive up cost that the clients and attorneys do not have control over. However, following these three tips can help you take control over the legal cost of specific aspects of your divorce case and keep your attorneys fee’s down.
