What Are The Roles Of My Attorney And The Legal Staff In A Divorce?
Divorce proceedings involve a lot of stress and emotions. The decision to get a divorce is tough and often comes after lots of failed communication and many attempts at making the marriage work. However, when the decision to get a divorce is final, it is important to hire strong legal representation to get the best outcome in your case.
When you hire a family law attorney to represent you during your divorce, you should clearly understand the roles that you, your attorney, and their legal staff play. You cannot expect your attorney to act as your therapist, but you must ensure they are doing everything in their power to protect your best interest during the case.
At Skillern Firm, we have helped hundreds of clients go through the divorce process and we have a deep understanding of the role that an attorney should play during the divorce. Our role as highly experienced divorce attorneys is to ensure that you get the highest standard of legal care possible.
This means advising you on your rights and obligations, dealing with paperwork on your behalf, helping with property division, child custody, and other matters, and taking the time to understand what makes your case unique. Unlike most attorneys, we understand that mediation is often the best way to get a favorable divorce settlement. We will mediate to get the best result in your case, but if necessary, we will take the case to family court.
Call our law firm today at 936-213-8479 to arrange a consultation with an experienced divorce lawyer.
Attorney-Client Privilege
When you hire a divorce attorney in Texas, all communication between you and your attorney is protected by an attorney-client privilege. Information between you and your lawyer is fully confidential and cannot be disclosed to other parties in the divorce. Attorney-client privilege privilege exists between you and your attorney and your attorney’s immediate legal staff.
Communications that are protected by this attorney-client privilege include information you disclose to your attorney during professional and other meetings, documents sent from you to your attorney and documents they send to you, and telephone conversations between you, your attorney, and their staff.
All information that a client discloses to their attorney is protected until this disclosure is breached. For example, if you discuss information about your divorce case with other people involved in your marriage, such as your spouse or your spouse’s attorney, the information is no longer privileged. Any information shared with others can then be used against you during your divorce case.
It is important to not discuss information about your divorce case with anyone other than your attorney, trusted family members or friends, and your licensed psychologist.
Roles and Responsibilities of a Divorce Lawyer and Legal Staff
Divorce attorneys have certain roles and responsibilities to their clients during a divorce case. Your divorce attorney should always protect your best interest and respect your wishes and desires for the case. It is important that your attorney makes you aware of their role in your case and ensures that you understand what is required of you.
Legal Guidance
The biggest responsibility of divorce attorneys is to provide legal guidance to their clients. Attorneys have a legal obligation to ensure that their clients are duly informed throughout the divorce process. Your attorney should advise you of your rights, of what you are entitled to in a divorce settlement, and help you understand local laws pertaining to your divorce.
Your attorney is not your therapist, and it is not their duty to provide emotional support during a divorce. However, they can help you identify concerns in your divorce, such as child custody concerns, and offer you support to make important decisions. Your divorce lawyer can also help you identify your needs and goals and find ways to articulate these needs for a divorce settlement.
Filing The Divorce Petition
If you are the person filing for divorce, your divorce attorney should help you file the original divorce summons in a family law court. Depending on your situation, you may file for a no-fault or a fault-based divorce. If it is a fault-based divorce, your lawyer will gather evidence and documents to support your claim. Evidence of adultery, such as text messages and photos could be used in a fault-based divorce.
Your divorce lawyers must ensure that you meet the requirements for divorce, including that you or your spouse have lived in the state for at least six months before filing for divorce, and that one spouse has lived in the county for at least 90 days. If there are other considerations to be made, your attorney should ensure to do this in your case.
Negotiation
Family law cases involve lots of negotiation and mediation. Divorces can have a significant impact on a person’s life, particularly because they involve lots of challenging and complex decisions. Deciding on these issues through negotiation rather than litigation can be beneficial to all parties involved.
Your divorce lawyer should have strong negotiation skills and prioritize mediation over litigation. The role of an attorney is to get you a fair and balanced settlement without imposing too much stress and difficulty on the parties involved. The lawyers at Skillern Firm prioritize mediation because we believe it is the easiest and most appropriate way to deal with a divorce.
A divorce attorney should negotiate with the opposing counsel to achieve a settlement that works for both you and your children. They can negotiate to get a fair share of the property involved, get more visitation rights with your children, get spousal support, and get a fair decision on other important divorce matters.
Filing Documents and Paperwork
Divorce attorneys are responsible for drafting paperwork in a divorce. Both the attorney and the client will work together at the beginning to assess what documents are needed for the divorce. These documents include the Original Petition for Divorce, the Respondent’s Original Answer, the Final Decree of Divorce, documentation relating to ownership of property, and other documents relevant to divorce matters.
Divorce lawyers can also help you with prenuptial agreements before getting married and they can ensure that this agreement is protected during a divorce. The team of legal staff is usually responsible for dealing with the paperwork in a divorce. There is a significant amount of paperwork involved in family law cases, and the legal staff will ensure to keep these documents organized and ensure they are submitted on time.
Child Custody Disputes
When children are involved in a marriage, getting a divorce can get a lot more complicated. Besides the challenging issues of property division, asset division, and spousal support, divorcing spouses must also make important decisions involving their children. Deciding who gets primary custody of the children and who must have visitation rights can be extremely tough.
Divorce lawyers can offer guidance to their clients on what is in the best interests of the children involved and help them come to a solution that works for them. If the client wants sole custody of the children, because of domestic abuse or addiction problems, a divorce attorney can help them fight for a sole custody arrangement.
Role of Family Law Clients in Divorce Cases
Clients also have certain roles and responsibilities throughout divorce proceedings. A client is the person going through the divorce, and they cannot expect their divorce attorneys to do everything on their behalf. It is important that clients be honest about their expectations during a divorce.
A client should tell their attorney what they think they are entitled to, such as communal property and spousal support. Clients should also give full disclosure of information pertaining to their cases, including positive and negative information. If you do not honestly disclose information involved in the case, your spouse’s attorney is likely to uncover this information, which can then be harmful to your settlement.
Clients must also stay informed throughout the process and ensure they know what is happening. If they need to gather information to bring to their divorce lawyer, they must do this on time and avoid delays in submitting documents and attending court dates. We always recommend that clients keep a file with information and documents involved in their case, that they can bring to meetings with their divorce attorneys.
If you have information that is helpful to your case, such as documents relating to property ownership, give this information to your divorce attorney. The more you can do for your attorney, the easier it will be for everyone involved. If your divorce lawyer and their staff are left to uncover this information, it will take much longer.
What Are The Roles of My Attorney And The Legal Staff in a Divorce?
Understanding the roles of your attorney and the legal staff is key to a successful divorce. Having too many expectations of your divorce attorney can lead to disappointment and can make the relationship between you and your attorney difficult. It is important that your divorce attorney protects your best interests and offers support while maintaining a professional relationship.
Contact Skillern Firm Today!
At Skillern Firm, we have a deep understanding of the unique relationship between divorce lawyers and their clients. Our divorce attorneys understand that each case is unique, and each client deserves personal care and attention with their case. We can help you with important divorce matters, such as child custody, spousal support, and property division, and help ensure that you get the best settlement possible.
Our law firm has a team of highly experienced attorneys that have won multiple awards and recognitions for their roles as top-quality family law lawyers. We have three attorneys in our firm that are Board Certified in Family Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, which is a recognition awarded to just 1% of family law lawyers in the state.
We understand what is required of attorneys during the divorce process and we want to help get the best outcome in your case.
Call today to schedule a consultation at 936-213-8479.