Hire Divorce Lawyer or Use Online Divorce Forms?

When do you need to hire a family law attorney and when is it okay to just use an online divorce form website to save a little money? This article will provide a few pointers to help you decide whether to do it yourself or retain a divorce lawyer.

What Does it Mean to Use an Online Divorce Form Website?

Essentially, using an online form website in your divorce case means that you will represent yourself and act as your own lawyer. All of the online divorce form sites have disclaimers making it clear that they are not your lawyer and are just preparing documents on your behalf. While it is your constitutional right to act as your own lawyer, there are some significant risks involved that should be evaluated before you take the online route.

Additionally, you have to evaluate the particular website you are dealing with. Most are national sites that offer forms that they claim will work in any state. However, every state has different laws. In other words, a California Divorce Decree will not be identical to a Texas Divorce Decree because the laws of the two states are not identical. So with an online divorce you are basically getting a generic form that may or may not work in your jurisdiction.

What if You Have Children?

While many of the divorce form sites claim to offer forms that address the necessary provisions regarding children (conservatorship, support, visitation, etc.), it is very risky to use these generic forms when you have children. You must remember that your divorce forms are being prepared using online software that simply fills in the blanks with your answers to very simplistic yes/no or multiple choice questions. These answers may not necessarily fit your situation or you may not fully understand the question.

This is where a competent lawyer can make a big difference. A lawyer will learn more about your situation and find out exactly what your documents need to say, instead of just the boilerplate language that the divorce website's software spits out. If you have children, you should take the safe route and hire an experienced divorce lawyer.

What if You Own Property?

Many of the divorce form sites also claim to offer forms that will deal with the most complex of property divisions. But when it comes to dividing any property beyond personal effects (clothes, furniture, etc.), it is risky to rely solely on generic divorce forms. If you or your spouse own real estate, vehicles, 401k accounts or other retirement accounts, or have any other financial assets or liabilities, an online divorce form will not necessarily protect your interests.

A competent divorce lawyer would be able to, first, analyze your situation and determine what property division is in your best interest, and second, ensure that all the assets awarded to you were properly transferred and the titles correctly recorded on your behalf.

Conclusion

Using an online divorce form always carries a certain amount of risk. If there are no children from the marriage and no property to divide, then saving a few hundred dollars may be worth the risk and the extra work you will have to do. But for most people, especially those with children or property, it is essential to hire an experienced divorce lawyer to handle their case.


About the author:
Scott Morgan has been a Houston divorce lawyer since 1994. His practice focuses exclusively on divorce and family law cases. You can find out more about Mr. Morgan on his website, http://www.houstondivorce.com/houston-divorce-lawyer.html
Circulated by Article Emporium

FAMILY- FATHER AND MOTHER I LOVE YOU

One of the saddest and ugliest parts of divorce is the fight for child custody. Children are torn between parents. They experience mental and emotional stressed. They feel confused on which parent they are to go and live with. Before we go all mushy let us first define what child custody is. Child custody refers to the package of rights as well as responsibilities that a parent holds with respect to his or her child. Child custody covers a wide spectrum of concepts. The basic essence of child custody is to find the best interest of the child and not the individual interest of the parents. In some states they follow a general rule and that is for parents to have a continuing and frequent contact with the child.

There are different types of child custody and these are as follows:

a) legal custody, wherein a parent with legal custody is allowed to make certain decisions regarding the health, welfare and education of his or her child,

b) physical custody, is a legal fight for the actual or physical right to be with the child,

c) sole legal custody, involves the awarding of sole legal custody to one parent thus giving the sole legal parent the right to decide on the child’s health, education and welfare,

d) sole physical custody, is when one parent is awarded the sole physical custody of a child meaning the child will live or remain with him or her and the other parent is not given any right from having physical custody of the child especially when the other parent has been found out to abused and neglect the child,

e) join legal custody, wherein both parents are given the right to participate in decision making regarding the health, education and welfare of their child,

f) joint physical custody, is where both parents have the right to be with the child and also allows both parents to conduct a parenting plan in order to settle on the schedule of taking care of their child, and the last one is

g) shared custody, is wherein both the parents have equal share when it comes to the legal as well as the physical custody of the child.

As you may have notice all the different types of custody involves custody and visitation. The factors as well as the circumstances taken in consideration by the court in determining whether a parent can have custody and visitation rights are basically the same. The child visitation refers to the time given to a non-custodial parent to be with the child. On the other hand, the custodial parent’s rights to be with the child are subject to the non-custodial parent’s right to visit the child.

Together with child custody is parenting plan. This plan refers to the agreement between the parents as well as the court order in which provisions for custody and visitation rights are defined. The parenting plan also determines whether each parent or both have the capacity to make decisions with regards to the health, education and welfare of their child. The plan also includes schedules in which the non-custodial parent can spend time with the child.

About the author:
Jinky C. Mesias is a graduate of Bachelor of Arts and Sciences in Business Administration Major in Business Management. She is at present an Associate Manager of a Life Insurance Corporation and a freelance writer.
For suggestions and comments kindly visit Los Angeles Attorney Legal Services
Circulated by Article Emporium

Preparing for Divorce Court

Although it is highly preferable to arrive at a legal separation agreement or divorce settlement through some form of mediation, there are times when a couple cannot reach an agreement and the case simply must go to trial.

If you decide to have a trial, you must first fully realize that it is unlikely to be an easy divorce. Additionally, with lawyer’s fees on the rise, say goodbye to the idea of having a low cost divorce and to thousands of dollars of your hard-earned money. Be prepared to postpone your life after divorce for another year, and possibly longer. In some states, judges have been known to take more than a year to even assign a court date.

The following divorce advice may help you know what to expect when you take your case to divorce court:

Remember that a divorce trial is public. Be on time and try to behave with dignity. Resist the temptation to get angry and emotional.
Be honest with your lawyer and with the court. Knowing that you are acting with full integrity will give you confidence when making your appeals
Work with your lawyer as a team to create a winning strategy.
Join a support group. Doing this will help you to work out the emotional stuff outside of the courtroom and outside of your lawyer’s consultation time.
Dress conservatively. Keep your appearance well-groomed, simple and light. Avoid extravagance.
Speak clearly and audibly. If your words cannot be heard by everyone in the courtroom, you may be asked to repeat what you said.
Coping with divorce is often more difficult for those who need to have a trial. If there is still a possibility for mediation, do your best to work with your spouse and with both of your attorneys. At best, the professionals that you and your spouse hired are trying to offer their best divorce help to all concerned.

About the author:
Nathan Dawson writes for http://www.lifeaftermarriage.com a great online source for finance information.
Circulated by Article Emporium

How to Get A Divorce

While each person’s situation is unique, there are steps to follow that are common to all in the event that you and/or your spouse decide to file for divorce. Here is some general divorce advice:

Become familiar with the divorce process
The process of divorce results in putting a legal end to a marriage. Although divorce proceedings differ from one state to another, most states follow a specific order:

A divorce will begin with a document called a Petition (or Complaint in some states) that formally notifies the court and the other spouse that he or she wishes to end the marriage. This document also presents an overview of terms, such as child support, custody and visitation rights, spousal support, property and debt division, and last-but-not-least, attorney’s fees and costs.

Opposing papers or a response is then filed by the other spouse. In some states, if a spouse does not file opposing papers within a certain window time from when the petition was issued, the spouse can lose the right to have his or her side of the case presented in court.

Next, temporary orders lay down the short-term rules while the case is pending. The discovery, or legal procedure of gathering information about each spouse, can either be quick, or lengthy, costly and time-consuming.

Finally, a case can either be settled by an alternative dispute resolution, or it will need to go to trial. A divorce that goes to trial will typically most emotional and difficult, particularly for the children.

Choose an experienced divorce lawyer
Your best source for divorce information is an experienced attorney. A lawyer can give you divorce information that is relevant to your specific needs. Some lawyers even specialize in divorce for men; and others are familiar with issues pertaining to women and divorce.

Developing a rapport with your attorney is an important step in understanding the entire divorce process. The more knowledge you have, the better-informed your decisions will be.

About the author:
Nathan Dawson writes for http://www.lifeaftermarriage.com a great online source for finance information.
Circulated by Article Emporium

Choosing an Oregon Divorce Attorney

Can be an important decision making process. The professional who you hire shall be in charge of obtaining or maintaining your legal interests in your youngsters, your material possession, and your salary. In fact, retaining an Oregon divorce attorney can also be a remarkably challenging undertaking. Do it properly and you can breath easy. Do it wrong and you may spend months or years recovering losses that could have been prevented.

There are some effective tactics that you may want to think about at the time that you look for an Oregon divorce attorney. When you begin this process, you had better consider the sort of case that you will be pursuing. Will you be mediating your divorce suit? Will you be negotiating? Or, could your lawsuit be the kind of lawsuits that lands in family or divorce court and turns into a knock down, drag out litigation?

You need to locate an Oregon divorce attorney who limits his/her practice to these types of matters and you need to retain the type of Oregon divorce attorney who is best suited to the sort of case that you are involved with. If you wish to pursue knock-down-and-drag-out litigation, you should not retain a mediation attorney to enforce your rights. On the other hand, if you are undergoing a mediation process, it would be unfortunate if you hired an Oregon divorce attorney who will attempt to create problems and persuade you to start litigation.

Therefore, step one in the process of hiring an Oregon divorce attorney is to ascertain the type of case that you have. After you finish that, find other people who have gone through what you are going through. Since the rate at which we divorce in the U.S.A. is around one-half , chances are you know several other people who have undergone a divorce suit. Ask them about their case, how they employed an Oregon divorce attorney, and how their attorney worked out for them.

After you have received feedback on a couple Oregon divorce attorneys that you found from checking with others, go on the internet and start exploring those attorneys and any others that you find on the net. If an Oregon divorce attorney has an internet site, you can review it and also look to determine if they have composed any articles on divorce law. You can likewise check and determine if they have advertised their website on the net on the issue of divorce law. You can get quite a bit of important information regarding any particular attorney, their cases and the way they treat their clients by reviewing their internet site.

Subsequent to your analyzing the Oregon divorce attorney websites, compile a listings of at the least a half of dozen Oregon divorce attorneys who you suppose you could be comfortable meeting with. Telephone each of the divorce attorneys and schedule an initial meeting. A number of those attorneys bill a fee for for an initial meeting; the more experience the attorney has, the more likely that you may be billed for time with that attorney.

When you attend an initial interview/evaluation with an Oregon divorce attorney, be organized. Spend the time to write a history of your married life and the issues confronting you right now. If you or your spouse has filed any papers in court, be sure to take them with you. Take one to three years tax returns or a current financial statement so that the attorney can go over some of your financial accounting before being questioned concerning "solutions".
Be sure you ask each Oregon divorce attorney questions regarding how that person's law office manages your phone calls, electronic mail or other inquiries. If you will be going through a divorce attorney who has no other attorney in their law office, be ready for a wait when you command an answer. That professional may have other clients who have demands every bit as critical as yours, and the attorney can respond to only one client at a time.

Notwithstanding that issue, there may be an Oregon divorce attorney who you feel is appropriate to handle your issues who is also a solo practitioner. That is a trade off that you may need to relax with.

Once you have finished each consultation and examined the answers to all of your questions, identify which Oregon divorce attorney you are most comfortable with and which you think will work for you to get the sort of resolution that you require.

About the author:
Attorney Jean Mahserjian is the author of numerous websites and books devoted to helping consumers through the process of separation and divorce. To download free excerpts from her family law books, visit: http://www.millenniumdivorce.com
Circulated by Article Emporium

Negotiating a Good Divorce Settlement

Divorce can get complicated with all its legal and financial details and disagreements. It’s no wonder that you are seeking divorce help and divorce support. The most important piece of information to learn from the get-go about how to get a divorce is that the outcome depends on you. Your willingness to negotiate and seek mediation can actually make it a low cost divorce. It might even turn out to be an easy divorce if you stay flexible, yet firm about your rights.

Going through a trial is seldom a good idea, particularly with regard to women and divorce. Financially, men usually have the upper hand since they are traditionally the bread-winners and, as such, they usually get paid more. That gives them more buying power to hire the better lawyer; if the case goes to trial, a wife in this sort of situation usually finds herself headed toward financial ruin. For this reason, life after a divorce trial can be even harder than it was before.

Here is a little divorce advice that will make coping with divorce less difficult: spare yourself and your children the headache—mediate.

Mediation gives both parties the power to negotiate alimony, child support, custody and an equitable division of assets and liabilities. In this way, you can use any divorce information you acquire to increase your negotiating power.

When trying to negotiate a good divorce settlement, keep the following in mind:

When you are not satisfied with any of your spouse’s terms, prepare a logical rebuttal, rather than get defensive and emotional. By all means, speak up!
Be willing to try and consider your soon-to-be-estranged spouse’s wellbeing.
If things get ugly, remember that a change in your approach (yes, it’s hard) can turn things around 180 degrees.
Just do your best to avoid having the case go to trial. The benefits of mediating your own agreement include keeping your marital problems confidential, sparing yourself of open court proceedings and the related costs, speeding up the process and not to mention helping to make it all easier on the kids.

About the author:
Nathan Dawson writes for http://www.lifeaftermarriage.com a great online source for finance information.
Circulated by Article Emporium

How to Choose the Right Divorce Lawyer

Are you unhappy with your relationship? Are you thinking about divorce? Well then, choosing the right lawyer can be one of the most important decisions you make when considering a divorce. According to the article “How to Select a Divorce Lawyer” by Scott Morgan which was posted at www.legalclips.com, selecting a divorce lawyer to handle your family law case is a very important decision. There are a few important criteria to help in finding the right divorce lawyer including focus and experience, past client testimonials, accessibility, fees and comfortability. And here are a few tips on how to get the best divorce lawyer around for your case.

First, set an appointment and prepare your questions beforehand. Ask about everything that is related to your case. Through this, you’ll be able to assess if you have come to the right person and realize if he can handle the case for you. Also, ask about whether you‘ll be copied in on all documents. I believe that it’s very important for a lawyer to return phone calls within a day and to copy a client in on all correspondence including legal letters and documentations. It is your right to be kept fully updated on all the developments of your case.

More so, never think twice to inquire whether you will be charged for phone calls and for the initial consultation. Always keep in mind that a lawyer cannot be able to truthfully determine a legal fee without some preliminary research and investigation. Of course, fees will vary based on the complexity of the case, the time commitment involved, the skill and experience of the lawyer, etc. The payment of the fees, whether partial or full, is being done at the beginning of the case in some cases. In other cases, the lawyer might offer a payment plan.

Indeed, resolving such complicated issue is being made more difficult because of the emotional factors involved and the fact that during the divorce, neither of the parents is really happy. With this, regular communication between you and your attorney is very important. However, bear in mind that your lawyer's job is to give you correct information to help you make difficult decisions, not to tell you what you want to hear. The divorce lawyer will only help you to at least lessen the burden that you experience by winning your divorce case.

After all, the stress that these battles bring to parents can be truly remarkable. Perhaps, no other phase of life such as this one presents so much psychological pain yet so much opportunity for growth for the persons involved.

About the author:
Nashville
For additional legal information and inquiries about the article log on to http://www.attorneyservicesetc.com
Circulated by Article Emporium

Selecting a Divorce Attorney

Is a critical decision making process. The person who you hire will be responsible for obtaining or maintaining your custody rights to your children, your property interests, and depending upon the side you are one, either minimizing or maximizing your support rights.

In reality, selecting a divorce attorney is also an incredibly stressful experience. Do it right and you can breath easy. Do it wrong and you will spend years making up for losses that might have been prevented.

There are a few tried and true tactics that you should be using when you select a divorce attorney. Before you even begin, you need to identify the type of case that you will be involved in. Will you be mediating your divorce? Will you be negotiating? Or, will your case be one of those cases that goes to court and becomes a knock down, drag out divorce litigation?

There are divorce attorneys who specialize in these different types of cases and you need to hire the type of divorce attorney who is best suited to the type of case that you have. If you need to deal with a knock down, drag out litigation, you do not want a mediation attorney trying to protect your interests. Likewise, if you are going through mediation, the last thing you want is a divorce attorney who will try to create issues and move you towards litigation.

So, step one in the process of selecting a divorce attorney is to identify the type of case that you have. Next, start asking people for help. Since the divorce rate in the United States is at about 50%, chances are you know at least several people who have been through a divorce. Ask about their process, how they selected a divorce
attorney, and how their attorney performed for them.

AFter you have received the names of several divorce attorneys that you received from asking other people, go online and start researching those attorneys and others. Many divorce attorneys have websites, write articles, and advertise on divorce portal websites. You can get quite a bit of information about how an attorney approaches cases and treats clients by reviewing their website.

After you have reviewed the divorce attorney websites, make a list of at least two and as many as five divorce attorneys who you think you will be comfortable speaking with. Call the offices of those divorce attorneys and schedule consultations. Some of those attorneys will charge you for a consultation; the more experience the attorney has, the more likely that you will have to pay for time with that attorney.

When you attend a consultation with a divorce attorney, be prepared. Make an outline of the history of your marriage and the problems facing you now. If you or your spouse has filed any papers in court, make sure you bring them with you. Bring one or two years tax returns or a recent financial statement so that the divorce attorney can review some of your financial data before being asked questions about "results".

Make sure you ask each divorce attorney questions about how that attorney's office operates in response to client phone calls, emails, or other inquiries or needs. If you will be working with a divorce attorney who has no other attorney in their office, be prepared to wait in line when you have a need for a response. That attorney will have other clients who have needs just as significant as yours, and an attorney can be responsive to only one client at a time. Even with that drawback, there may be a divorce attorney who you feel is just right for you who is also a solo practitioner. That is a trade off that you may have to get comfortable with.

After you have completed all of the consultations and reviewed the answers to all of your questions, decide which divorce attorney you felt most comfortable with and which one you believe will work with you to get the type of results that you want.results that you want.

About the author:
Jean Mahserjian is an attorney and the author of numerous websites and books devoted to helping consumers through the process of divorce. To download free excerpts from her divorce and custody books, visit: http://www.millenniumdivorce.com
Article Source: www.iSnare.com

Post-Divorce Alimony in Texas

This article provides a brief overview on Texas law concerning post-divorce alimony. Laws differ from state to state and individual circumstances vary, so you should consult with a qualified family law attorney in your area for specific advice on your particular situation. Additionally, this article deals only with post-divorce alimony. It does not address temporary alimony, which is provided for under a different provision of the Texas Family Code.

Two Kinds of Alimony: Contractual and Court Ordered Maintenance

There are two kinds of post-divorce alimony in Texas: contractual alimony and court ordered maintenance. The Texas Family Code also provides authority for the court to order temporary alimony which occurs while a divorce is pending. However, temporary alimony is outside the scope of this article and will not be addressed.

Contractual Alimony

Contractual alimony is based on an agreement between the parties in their divorce decree. For tax purposes, contractual alimony is normally deemed income to the receiving party and is deductible from the income of the paying party. Since contractual alimony must be based on an agreement of the parties, there are no limits to the possible amount or duration of the alimony.

Court Ordered Maintenance

Court ordered maintenance is provided for by Texas Family Code Chapter Eight. Although actually awarded in only a small percentage of Texas divorces, the court has the right to order one spouse to pay the other post-divorce maintenance in either of two circumstances:

1. The payor spouse either received deferred adjudication or was convicted of a crime constituting family violence within two years of the filing of the divorce case, or

2. The parties have been married at least ten years and the receiving spouse has some kind of financial limitation (disability, unable to work because caring for the party's child, or lacks earning ability to meet minimum reasonable needs).

The monthly amount of court ordered maintenance is capped at the lesser of: a) $2,500 or b) 20% of the monthly payor's gross income.

The maximum duration of court ordered maintenance is three years. The only exception is when maintenance is ordered as the result of a disability, in which case the duration can potentially extend indefinitely.

Considerations

Where there is a large disparity in incomes alimony can sometimes be used as a useful settlement tool. Since alimony is generally taxable to the receiving party and deductible to the paying party it can be often structured so that it is advantageous to both parties.

For example, a party in a high tax bracket can agree to make monthly alimony payments in exchange for a more favorable property division. If the receiving party is in a lower tax bracket, the overall income tax paid could be significantly lower than what it would be otherwise.

Another factor to consider is how rarely Texas trial courts order maintenance, absent an agreement. The statute allows for maintenance only when the specific statutory circumstances have been proven. There are several appellate cases that have reversed trial court decisions ordering maintenance when the requesting party did not provide sufficient proof that the standard had been met.

In cases where there is a large amount of community property, one of the most effective arguments in attempting to defeat a maintenance claim is that the requesting party will have ample resources to provide for the party's needs since he or she will receive a significant amount of assets from the division of property.

Another common argument used to defeat a maintenance claim is that, during the pendency of the divorce, the requesting party has not made significant attempts to either obtain employment or obtain training that would allow the party to obtain employment.

As an example, lets take a divorce case where the wife is requesting maintenance on the grounds that the marriage is longer than ten years and that she lacks the earning ability to meet her minimum reasonable needs.

If, at the time of trial after the case has been pending for several months, she has made no effort to obtain employment or improve her job skills, it will be a difficult claim to succeed upon. The court is unlikely to find that she is "unable" to meet her reasonable minimum needs and more likely to believe that she is unwilling to take the necessary steps in order to provide for her own support.

Conclusion

Alimony in Texas, while rarely ordered, is an important and complicated issue. It can be used as an effective settlement tool and can potentially be a significant trial issue. For someone involved in a Texas divorce case with a potential alimony issue, the issue should be discussed in detail with an experienced divorce lawyer.

About the author:
Scott Morgan is a Texas attorney who practices exclusively in the field of divorce and family law in the Houston area. For more information on Texas divorce law, see Mr. Morgan's website at http://www.texas-divorce-info.com. It provides articles, information, a free newsletter, and other resources on the subject of Texas divorce and family law. While much of the website is dedicated to Texas divorce, it also provides a great deal of helpful general divorce information as well.
Article Source: http://articles.simplysearch4it.com/article/1739.html