Fire Your Divorce Lawyer – 5 Tips
NJ Divorce Lawyer – Jeff J. Horn
Should You Fire Your Divorce Lawyer? Pause & Take a Breath Before You Make that Decision. Rules of Professional Conduct Require Divorce Lawyers to Provide Diligence, Competence & Communication. Get a Second Opinion Before Firing Your Divorce Lawyer. Unreasonable Expectations Lead to Disappointment & Wasteful Spending.
Obviously you are in emotionally difficult times. Every divorce client has the thought. Is my divorce lawyer doing everything to help me? Does it feel right?
Should you fire your divorce lawyer?
Pause. Take a breath before you fire your divorce lawyer
Obviously you want to mitigate emotional decision-making. Everyone is emotional. You, your spouse, your children and your entire village are all emotional. Ordinarily, bad decisions – – emotional decision-making equals bad decisions.
Fire your divorce lawyer when he or she makes emotional decisions.
Essentially, you hunger a divorce lawyer to do three things. First, navigate the legal system for you. Second, advise you on the best course of action to achieve your goals. Third, to help you mitigate emotional decision-making. Beware the divorce lawyer who matches your emotional state. Objective and sober advice is what you need.
If you were a divorce lawyer turned into a cheerleader for your emotions, it may be time to part company.
Fire – when they agree with you on everything.
Contrary to other professions, you will not agree on everything with your divorce lawyer. First, if you knew everything you would not need a divorce lawyer. Next, a divorce lawyer who agrees with you on everything probably just wants to make a friend. On the other hand, you may just look like a sack of money.
Fire your divorce lawyer before the bill gets out of control.
Obviously, divorce litigation is expensive. The key is setting expectations. If you’re divorce lawyer delays giving you a bill and then shocks you with a huge invoice, it may be time to sever that relationship.
Fire – for lack of communication.
Communication is so easy now. Telephone calls, emails, text messages Dash count on regular communication. However, do not count on instantaneous communication with your divorce lawyer. it is unlikely that you are the lawyer’s only client. If that is true, get a different lawyer. By and large, communication within 1 business day of a legitimate inquiry is reasonable. On the contrary, emailing or calling (10) times per day does not count or help. Schedule times to speak. If your lawyer cannot even schedule a time for a call back, it may be time to fire your divorce lawyer.
Stop. Before you fire your divorce lawyer…
Pause and get a second opinion. Second opinions can be extremely valuable. Spend $500 or $1000 on a second opinion. Most likely you will keep your first divorce lawyer. Shockingly, bad feelings do not mean your divorce lawyer is doing a bad job. It just feels bad. Time heals, you will get over bad feelings.
The Rules
Historically, divorce lawyers owe you specific duties as set forth in the rules of professional conduct. For short – The RPC’s. Customs and “the rules” require – diligence, competence and communication. Demand those attributes in your divorce lawyer.
Remember – retaining one and then a second divorce lawyer is no big deal.
Once you get past two divorce lawyers, it is time to look in the mirror. You may have unreasonable expectations. Unreasonable expectations lead to disappointment and massive wasteful spending on litigation, letter writing and expert witnesses that get you nowhere.