How to Find a Good Family Law Attorney
Family-law attorneys deal with cases involving marriage, divorce, child support, adoption, and guardianship. Family-law is a branch of civil law completely separate from the criminal justice system. If you need a pre-nuptial agreement, want to file for divorce, or are considering adopting a child, you can benefit from hiring a good family-law attorney. Attorneys may be a dime a dozen, but not all are created equal.
You may want to hire a lawyer if you have a legal problem and do not know how to solve it. There are several ways to find a lawyer who is right for you:
Certified lawyer referral services or your local bar association
You can contact your county’s lawyer referral serviceExternal link icon or call your local county bar association (which will have a lawyer referral service or other resource) help you find a lawyer.
Legal aid agencies
If you cannot afford a lawyer, you may be able to get free or low-cost legal help in non-criminal cases from a legal services program. This will depend on your income and the nature of your legal problem.
You can also check the white pages of your phone book to look for a legal aid organization located near you. If you look in the phone book or other directories, be careful because some businesses will call themselves “legal aid” when they are not.
Certified legal specialist directory
For some types of cases, you may need a very experienced attorney in a particular area of law. The State Bar keeps a list of attorneys who are certified specialists in particular areas of law. Attorneys may advertise as certified specialists only if they are certified directly by the State Bar of California or an organization accredited by the State Bar to certify such attorneys
Paralegals or legal document assistants
Paralegals, or legal document assistants, are a good resource for preparing the many forms needed in a family law case and other types of cases. BUT they have not been to law school. They are NOT qualified to give you legal advice and, by law, are NOT allowed to give you legal advice. They can only do what you tell them to do. They are not trained to spot potential problems.
Recommendations
Ask your friends, co-workers, and employers if they know any lawyers who have experience with the type of problem you have. If you know any lawyers who practice in other areas of law, ask them if they have any recommendations for lawyers in the area that you need help with. Business people or professionals like bankers, ministers, doctors, social workers, and teachers are also good sources of referrals.
Dealing with family law issues?
Family law generally concerns domestic relations and family-related matters such as marriage, civil unions, domestic partnerships, adoptions, paternity, guardianships, domestic abuse, surrogacy, child custody, child abduction, the dissolution of marriage and associated issues. Each state has its own set of family laws, and traveling across state borders can sometimes affect your rights and those of your family.
Contrary to popular belief, seeking the advice of a family law attorney does not necessarily mean that something is amiss in your family. A family law attorney can help negotiate prenuptial/premarital agreements for clients in anticipation of marriage or advise same-sex couples on relevant legal issues affecting their relationship. They also can help with adoption proceedings and other procedures involving children.
Family law attorneys often do represent clients seeking a divorce, annulment or legal separation, and the complicated issues that can arise as a result. Although domestic abuse is a criminal offense, some family law attorneys are skilled at handling these situations, as they are often entangled with other family law issues.
Some jurisdictions certify lawyers as family law specialists, which means these attorneys have met the certifying body’s minimum requirements for education, experience, and examination.
Family Law Lawyers That Can Help
The area of family law is composed of the legal relationships between family members. These relationships can include those of parents, children, spouses, domestic partners, and guardians. Issues involving family law can include: marriage, divorce, child custody, child support, adoption, reproductive rights, paternity, and domestic violence.
Family law encompasses the rules, regulations, and court procedures that involve the family unit. As such, it is not uncommon for cases that are heard in family court to be very personal and emotional. Family law attorneys help their clients file for divorce or separation, child custody and visitation, child support, and alimony. Experienced lawyers also assist their clients in establishing paternity, obtaining domestic violence restraining orders, property division, debt allocation, and parenting plans.
Avoiding Bad Attorneys
Do not hire an attorney who has solicited you.
It is against the Legal Rules of Professional Conduct for an attorney to contact you if you have not already expressed interest in his/her services or given him/her permission to contact you.
Make sure the attorney gives you time to make a decision.
Attorneys are forbidden to pressure you into any fee arrangement or other agreement. They should give you time to consider any arrangement you make. If you feel like you’re being pressured, find another attorney.
Ask for the attorney’s background and credentials.
These should be given without hesitation. If the attorney seems unwilling or hesitant to give you this information, look elsewhere.
- Verify your lawyer’s background and credentials with the local or state bar association. The American Bar Association has a directory of state and local bar associations. You can call to verify the information your attorney has given you; in some cases it may even be available online.
- You can also check whether s/he has any ethics violations or disciplinary actions on his or her record. If the attorney has been disciplined multiple times or has been suspended, you should hire someone else.
Avoid hiring an attorney who suggests anything unethical.
Attorneys are bound by very strict codes of ethics and professional conduct. Never hire an attorney who encourages you to do anything illegal or unethical. For example, an attorney who suggests that you lie about your income in a child custody case should be rejected. [28] Never hire attorneys who make unethical offers.
- You should avoid attorneys who make specific promises about the results of your case. A “guaranteed result” is impossible, and it’s unethical for an attorney to promise you that s/he will get you “the result you want” if you hire him or her.
- Attorneys are required to fully and competently represent you if they accept you as a client. They cannot shape the quality of their representation depending on how much you pay, and they cannot promise different results if you pay more. For example, if a divorce attorney tells you that your case will have a greater chance of success if you pay for his/her “platinum” package vs the “basic” package, do not hire that attorney. This behavior is unethical.
Determine whether you need a family-law attorney.
Step in finding the right attorney is realizing that you need one. You also need to know which specialization your situation calls for. If any of the following apply to you, you would benefit from hiring a family-law attorney:
- You are considering a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement before getting married
- You are considering divorce, annulment, or legal separation
- You need to modify a divorce agreement
- You need guidance on child custody and support
- You are considering adoption
- You need help with a restraining order
Determine the venue.
Normally you will bring a legal case in the county where both parties live or in the county in which the opposing party lives. For example, if you are filing for divorce, you would want to file in the county where you or your spouse live. Most of the time legal cases will be handled by the county in which the plaintiff (the person filing the claim) lives.
- There are exceptions to this policy, such as when the individual is in the military or resides in more than one state.
Do some research.
Some simple online research can serve as a background check of sorts and provide a wealth of information about some of the attorneys on your list. Others may be difficult to locate online. Some things to look for include:
- Websites. Most attorneys will have at least a basic website that lists their practice areas and contact information. Others will have websites with detailed information about their specializations, experience, and qualifications.
- Social media profiles. Run a quick search on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn for each of the attorneys or law firms on your list. Social media profiles and status updates can provide information about a person or business.
- News stories and press releases. These can be great sources of information about individual attorneys and law firms. However, when reading press releases, take them for what they are: public relations stories about the attorney or law firm who wrote them.