Do I Need a Lawyer for My Divorce?
Strictly speaking, no you do not. You can proceed in your divorce on your own, as you can with most legal proceedings. The more important question is whether it is in your best interest to hire a Texas divorce attorney.
For a small number of people, there are truly no assets to fight over and the divorce can be agreeably handled as an uncontested divorce without the assistance of a lawyer. Texas offers a forms-based solution to uncontested divorces. If you have no assets you may even be able to qualify for pro bono legal assistance from a local Texas legal aid clinic. They may be able to have court costs waived if your income is low enough. This is a very low income threshold. You should not assume that because you do not have a big savings account that you will qualify for pro bono assistance (although it doesn't hurt to see if you qualify).
Some people who have children and/or assets can still get their divorce completed through a low cost uncontested divorce option in which a lawyer, such as myself, is paid a small fee to draft the legal documents and appear at the hearing to obtain the judge's signature on the divorce decree. In an uncontested divorce, the lawyer is just drafting documents and it is up to the spouses to come to an agreement on their own on all child and property issues. Personally I do offer a brief counsel with my client in an uncontested divorce before drafting the divorce decree just to make sure my client has thought through everything and understands the effects of the settlement he or she has reached with the soon-to-be-ex-spouse. Not all attorneys offering uncontested divorce services will do that.
However, there may be several good reasons why you need more legal assistance. You may have enough assets to fight over to take a more strategic approach. If you own a home and there is one or more retirement accounts, you could be dividing hundreds of thousands of dollars of assets. If you owe on a mortgage and some credit cards you might be adding additional hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt that can be divided and probably should be divided in the divorce. There may also be important issues about child custody, visitation and child support that can be resolved better with legal counsel. You may not even be aware of how your parental rights may be affected in a divorce until after the judge's ink has dried.
If you are leaving a marriage in which you do not have personal assets or your spouse makes substantially more money than you, a divorce lawyer like myself can take appropriate steps to request temporary support or even that your spouse pay your attorney fees. That can provide you much needed financial support to adequately protect your rights. Just because it seems like your spouse has control over all of the money does not mean he or she should be able to hire expert legal counsel but you cannot. It may be worth taking a consultation with a divorce lawyer to determine what options are available to help finance your legal representation.
You may want some legal help with your divorce but not necessarily commit to having a lawyer handle all of the negotiations or get involved in a very complex legal battle with the divorce. That is very understandable because a typical contested divorce usually runs in the $2000-5000 price range for attorney fees. One service I provide that can balance the need for professional legal counsel and the cost of obtaining counsel for your divorce is to pay for only a block of time to obtain advice about dividing property and child issues and then you can handle the negotiations on your own. That can be a huge advantage for you without having to go broke or worry about lawyers dragging out the divorce. That strategic counsel can be added on to uncontested divorce services or independently if you choose to file your own documents.
Disclaimer: The information provided here is informational-only and relates to Texas law. It is not advice on any particular situation and before acting you should always consult with a local attorney. This article does not create an attorney-client relationship. Adam Kielich and The Kielich Law Firm are licensed in Texas to practice law. The laws of other states may provide different results. This content is provided by The Kielich Law Firm. You can learn more at http//kielichlawfirm.com.
For a small number of people, there are truly no assets to fight over and the divorce can be agreeably handled as an uncontested divorce without the assistance of a lawyer. Texas offers a forms-based solution to uncontested divorces. If you have no assets you may even be able to qualify for pro bono legal assistance from a local Texas legal aid clinic. They may be able to have court costs waived if your income is low enough. This is a very low income threshold. You should not assume that because you do not have a big savings account that you will qualify for pro bono assistance (although it doesn't hurt to see if you qualify).
Some people who have children and/or assets can still get their divorce completed through a low cost uncontested divorce option in which a lawyer, such as myself, is paid a small fee to draft the legal documents and appear at the hearing to obtain the judge's signature on the divorce decree. In an uncontested divorce, the lawyer is just drafting documents and it is up to the spouses to come to an agreement on their own on all child and property issues. Personally I do offer a brief counsel with my client in an uncontested divorce before drafting the divorce decree just to make sure my client has thought through everything and understands the effects of the settlement he or she has reached with the soon-to-be-ex-spouse. Not all attorneys offering uncontested divorce services will do that.
However, there may be several good reasons why you need more legal assistance. You may have enough assets to fight over to take a more strategic approach. If you own a home and there is one or more retirement accounts, you could be dividing hundreds of thousands of dollars of assets. If you owe on a mortgage and some credit cards you might be adding additional hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt that can be divided and probably should be divided in the divorce. There may also be important issues about child custody, visitation and child support that can be resolved better with legal counsel. You may not even be aware of how your parental rights may be affected in a divorce until after the judge's ink has dried.
If you are leaving a marriage in which you do not have personal assets or your spouse makes substantially more money than you, a divorce lawyer like myself can take appropriate steps to request temporary support or even that your spouse pay your attorney fees. That can provide you much needed financial support to adequately protect your rights. Just because it seems like your spouse has control over all of the money does not mean he or she should be able to hire expert legal counsel but you cannot. It may be worth taking a consultation with a divorce lawyer to determine what options are available to help finance your legal representation.
You may want some legal help with your divorce but not necessarily commit to having a lawyer handle all of the negotiations or get involved in a very complex legal battle with the divorce. That is very understandable because a typical contested divorce usually runs in the $2000-5000 price range for attorney fees. One service I provide that can balance the need for professional legal counsel and the cost of obtaining counsel for your divorce is to pay for only a block of time to obtain advice about dividing property and child issues and then you can handle the negotiations on your own. That can be a huge advantage for you without having to go broke or worry about lawyers dragging out the divorce. That strategic counsel can be added on to uncontested divorce services or independently if you choose to file your own documents.
Disclaimer: The information provided here is informational-only and relates to Texas law. It is not advice on any particular situation and before acting you should always consult with a local attorney. This article does not create an attorney-client relationship. Adam Kielich and The Kielich Law Firm are licensed in Texas to practice law. The laws of other states may provide different results. This content is provided by The Kielich Law Firm. You can learn more at http//kielichlawfirm.com.
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