Imagine that you made lots of money selling a service that most of your best customers didn’t need or were better off not purchasing. That’s the situation facing many divorce attorneys.

Divorce lawyers are generally prohibited from taking a case on a contingency or percentage basis. Thus, they either charge flat fees for simple uncontested divorces or charge by the hour. This means that their most lucrative and profitable cases are the ones in which they bill the most time. Those are the cases where the spouses fight tooth and nail over every detail. Divorce lawyers can be helpful if not essential. For example, if you have good reason to suspect that your spouse is hiding assets or your marriage was physically or emotionally abusive, an experienced lawyer can help even the playing field and deter the other side from playing games. But what most divorce lawyers don’t tell you is that the divorce process is fairly straightforward. The forms for most people are detailed but not that complicated. Compute programs have so simplified the divorce process that in some states a majority of people handle the divorce themselves without the involvement of lawyers. Divorce isn’t technically hard. In fact, it may be too easy in one respect. Once the divorce lawsuit

gets started, it tends to take on a life and momentum of its own. One step leads to another; one spouse’s deadline triggers a deadline for the other spouse. T

he hard part about divorce is the emotional aspect. It’s easy to allocate who, for example, gets a prized wedding gift. It requires a box on a form to be checked or an item to be added to a list. But untangling your emotions and focusing on what’s important? That’s the hard part. And however hard it is to divide or allocate possessions, they are just things. Decisions about children are emotionally much more difficult.

Lawyers have taken some steps to make divorce less emotionally damaging. The last decade has seen the growth of collaborative divorce and divorce mediation services. These approaches can be extremely useful, especially if you and your spouse are getting along well enough to communicate and exchange information.

But even these innovative and helpful services don’t fully prepare you for the emotional aspects of divorce. The most important decisions and issues often take place before you contact a divorce lawyer. Are you absolutely sure you want to get divorced? If you are, what kind of person are you going to be during and after the divorce? Are you going to be petty or vengeful or supportive and cooperative? Paying your lawyer a large flat fee or hundreds of dollars won’t make you feel better in the long run. It won’t satisfy your desire for retribution or to get back at the person you chose to marry. When thinking about divorce or what kind of divorce lawyer you may need, focus in establishing your emotional support system. Friends and family can help you focus on what is truly hard and important about divorce. A lawyer may be part of your support system, but recognize that many lawyers and the divorce process aren't well suited to address the all-important emotional issues.

Posted by Gideon on 09/20 at 09:32 AM
Categories: Family Law | Categories: Hiring A Lawyer | Permalink

Florida, you have a problem.

I have across several clients expressing their frustration at their inability to get a refund from a Florida divorce lawyer.  Here is part of one question that was posted on lawguru.com:

I paid an attorney $3000.00 to prepare an Agreement and Divorce. I met with him twice and subsequently changed my mind and decided to work it out with my husband. I requested the remaining funds of $900.00 to be refunded to me. . . . I sent a letter requesting the remaining funds in trust be refunded. Does he have the right to keep my money although I have nothing to show for the money I spent? Please advise.

I have previously written that several states including California severely restrict a lawyer's right to collect a non-refundable fee. Florida, however, permits non-refundable fees. In a 1993, the Ethics Department of the Florida Bar issued an ethics opinion (93-2) indicating that, "Nonrefundable fees are permissible, but remain subject to the rule regarding clearly excessive fees." Thus, lawyers may charge non-refundable fees, but may violate the ethics rules if they do no work or otherwise make the fee excessive.  It is hard to tell from the question quoted above whether the lawyer's fee is excessive. The question suggests that the lawyer did something to earn $2,100 of the $3,000 fee.  I have not researched Florida law on this topic, but based on the cases I have read about this issue, my best guess is that most courts would conclude that the lawyer would not need to return any portion of the $3,000 fee. This is not a case where the lawyer took the money and did no work.

From a client's point of you, the solution to this problem is fairly straightforward.  Avoid lawyers who charge non-refundable fees.  I am aware of one family law firm in Florida that specifically promotes the fact that they don't charge non-refundable fees. I have no idea whether that law firm is any good, but it does show that you have options.

If you do pay a non-refundable fee, make sure the amount is so small that the lawyer will continue to have an incentive to do good work for you. It's not clear, but the person who submitted the question above may have paid the entire fee upfront as a non-refundable fee.  Please don't do that.  And if you already have paid a non-refundable fee and you are unhappy with the lawyer, you may want to consider notifying your lawyer to stop working on your case and telling them that if they don't return the unearned portion of the fee, you may file a complaint against them with the state bar or other agency that regulates lawyers in your state.

Posted by Gideon on 08/20 at 11:21 AM
Categories: Attorney Fees | Categories: Family Law | Categories: Florida Lawyers | Permalink