The start of a Family law case.
Family law cases begin when following a dispute between members of the same family one party serves a formal complaint against the other party. As a dedicated and trusted Rutland, Vermont-based family law attorney, I always point out that you do not need to pay for a lawyer to file for a divorce or to initiate a family law-related case. You will simply need to file specific documents and pay the requisite court fees and the defending party will in most cases, receive a summons or a court order. In all likelihood, the court will first try to avoid hearings before a judge by scheduling an initial conference with both parties and a case manager to investigate what issues may be resolved and agreed upon outside of an actual court hearing.
Lowering the cost of having a family law attorney.
Although you can manage the legal process on your own, to best understand your rights as either a plaintiff or defendant in a Family law case, hiring an attorney early on in a dispute can be critical for you to receive the insight and necessary legal guidance. However, as a Vermont family lawyer, I provide a lower-cost legal alternative for my family law services by offering my clients attorney services on an Ad Hoc legal basis meaning that you can choose to enlist me as your attorney on an hourly cost basis. As you manage your case you can then decide when and how much legal and attorney support you need and want to pay for. I serve as your local, Rutland, Vermont-based divorce and family law attorney and generally at a lower and more affordable cost.
You can also decide to hire me as your family law attorney on a Retained basis where I will then manage your case in a comprehensive manner from start to finish. For clients who retain me as their attorney, I will often first create an anticipated scope of litigation, estimate the overall case fee, and will most likely charge an initial deposit to cover varying costs expected to occur as the family law legal process moves through various phases.
The Family Law process.
Family law cases often start with what is known as the "Pleadings phase“ when initial consultations and filing fees initiate the formal process of a Family law case. At some point later, and generally after several weeks, there will then be a "Status Conference Phase" when opposing parties and or their attorneys will confer with each other. Financial and related information is exchanged and the focus at this phase is primarily on determining any existing areas of agreement between the two parties and whether an agreement cannot be reached there will be a final hearing.
Getting started with your family law case.
Beginning with an initial consultation by phone or in-person, you can expect me to spend anywhere between 30 and 60 minutes to get an overview of your case and what it might cost. I will need to charge my hourly rate unless within a short amount of time I determine in all honesty that I cannot be of assistance to you. In advance of our initial call or meeting, it’s best to first forward any specific documents and information about your potential case. In simplified, bullet point form you should include:
The names of each person involved, including children, their ages, education, and overall health.
How long you've been together, partners, married, or have been separated.
For separated couples, try to define for the attorney what the agreed-upon or ordered parent-child contact is.
Convey to the attorney what if any spousal support, child support, or financial agreements have been agreed to and are being paid.
Outline the respective employment and income status of the involved parties.
Include mortgages, loans, etc. and briefly communicate any major debts that may exist for all involved parties.
Our fees and some costs you can expect.
As described above, at Volz legal, I serve Family law clients on both an Ad Hoc or Retained basis.
Ad Hoc Attorney rate - For Ad Hoc or "by-the-hour" family law attorney services I charge a flat rate of $250/hour.
Retained Legal rate - When you hire me on a Retained basis I will create a complete case estimate base on my hourly flat rate of $250/hour and an expected overall case retainer fee. I would then bill you for an initial deposit from which we will then draw from to cover hourly costs and expenditures that typically occur with the different phases of each case.
For both Ad Hoc services and Retained services, we may bill in 1/10th's of an hour or six-minute increments. Travel costs when visiting with a client, to meet with opposing law firms, or to the courthouse are also added to your bill. However, while most attorneys and family law firms will charge you for both legs of a trip, at Volz legal I strive to reduce the burden of added costs to my clients by charging for only one leg of a necessary trip.