It is no news that divorce rate is on the high rise in America, and other parts of the world. As such, there is an increasing demand for divorce lawyers.
In this article, you will learn divorce lawyer salary and 5 simple tips you can use to find and hire the best divorce lawyer near you.
Divorce Lawyer Salary
As of today, April 22, 2020, the average Divorce Lawyer salary is $87,636, according to payscale.com . However, salaries vary greatly depending on many factors, mainly: skills and experience, including geographic location, and employer or client demographics. Salary of family lawyers also fluctuate due to the economy. For instance, in locations where is a high divorce rate, divorce lawyers are often in great demand, thus fees can increase.
Filing for divorce usually occurs when one of the spouses want to end the marriage and the other one refuses to sign the divorce papers.
Be aware, however, you can file your own divorce and complete the process without the aid of any lawyer. It is nevertheless, it is important that you know what you are doing before you consider a do-it-yourself (DIY) divorce.
Tips to Choose the Best Divorce Lawyer
Seeing that there are a good number of responsibilities to be performed by these lawyers, it cannot be overemphasized that the lawyer to be hired for such a sensitive and important circumstance must be best at his job.
There are plenty of Ads on TV and online. Though seeking a divorce lawyer may not be a difficult task, finding one of the best may be somewhat challenging.
To make things easier for you, here are 5 simple tips on how to search and hire the best divorce lawyer near you:
- Determine the Objective of the Divorce
First, you need to decide what you want to get from the divorce. Knowing for sure would help you to determine with more precision the clarity and direction to take during the entire divorce process. Filling for divorce with this first step is like you are going to an unknown location without GPS.
As long as it is possible, list or write down all the things you want from the divorce according to their level of importance. This will ease the choosing process from the many or few options of divorce lawyers already available to you based on their past experience.
Knowing this would help you choose the best family lawyer that can help achieve exactly what you want.
- Ask Your Family and Friends First
Due to the extreme sensitivity and importance of such cases, it is imperative that one gets the best hand for such proceedings. No one likes to talk his financial distresses to strangers. Therefore, the first group of people you may need to contact are your closed family members and friends.
Seek first the counsel of friends and family who may have gone through similar situations. They would have firsthand experience and knowledge about the type of attorney to hire, the costs, and promptly refer you to one. Some may refer you a family lawyer ideal for your case.
Looking inwards is always crucial and should be the very first step you take in finding the right divorce lawyer for your case.
- Do Off-line Personal Research
Even after recommendations by loved ones and family, it is important to carry out your own personal, rigorous research.
Your success and failure somehow depend on the attorney defending you. Search the divorce lawyer whose skills and competence may decide the fate of your family, finances, and more importantly, your children.
- Do Online Research
There are plenty of websites that offer reviews on legal professionals. Some of most reputable ones include lawyers.com, Findlaw.com, Legaladvice.com, and Avvo.com. You may ask specific questions on their forums at no cost. A simple technique you can use is to post the same question on different forum and compare answers. Avoid spamming when doing so.
Google Reviews is also a great platform to find consumer reviews on a company. The free service helps potential customers choose a product or service provider that gain their trust.
- Assess Your Finance and Make a Budget
No matter how much you put into finding a good attorney and researching about him, it would be near impossible to hire one you may not be able to afford pay. So before hiring any, assess the fund you have available for the case and make a budget. Now find an attorney whom you can settle within the confines of that budget.
- Go to law firms personally
This may be often overlooked; you can make out time to visit local law firms yourself, especially as they offer free initial consultations. Do this to get more information about the kinds of cases they have experience working with, and if yours is somewhat similar, you can consider hiring them.
Follow these few tips and you will be able to find the best divorce lawyer to hand your divorce case successfully. If you know other tips to hire a divorce lawyer, kindly comment below.
