The Court Of Public Opinion

Very few people sit around, trying to think of ways to pay their lawyer MORE money. Actually, they are probably sitting around, thinking that THEIR lawyer is sitting around, thinking about ways to CHARGE more money. This isn’t true – lawyers can charge plenty of money ethically, because litigation is complex, and usually involves hours of preparation. Lawyers usually charge by the hour. Hours of preparation. Hourly rate. Hours hours hours…

So how do you keep the lawyer fees down? REDUCE the hours the lawyer charges for preparation! In other words, there are things you can gather or prepare for your case, that could be done by your lawyer. If they are done by you, the cost to you is time.

For example, let’s take a divorce, with a modest estate, with custody at dispute. Since the divorce involves property, give your lawyer the last 4 or 5 bank statements, portfolio statements, 401(k) or pension statements, and other such investment and financial statements. Own a house? Provide the last appraisal. No appraisal? In that case, it’s actually cheaper to just order one right now, because it’s going to come in eventually. Oh, and all the same documents for your spouse (don’t break any laws getting the documents, however. It’s not necessary). Make a list of all your deductions fromyour paycheck, utility bills, monthly payments (like car payments, insurance, etc.), other regular payments (like quarterly tax payments, real estate taxes, etc.). Your locality may have a form for this, but do it now on your own.

INVENTORY YOUR HOUSE! There is NOTHING more important than to have an accurate list of the items in your house. If anything is declared on insurance riders, like jewelry or musical instruments, include that also. Take pictures of every room, with the furniture in its usual place. If you have receipts for items you purchased, get them! Make a note of any item you think is not or should not be marital property. You may be wrong on everything, but having such a list makes it easier to review and develop strategy with your lawyer.

Income is usually looked at, so bring your last 4 or 5 Federal and state income tax returns and attachments, 6 months of pay stubs and bonuses, and statements showing investment income. If you run your own business, your books! Profit and loss statements, balance sheets, and checking account statements. Same information for your spouse, if you can get it easily. Bring any documents showing the existence of loans.

Where custody is involved, get school records, medical records, pickup and dropoff logs at the daycare, diaries, letters from the children to you, counseling records, and the like. Go through your check book (if it’s your name or is a joint account) and make a list of checks you wrote for ANYTHING involving the children. If it’s a joint account, then list EVERY check involving the children, whether you or your spouse actually wrote the check, because a joint account means it is your money, regardless of who wrote the check.

Finally, SUMMARIZE! First, ask your lawyer to ASK you to summarize. That way it’s work product and can’t be discovered by the other side. Summaries are excellent tools to save you money on lawyer fees by focusing the lawyer on the important facts. At the same time, summaries help you remember key points, and develop the story of your case.

The suggestions in this article will save you money, by saving your lawyer the time to gather these documents. It might annoy you,to do what you hired a lawyer to do … until you remember that you hired your lawyer to PRESENT the case. Take yourself out to dinner on the money you save!

Erik Carter is an experienced family law litigator. He has created a website to help non-custodial fathers at http://onestop.easystorecreator.net He has also written two books: Aggressive Pleadings For The Non-Custodial Father http://dadspleadings.easystorecreator.net and Six Temptations Of Jesus Christ http://www.knowledge-download.com/SixTemptations

If you are in need of locating a good attorney, one who specializes in family law, then you need someone who can look after your interests as well as the interests of your children. I have listed five options to help you find the attorney who is right for you.

1. Check with Friends, Family ? People you know can be an excellent resource to help you locate a family law attorney. Somebody you know probably has been through a similar experience; their advice and support can be useful to you.

2. The Bar Association ? A local or state bar association can be a wonderful resource as they will tell you which of their members specialize in Family Law. Get a hold of that list, contact the attorneys directly, and interview them. Typically, your first visit is free so that you can learn what the family law attorney will do for you, their fee structure, and much more.

3. Legal Aid Societies ? Your state or county should have a legal aid society. If you find that the cost of retaining counsel is prohibitive, consider contacting your local chapter for help. Some will offer their services for free or ?pro bono.? Some attorneys will charge you based on a sliding scale, taking into consideration your ability to repay. For parents with limited means, this can be a terrific option.

4. Research ? Your library has legal directories featuring all kinds of legal professionals, while the internet is an excellent resource for accurate and up to date information. Forums, list servs, ads, and articles like the one you are reading now can be good sources to help you find attorney related information.

5. Check the Phone Book ? One of the most popular places for attorneys to list their availability is with an old stand by: your phone book. Right smack dab in the yellow pages you will find scores of attorneys featured with all the of their contact information listed, including web sites.

Divorce certainly isn?t fun, in fact it is downright painful. Your children will suffer, but you can help ease the transition for them and you by finding an attorney who is compassionate and caring. For additional support and spiritual guidance, arrange a visit with your pastor today.

Copyright 2006 ? For additional information regarding Matt Keegan, The Article Writer, please visit his blog for wit, quips, and freelance writing tips.

Winning at Custody is one of the most difficult issues parents confront in divorce. In many cases, both parents want custody and are willing to spend whatever it takes to win. Custody is all about what is best for the children – and that involves proving that you are the best parent – i.e. that the other parent is not as good a parent as you and/or that the other parent is just simply a bad parent.

My recommended tips for winning at custody are:

1. If you are not involved in your children’s lives now, you are not getting custody from a judge. If you are a working parent who lets your spouse handle all of the details of parenting, you are not prepared to win at custody. You must either change your objectives or change your parenting. If you really want custody, get involved now – in all aspects of your children’s lives. Get involved in your children’s schooling. Attend their extra curricular events. Take them to the doctor and dentist. Get to know what professionals your children see and be involved with them?

2. Make sure that you are not exposing your children to unsafe or unhealthy environments when they are with you. Are you involved in another relationship? Has there been more than one? Be very careful about exposing your children to your companion(s). Many judges, professionals, and other parents object to the children being subjected to other relationships too early in that process. More important, if you really want to win at custody, it should be because you want to spend time with your children parenting them. Spending time with someone else when you have the children is a recipe for losing at custody in court.

3. Do you put down your children’s other parent when the children are with you – either consciously or subconsciously? If you do, stop. One sure way to lose at custody is to hurt the children’s relationship with the other parent. A judge will consider whether a parent promotes or prevents the other parent’s access to and relationship with the children when seeking custody.

4. Winning at custody requires that you keep a calendar for everything. You need to be able to look back and remember details when it comes time to litigage custody. If you do not know when you had the children, what events you attended, where they were or you were or allof the times your spouse was not timely for a pick up or drop off, you will only hurt your own case. You can keep track on your own calendar, with your own journal, or with a professionally managed calendaring system. We do provide access to a professional calendaring system for custody cases on our web site at http://www.millenniumdivorce.com/custody-planner.asp.

5. Be on time…Be on time….Be on time. Few issues cause as much conflict as a parent who is persistently late in picking up or dropping off children. It irks the judges, it creates arguments with your ex or soon to be ex, and it stresses out the children. So, Be on time.

6. Be flexible. If the other parent wants to switch weekends or weekdays, do it if you can manage your schedule. When the time comes to tell the judge why you should have custody, you can tell the judge that you are the parent who makes sure that the schedule works. In a close case, this issue makes a difference.

7. Do not involve your children in the issues that are pending in court or with attorneys. Courts generally are very opposed to the children knowing the details of what are essentially adult issues. Children should be told that both parents love them and want to see them – that’s it. The children may see a psychologist and/or an attorney or other professional if the court directs that. The children can talk to those people about your case – you should not be giving them the details, especially if giving the details involves denigrating the other parent.

8. Winning at custody requires considering one other very important factor: where do the children want to live. It is not a good idea to coach your children on this issue. They will have an opportunity to tell what they want to either the court, their attorney or a psychologist. However, it is a good idea to know what they want. If they want to live with their other parent, you should not spend all of your time and money pursuing custody, unless you believe that it is unsafe or inappopriate for the children to live with that parent.

9. You do have to be willing to show why your children’s other parent should not have custody. So, you need to keep track of whether that parent is on time, involved, and flexible with the schedule. If that parent has any issues that affect custody, such as a history of mental health issues which impact his or her ability to care for the children or alcohol or drug addictions, you need to let the court know. Other issues that can and do affect custody determinations include the number and frequency of romantic relationships and the epxosure of the children to those relationship, the proper supervision of the children, and ensuring that the children attend school and see professionals such as a doctor and dentist when necessary.

10. Above all else, hire a good attorney and be open and honest with your attorney. Listen to your attorney, not some friend or relative who is sure about what you should do because they had a friend or a relative who got a better deal. If you are paying your attorney, listen to what he or she has to say.

Jean Mahserjian has practiced family law for close to two decades and is the author of many books devoted to helping consumers understand family law. To download free excerpts from her family law books, visit: Winning at Custody

Very few people sit around, trying to think of ways to pay their lawyer MORE money. Actually, they are probably sitting around, thinking that THEIR lawyer is sitting around, thinking about ways to CHARGE more money. This isn’t true – lawyers can charge plenty of money ethically, because litigation is complex, and usually involves hours of preparation. Lawyers usually charge by the hour. Hours of preparation. Hourly rate. Hours hours hours…

So how do you keep the lawyer fees down? REDUCE the hours the lawyer charges for preparation! In other words, there are things you can gather or prepare for your case, that could be done by your lawyer. If they are done by you, the cost to you is time.

For example, let’s take a divorce, with a modest estate, with custody at dispute. Since the divorce involves property, give your lawyer the last 4 or 5 bank statements, portfolio statements, 401(k) or pension statements, and other such investment and financial statements. Own a house? Provide the last appraisal. No appraisal? In that case, it’s actually cheaper to just order one right now, because it’s going to come in eventually. Oh, and all the same documents for your spouse (don’t break any laws getting the documents, however. It’s not necessary). Make a list of all your deductions fromyour paycheck, utility bills, monthly payments (like car payments, insurance, etc.), other regular payments (like quarterly tax payments, real estate taxes, etc.). Your locality may have a form for this, but do it now on your own.

INVENTORY YOUR HOUSE! There is NOTHING more important than to have an accurate list of the items in your house. If anything is declared on insurance riders, like jewelry or musical instruments, include that also. Take pictures of every room, with the furniture in its usual place. If you have receipts for items you purchased, get them! Make a note of any item you think is not or should not be marital property. You may be wrong on everything, but having such a list makes it easier to review and develop strategy with your lawyer.

Income is usually looked at, so bring your last 4 or 5 Federal and state income tax returns and attachments, 6 months of pay stubs and bonuses, and statements showing investment income. If you run your own business, your books! Profit and loss statements, balance sheets, and checking account statements. Same information for your spouse, if you can get it easily. Bring any documents showing the existence of loans.

Where custody is involved, get school records, medical records, pickup and dropoff logs at the daycare, diaries, letters from the children to you, counseling records, and the like. Go through your check book (if it’s your name or is a joint account) and make a list of checks you wrote for ANYTHING involving the children. If it’s a joint account, then list EVERY check involving the children, whether you or your spouse actually wrote the check, because a joint account means it is your money, regardless of who wrote the check.

Finally, SUMMARIZE! First, ask your lawyer to ASK you to summarize. That way it’s work product and can’t be discovered by the other side. Summaries are excellent tools to save you money on lawyer fees by focusing the lawyer on the important facts. At the same time, summaries help you remember key points, and develop the story of your case.

The suggestions in this article will save you money, by saving your lawyer the time to gather these documents. It might annoy you,to do what you hired a lawyer to do … until you remember that you hired your lawyer to PRESENT the case. Take yourself out to dinner on the money you save!

More articles at articles database

Winning at Custody is one of the most difficult issues parents confront in divorce. In many cases, both parents want custody and are willing to spend whatever it takes to win. Custody is all about what is best for the children – and that involves proving that you are the best parent – i.e. that the other parent is not as good a parent as you and/or that the other parent is just simply a bad parent.

My recommended tips for winning at custody are:

1. If you are not involved in your children’s lives now, you are not getting custody from a judge. If you are a working parent who lets your spouse handle all of the details of parenting, you are not prepared to win at custody. You must either change your objectives or change your parenting. If you really want custody, get involved now – in all aspects of your children’s lives. Get involved in your children’s schooling. Attend their extra curricular events. Take them to the doctor and dentist. Get to know what professionals your children see and be involved with them?

2. Make sure that you are not exposing your children to unsafe or unhealthy environments when they are with you. Are you involved in another relationship? Has there been more than one? Be very careful about exposing your children to your companion(s). Many judges, professionals, and other parents object to the children being subjected to other relationships too early in that process. More important, if you really want to win at custody, it should be because you want to spend time with your children parenting them. Spending time with someone else when you have the children is a recipe for losing at custody in court.

3. Do you put down your children’s other parent when the children are with you – either consciously or subconsciously? If you do, stop. One sure way to lose at custody is to hurt the children’s relationship with the other parent. A judge will consider whether a parent promotes or prevents the other parent’s access to and relationship with the children when seeking custody.

4. Winning at custody requires that you keep a calendar for everything. You need to be able to look back and remember details when it comes time to litigage custody. If you do not know when you had the children, what events you attended, where they were or you were or allof the times your spouse was not timely for a pick up or drop off, you will only hurt your own case. You can keep track on your own calendar, with your own journal, or with a professionally managed calendaring system. We do provide access to a professional calendaring system for custody cases on our web site at http://www.millenniumdivorce.com/custody-planner.asp.

5. Be on time…Be on time….Be on time. Few issues cause as much conflict as a parent who is persistently late in picking up or dropping off children. It irks the judges, it creates arguments with your ex or soon to be ex, and it stresses out the children. So, Be on time.

6. Be flexible. If the other parent wants to switch weekends or weekdays, do it if you can manage your schedule. When the time comes to tell the judge why you should have custody, you can tell the judge that you are the parent who makes sure that the schedule works. In a close case, this issue makes a difference.

7. Do not involve your children in the issues that are pending in court or with attorneys. Courts generally are very opposed to the children knowing the details of what are essentially adult issues. Children should be told that both parents love them and want to see them – that’s it. The children may see a psychologist and/or an attorney or other professional if the court directs that. The children can talk to those people about your case – you should not be giving them the details, especially if giving the details involves denigrating the other parent.

8. Winning at custody requires considering one other very important factor: where do the children want to live. It is not a good idea to coach your children on this issue. They will have an opportunity to tell what they want to either the court, their attorney or a psychologist. However, it is a good idea to know what they want. If they want to live with their other parent, you should not spend all of your time and money pursuing custody, unless you believe that it is unsafe or inappopriate for the children to live with that parent.

9. You do have to be willing to show why your children’s other parent should not have custody. So, you need to keep track of whether that parent is on time, involved, and flexible with the schedule. If that parent has any issues that affect custody, such as a history of mental health issues which impact his or her ability to care for the children or alcohol or drug addictions, you need to let the court know. Other issues that can and do affect custody determinations include the number and frequency of romantic relationships and the epxosure of the children to those relationship, the proper supervision of the children, and ensuring that the children attend school and see professionals such as a doctor and dentist when necessary.

10. Above all else, hire a good attorney and be open and honest with your attorney. Listen to your attorney, not some friend or relative who is sure about what you should do because they had a friend or a relative who got a better deal. If you are paying your attorney, listen to what he or she has to say.

More articles at Articles Database

Yeah, right. There is such a thing as Father’s Rights in the Family Court System, I just haven’t seen it. Father’s need to take matters into their own hands when it comes to gaining custody of their children.

Such was the case with Darren Jones. He had a great relationship with his daughter, a wonderful job and a beautiful wife. Until one day his wife decided she wanted nothing to do with him, and made that same decision for their daughter.

All Mr. Jones had to do was file divorce papers, claim that the father had been a non-existent part of their daughters life, and demand custody. Without any proof, the mother was then given an order for custody, and Mr. Jones was relegated to seeing his beloved daughter every other weekend.

Mr. Jones set out on his journey to get back his child, but found that the courts do not simply hand ANYTHING over to men. In fact, he realized the expensive lawyer he had hired thought his job description was to stall the whole issue as long as he could, as did Mrs. Jones’ representation.

Each court hearing yielded the same results. NOTHING. Every time he walked out of the courtroom, the feeling of desperation became more and more overwhelming. At many times in his battle, he thought long and hard about giving up. What’s the use? He thought, Nothing will ever change.

Years went bye, and as his daughter aged, his time became less and less with her. After time, her mothers alienation techniques began to work, and his daughter ended up seeing him a week or two in the summer, and that was it.

Please, understand that this scenario is a very real picture of what happens to most men. They try very hard to gain equal rights in the court system, but fail almost every time. It is a very real and urgent situation, that you do NOT want to happen to you.

You do have a chance. There are things that men can do to ensure themselves of a fair an equitable divorce in the Family Law system. But first you need to find the right information that can help you understand this system. If you do not take the time to research what you can do to help your case, no lawyer or legal professional can ever help you.

Look at this ebook by FamilyLawSecrets.com It has shown countless numbers of fathers what steps to take and what pitfalls to avoid during this trying time. It reveals the little known strategies and tactics that can level the playing field, and help you keep a relationship with your children.

I guarantee that your wife (or ex-wife) knows what she needs to do to take your children away from you. Fight back, and never give up on your children.

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