Steve Novak: Family Lawyer Midvale Utah

If you are facing a divorce litigation in Midvale Utah, seek the assistance of an experienced family lawyer. There are many family lawyers in Midvale. It’s important that you choose a family lawyer who can best help you. There are many lawyers out there but when you are fighting a divorce battle, you need a family lawyer. Don’t hire the first lawyer you come across. You need a family lawyer who specializes in divorce litigation.

All competent Midvale Utah family attorneys are attentive and responsive listeners. Unfortunately, many not-so-competent lawyers are good listeners, too. Don’t evaluate a potential attorney on his listening skills—unless he has none. If the attorney you are interviewing cuts you off in midsentence to launch a heavy-handed lecture about what you and your children really need, cross him off your list immediately.

Take as long as you need for your search. Don’t stop looking until you have compiled a list of at least three possibilities. Schedule an interview with each attorney on your list. Some attorneys charge their normal hourly rate for the initial consultation; others, a reduced fee. Many charge nothing at all for the first meeting. Don’t drop an attorney from your list of potential attorneys based on the cost of the initial consultation. Bargain hunting at this early stage may cause you to exclude an attorney exactly suited to your needs.

As you prepare for these initial interviews with a Midvale Utah family lawyer, remember that you are the consumer, the lawyer’s services the product. It’s up to you to evaluate the experience and lawyering skills of each attorney you’ll meet. It’s up to the attorney to furnish the information required to make that evaluation.

In order for you to gain the knowledge you need to make an informed decision, your first interview with each potential attorney must be a two-way exchange of information and philosophies. All your discussions with prospective attorneys, no matter how brief, are, under the law, privileged conversations. Whatever you divulge will generally remain confidential, so don’t be reluctant to be open and honest.

The lawyer will probably ask you to describe your marriage briefly—its length, number of children (and their ages), the state of the family finances, your job, your wife’s job, and so forth. Then the attorney will want a concise history of the events and feelings that led to the decision to divorce. He’ll want to know what both you and your spouse have contributed to the breakup. It’s important that you answer the attorney’s questions as completely and as frankly as possible. To accurately assess the strengths and weaknesses of what will become your case, the lawyer needs to know all the facts, favorable and unfavorable. The natural tendency to “rewrite” the past must be avoided. Your self-delusion will distort the attorney’s perception of what needs to be done and how easy or difficult it will be to do it.

When you believe you have found a competent professional attorney, a wonderful feeling of relief may wash over your battered psyche. You will be tempted to relax, secure in the belief that having a lawyer will solve all your problems. Instead of evaluating the attorney’s advice, you allow your lawyer to do whatever he or she thinks is best. You immediately take your counsel’s every suggestion without reflection. Before long, it’s not your case anymore. You have given up control.

Don’t do it. Never give up control of your life to anyone—not your lawyer, not your spouse, not your children. Establish reasonable, realistic goals, and ask your attorney to advise you in achieving them. Your lawyer’s role should be to explain your legal options and offer an objective, informed analysis of the benefits and dangers of each course of action. Your role is to decide what to do. You should respect your attorney’s advice, but the final word should always be yours. After all, it’s your life (and your children’s) at stake.

If none of the attorneys you interview seem to meet your requirements, resume the search. (You really have no choice.) Unless you live in a remote area, numerous skilled professionals are available. Keep looking until you find one you feel comfortable in retaining.

If more than one of the attorneys you visit seem equally acceptable, base your decision on rapport. Admittedly, rapport is a vague term, encompassing instinctual feelings of trust, harmony, accord, and affinity. It is a personal reaction difficult to define but immediately recognized when it appears.

When you believe you have found a competent professional attorney, a wonderful feeling of relief may wash over your battered psyche. You will be tempted to relax, secure in the belief that having a lawyer will solve all your problems.Instead of evaluating the attorney’s advice, you allow your lawyer to do whatever he or she thinks is best. You immediately take your counsel’s every suggestion without reflection. Before long, it’s not your case anymore. You have given up control.

Regular contact with your Midvale Utah family lawyer is essential. You must be kept up-to-date on the status of your case and the activities of the other side. If your lawyer doesn’t provide regular status reports and seems unable or unwilling to return your calls promptly, you may have to consider finding a different attorney.

On the other hand, don’t call your attorney every time you have an anxiety attack. It’s not unusual for a divorcing father to feel the need to contact his lawyer incessantly—especially during the emotionally charged initial stages of the dissolution process. Each and every interaction with his ex, no matter how casual, triggers a phone call. Every change he sees, or thinks he sees, in his children must be discussed with counsel immediately and at length, as must every custody case he reads about in the newspaper or hears about on talk radio. Mostly, the divorcing father calls his attorney when he is feeling down, or angry, or confused, or overwhelmed. Most experienced matrimonial lawyers understand and sympathize with the emotional trauma their clients are experiencing. Many will suggest peer-group support or professional counseling, and recommend providers of these services. Other attorneys, because they see themselves either consciously or unconsciously as the father’s savior (or hero, or champion), will attempt a form of counseling themselves. Some lawyers will serve as semipro psychologists because their years in family law have left them familiar with, and responsive to, the divorcing father’s pain. And a small number of divorce attorneys welcome frequent contact because they are being paid for these little gabfests. An even smaller number want to know everything about everything that happens to their clients. They are as emotionally involved in the case as the client. That’s not always a good thing. The dissolution process is a long, slippery road. Either the client or the lawyer has to be the designated driver.

Early in your conferences with your attorney, reach an understanding about what information is important to your case and what isn’t. Keep a case journal to record these data. Don’t call these notes in your personal diary. Personal diaries can be subject to discovery. A case journal, on the other hand, might be viewed as a client/attorney work product and, as such, privileged.) Use this journal to keep track of significant events and behavior. Your attorney will provide an exact definition of what is and isn’t significant, but generally your journal should focus on parenting activities and communications between you and your spouse.

Once you and your attorney agree on the kind of information he/she needs from you, keep subsequent discussions within these parameters. If you need someone to talk to about your feelings, don’t call your lawyer. Find a friend, join a divorced men’s organization, or see a divorce counselor. You’ll save a great deal of money and receive more useful support.

Remember your Midvale Utah family attorney works for you. Ultimately, you are in charge. Your lawyer is required by law and professional ethics to zealously represent your best interests and carry out your instructions (unless they’re illegal). There will be times, however, when you should defer to your attorney. It makes no sense to hire a professional attorney and then reject or ignore that professional’s advice. When your lawyer tells you not to harass your ex‐ spouse, or not to overextend visitations, or not to squander marital assets, it’s because the attorney knows these actions will damage your case. Listen to these instructions and comply. If your lawyer tells you that a settlement offer is as good, or better, than what you would get if your case were to go to court, recognize that most seasoned matrimonial attorneys are aware of the tendencies of the courts in which they work. They know a good deal when they see one. Factor your lawyer’s experience into your decision. Unless you detect a fatal flaw in a settlement offer that your attorney favors, give the offer serious consideration.

As your case progresses (or fails to progress), you may find yourself dissatisfied with your attorney’s performance. If your dissatisfaction reaches the point where you feel a change must be made, analyze your motives before taking that step. If your lawyer isn’t offering the emotional support you feel you need, or if a personality conflict has developed, remember that in your situation you need a professional attorney, not a friend. The fact that you find your attorney to be rude, or aloof, or just plain annoying is not a valid reason to make a change. That decision should be based on an honest, objective answer to one simple question: Is he or she representing you competently and aggressively? You consider looking for new counsel only if one or more of the following criteria applies:

• You are spending a lot of money and seeing no activity or results.

• Your attorney does not understand or agree with your custody objectives.

• There is no communication from your attorney except requests for money.

• The attorney ignores your instructions without reasonable explanations.

• The attorney seems to be much too friendly with your spouse’s counsel.

• The attorney is too busy (or not interested enough) to devote the time your case requires.

If it does become necessary to change attorneys, don’t do so until you are confident that you have found an able and willing replacement. Severing your relationship with a lawyer you find unsatisfactory requires no explanation; a simple one-sentence notice is sufficient. You must, however, be prepared to pay off any reasonable outstanding fees. Some lawyers won’t release the file until they are paid in full.

Although a change in representation may be necessary and beneficial in the long run, don’t make a habit of it. Each time you make a change, it will take time for your new attorney to assimilate and understand the details of your case, which will be yet another hurdle to overcome.

When you are fighting a divorce battle, your Midvale Utah family lawyer can be your best friend. It’s important that you choose an attorney with whom you are comfortable. Utah divorce law is complex. Don’t go for the attorney who quotes a fee that you think is way below the standard rate. It can prove costly in the long run. Make sure you understand the fee agreement you have with the attorney. Don’t change your divorce attorney midway through your divorce unless it is absolutely necessary.

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When you need legal help with a family law matter in Midvale Utah, please call Ascent Law LLC (801) 676-5506 for your Free Consultation. Estate Planning. Probate. Real Estate. Asset Protection. Divorce. Child Support. Child Custody. Modifications. Alimony. Adoptions. Guardianships. Conservatorships. And Much More. We want to help you.