Alright, let’s quickly finish-up where we left off on our talk on sorting through all of the Detroit divorce attorneys to find the right one for you.
Click below if you missed part one.
Detroit Divorce Attorneys | Don’t Hire One Without Reading This!
How to Search for a Detroit Divorce Attorney
Google
In case you’re not sure where to start your search, or if you don’t have any friends that can give you some referrals, you can start with a local Google 
search, like “divorce attorney detroit”, for example.
Professional Organizations
There’s also some professional organizations you can reach out to for recommendations, too. Here are two of them:
- American Bar Association, Family Law Section – 800.454.8432 or on the web at abanet.org
- American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (312.263.6477 or on the web at aaml.org
Martindale-Hubbell
You can also visit your local library and check out the Martindale-Hubbell, that contains the names and biography’s of lawyers. Look for attorneys in your area that practice Family Law, and go from there.
Three Magic Questions
When you get done interviewing a prospective divorce attorney, ask yourself three questions:
1. Do I feel comfortable with this attorney?
2. Do I respect their opinion?
3. Do they respect my opinions?
If you can’t honestly say “yes” to yourself on each of these questions, you might not want to hire that attorney.
Do You Need a Specialist?
Everyone’s situation is a little different. So when you’re placing calls trying to figure out which attorneys you’re going meet with in person, ask if they’re skilled or have experience with your specific situation.
For example, if you’re a father, and want to make sure you don’t get shafted from a custody situation, ask them what kind of experience they have dealing with father’s rights.
If you’re a female, and you want to try to get a share of the assets built from within the marriage, you might want to ask them what kind of experience they have working with women’s rights.
If you know there’s going to be custody concerns, you might want to ask about their experience with mothers’ rights.
If you ran (or run) a small business, you might want to ask if they have experience dealing with corporate and business law, in-addition to family law..
I could go on-and-on, but hopefully you’re catching my drift.
Sample Questions for Your Interview
In the article entitled “The “A” Team: Divorce Professionals,” at divorcemag.com (reference the “References” section at the bottom of the page), I found a nice little list of questions you might want to include in your interview with the prospective divorce lawyers:
• Do you practice family law exclusively? If not, what percentage of your practice is family law?
• How long have you been practicing family law?
• What is your retainer? Is this fee refundable? What is your hourly fee?
• What is your billing technique?
• Approximately how much will my divorce cost?
• What do you think the outcome will be?.
• If your spouse has retained an attorney, ask your prospective lawyer whether he or she knows this divorce attorney. If so, ask: “Have you worked with him or her before? Do you think the family attorney will work to settle the case? And is there anything that would prevent you from working against this divorce attorney?”
• What percentage of your cases go to trial? You actually want to choose a family lawyer with a low percentage here — a good negotiator who can settle your case without a long, expensive court battle.
• Are you willing and able to go to court if this case can’t be settled any other way?
• How long will this process take? Again, the answer will be an approximation.
• What are my rights and obligations during this process?
• At a full-service family-law firm, ask who will be handling the case: the lawyer you’re interviewing, an associate, or a combination of senior and junior lawyers and paralegals?
• Should I consider divorce mediation? Ask whether your case — at least in the initial stages — might be a good one for divorce mediation.
• What happens now? Do I need to do anything? And when will I hear from you?
Take Your Interviews Seriously
From what you’ve read up to this point, I’m sure it’s obvious that you want to make sure you’re prepared for the interviews.
The more you put into the interviews, the more you’re going to get out of them.
And the more you get out of the interviews, the better your chances of picking the right lawyer for you.
And the better of a fit of the attorney you find, the better your chances are that the case is going to end favorably.
Questions You’ll Need to Answer
In your interview, you need to be able to answer some important questions that the attorney is going to want to know answers to, as well.
Here are some of the questions you should be prepared to answer:
– Why you are seeking a divorce?
– What caused the breakup?
– Are you sure you want to end the marriage, or are you seeking an attorney to scare your spouse into staying?
– Was there any abuse in the marriage? If so, were you on the giving or receiving end of it?
– What’s the physical and mental health of you and your spouse?
– Is there a prenuptual agreement in-place?
– Where and when did you get married?
– Do you have children?
– How much money do you have in the bank? How much does your spouse have?
– Do you have a mortgage? If so, how much is still owed to the lender?
– What’s your budget? How much do you spend a month in each category (clothing, housing, food, etc.)
– What are you looking to accomplish through the divorce?
Well I hope this information serves you well. Best of luck to you.
Do you have a home that you’re interested in selling? Give us a call, at 313.454.1190.
Or, click here, and tell us some brief information on your property, and we’ll contact you back within 24 hours.
References:
How to Pick a Divorce Lawyer (via bucks.blogs.nytimes.com)
Choosing a Divorce Attorney (via dummies.com)
How To Choose A Divorce Attorney (via wife.org)
A divorce attorney who’s a perfect fit (via divorcemag.com)
The “A” Team: Divorce Professionals (via divorcemag.com)
