Finding a Palm Beach County Family Law Attorney

An Overview of Family Law in Palm Beach

Family law in Palm Beach County covers a wide range of issues relating to marriage and relationships, the most prominent being divorce. Divorce proceedings can be complicated by issues such as alimony, child support, custody and distribution of marital assets. According to the Florida Divorce Handbook, these types of cases represented 4,264 of the 10,069 cases filed in Palm Beach in the year 2000. The cases and controversies constituting family law in Palm Beach are not restricted to divorce, but also include cases involving child adoption, paternity and legitimacy, and support of children and spouse. With children involved, the number of family law cases increases because of the additional parameters added to the litigation process . According to the Palm Beach County Clerk of the Courts, Child Support Enforcement, the agency "enforces new and existing child support orders established and/or enforced by the State of Florida, assists custodial parents with the establishment, modification [of child support amounts], and enforcement of child support orders, and assists individuals attempting to obtain or verify a court order of paternity for the purpose of pursuing child support obligations."
Most family law cases in Palm Beach County are handled by the family law division of the 15th circuit court. A family court judge resolve most family law cases in Palm Beach. However, for cases that may involve domestic violence the judge will be a domestic violence judge and may be a member of a domestic violence court.

Importance of Having a Family Law Attorney

Palm Beach County can be a wonderful place to live and a terrible place to go through a divorce. Having an experienced and qualified family law attorney to help you through the process is invaluable. In Palm Beach County, many family law attorneys focus on divorce and child custody, but there are almost as many issues that might arise in the family law arena. Having an attorney who can help you navigate the complex legal waters of a Florida divorce, domestic violence, child custody or alimony case and is willing to provide you with competent, insightful and personalized legal advice is necessary for you to be able to understand the impact of the choices you need to make in your family law matter. Likewise, your attorney needs to have the court and staff relationships in place such that you can obtain quick resolution of your case.

Traits of a Good Family Lawyer

Not all attorneys have equal qualifications and expertise. These are the qualities to look for when finding the right family law attorney for you:
Experience: When looking for a family law attorney, you want someone with a lot of experience. While a new attorney may know the law well, an experienced attorney will know the law and the family court system. I have seen new attorneys go to court and put on a horrible case because they have never been in that court before or do not quite know how the court works. An experienced attorney that has been practicing family law for years will know the local rules and local judges’ preferences. This is crucial to your case.
Communication skills: You want a family law attorney who communicates well. You want to know what is going on with your case at all times and should expect regular communication from your attorney. You do not want to have to talk to three people before you are finally able to speak to the person who is supposed to be handling your case. And it goes both ways – if the attorney contacts you, you should also promptly return that phone call.
Familiarity with Florida family law: The Florida family law code has a lot of rules governing family law cases. You do not want an attorney who is not familiar with Florida family law. If the attorney does not know the law, he or she cannot competently represent you.
When looking for an attorney these are the most important things to consider. You do not want to pick any attorney to represent you. You should hire someone who is qualified and competent to handle your case.

Searching for Family Law Attorneys in Palm Beach

When starting your search for a reputable family law attorney in Palm Beach County, it is wise to engage in some research to learn more about your potential options. One potentially effective route is to search "Palm Beach family law attorney" through a search engine. Take a look at the results returned by the search engine—do they include independent third-party review sites? If so, click on those listings and read what previous clients have to say about their experience. Look for reviews that contain details about the case and how the attorney performed. For example, did the family law attorney respond promptly to his or her client? Did he make things easy or difficult when trial day came? Did your colleague receive an outcome he or she was pleased with at the end of their legal process? You may also want to conduct a search for Palm Beach family law attorneys on the Florida Bar member lookup tool, available at www.floridabar.org. Plug in the attorney’s first and last name into the search field. You can also provide additional information about the attorney, such as the bar number, if you have that information. Be sure to thoroughly vet anyone who comes up in the search results to familiarize yourself with his or her credentials.

Palm Beach Family Law Questions for Your Lawyer

Potential clients should come into a consultation prepared with questions, so they can maximize their time with the attorney. It is important that potential clients understand the attorney’s case strategy as well as attorney fees, so they can make an informed decision about hiring that attorney. The following are a few of the questions I suggest potential clients ask:
What type of case will you be handling?
The attorney should be able to explain the type of case to the client. The potential client should be able to walk away with an understanding of the difference between a contested dissolution of marriage, uncontested dissolution of marriage, contested paternity, uncontested paternity, etc.
How much will this cost?
Financial matters are very important when hiring an attorney. In my opinion, it does not make sense to hire an attorney whose fee is out of the client’s budget. However, I sell a lot of people in this area on the benefits of hiring me. For example, when you see someone like accountant, or a financial advisor, or a doctor, or a real estate agent, or a mechanic, or a stock broker, you expect them to be paid for their services . You will pay a premium for a specialist. While I have had clients hire me to do a divorce who do not have the funds to hire me, the reality is that no one wants the cheapest surgeon, mechanic, real estate agent, accountant, financial advisor, or stock broker out there. Find someone who you trust, who you feel confident in, and things will work out financially.
What is your case strategy?
The attorney should present a case strategy to the potential client. The strategy should include an outline of the various options the client has, along with the pros and cons of each option. The attorney should also have a general timeline for when certain actions occur and the likely outcome of those actions.
What are the likely results of the case?
The attorney should discuss with the client what is likely to happen at the conclusion of the case. If a case is too far out in the future for the attorney to see the "end of the case," then the attorney should discuss the goals and set timeframes to meet with the client periodically to ensure everyone is on the same page.

Family Lawyer Fees in Palm Beach

Typically, family law attorneys in Palm Beach County will charge clients based on their hourly rate. However, some attorneys will charge a retainer fee, a lump sum that is held in a segregated client trust account to pay for anticipated future legal costs. Hourly rates range from $200 to upwards of $450 per hour. Depending on the complexity of the issues at hand, this could easily translate to tens of thousands of dollars. A divorce or child custody case can take months or even years to resolve, so these retainer fees are often replenished several times throughout the litigation process.
If you are seeking the services of a family law attorney in Boca Raton or any other area of Palm Beach County, your attorney should break down her fees and explain to you how they will be spent. If at any time you question why you were charged an excessive amount, do not hesitate to request your attorney provide an accounting of your funds, the current balance in your client trust account, and an explanation of how the funds were spent.

What to Expect at Your First Meeting

When clients find me, cover my blog, and read up a little bit on family law, they almost always have a good idea of the ballpark of things that concern them. In our initial consultation, we will get into detail about those things. But the best way that a prospective client can be served in an initial consultation is by doing some work on the front-end. Just as if you were going to apply for a mortgage, get a loan, or try to buy a car – it helps to have your paperwork in order. In fact , these next few steps described should be thought of as a home mortgage checklist of sorts. If you will be talking to me about your divorce, it helps to print these forms out, and fill them in. On the same token, if you have kids and you need to talk with me about the custody or support issues with those children, here are some good starter questions to get you thinking about things you will want to know: It’s never too early to start doing this kind of research and reflection. Issues often arise that the courts may not think about, which may affect the outcome of your case.