Your firm only deals with divorce agreements, and right now I don’t have one. Don’t I need one before I cOntact you?
No, most of our clients don’t have an agreement when they first contact us. We help them reach one with our approach.
WHAT IF I DO HAVE AN AGREEMENT?
For clients who already have an agreement for all the issues and just need help with the paperwork, we usually charge a flat fee of $1000-$1500, depending on the issues.
For clients who have a proposed agreement prepared by opposing counsel for their spouse (or one they prepared themselves) and just need it to be reviewed, we usually charge a flat fee of $350 for an hour of consultation.
I HAVEN’T DECIDED IF I NEED A DIVORCE YET, BUT I’D LIKE TO KNOW MY OPTIONS. WILL YOU STILL OFFER A FREE CONSULTATION?
Sure. Many of our clients were in your position at some point, and we are happy to set up a meeting with our attorney. No obligation.
CAN YOU HELP ME IF MY SPOUSE HAS ALREADY HIRED AN ATTORNEY AND FILED FOR DIVORCE?
Yes, if your spouse is willing to cooperate. We’ve helped a number of clients negotiate an early agreement under those circumstances.
WHAT IF I WANT TO EXPLORE AN EARLY AGREEMENT BUT MY SPOUSE DOESN’T?
If your spouse is unwilling to cooperate by providing current account statements, pay stubs, etc., then any discussion of an agreement would be meaningless. Your divorce is contested and our approach won’t help you.
How can your firm offer one flat fee when others typically don’t?
Unlike most family law attorneys, we do not accept any contested cases, which thereby eliminates the long, expensive and unpredictable fight from the equation used to calculate our flat fee.
IS YOUR FREE CONSULTATION A TEMPORARY MARKETING STRATEGY?
No, it’s our standard billing policy. Since we do not accept any contested cases, we do not believe that it is proper to charge for the initial consultation if there is a chance that we might not be willing to accept your case.
CAN one ATTORNEY REPRESENT BOTH PARTIES IN An uncontested DIVORCE?
No, sorry. It’s a clear conflict of interest. Your spouse is always free to decide for themselves whether or not to hire their own counsel during any part of the negotiations.
We recommend and fully expect that any spouse without counsel during negotiations will consult with an experienced family law attorney before they sign the final agreement.
CAN YOU REPRESENT CLIENTS ANYWHERE IN GEORGIA?
Yes, we can guide you through all the negotiations and prepare the Agreement and all of the other necessary paperwork for the Final Decree of Divorce for any county in Georgia.
We routinely accept clients in Fayette and Coweta counties and regularly accept clients from other counties on a case-by-case basis.
SINCE YOUR ATTORNEY IS RETIRED AND DOESN’T KEEP REGULAR OFFICE HOURS, wON’T IT BE DIFFICULT TO REACH HIM FOR QUESTIONS OR PROBLEMS?
No, not at all. On the contrary, our attorney is much more accessible to clients now than he ever was when he managed a full-time trial practice.
Clients are given access to his direct cell phone number, and he often texts or chats or Zooms with them about their cases on weekdays and evenings, and sometimes on weekends, too, if it’s not football season.
We challenge you to find another top-rated family law attorney in the area with that much accessibility.
IF MY SPOUSE AND I ALREADY HAVE AN AGREEMENT, THEN CAN’T WE JUST TRY TO DO EVERYTHING OURSELVES?
Yes, you can. The real question is whether or not you should.
Unless you have no minor children, little or no property and a modest income, or a unique set of circumstances, a divorce is likely to have a major impact on the rest of your life.
No matter how smart you are, you don’t know what you don’t know.
Potential tax liabilities or penalties from dividing retirement accounts, establishing reliable child visitation rules, calculating the present value of future income, valuating businesses, predicting alimony awards, deciding what is and what isn’t marital property, what a judge is likely to do if you can’t agree and have to go to court, and many other issues which you may not even know are lurking, can all have serious consequences if handled improperly or not addressed at all.
ARE YOU ABLE TO REACH AN EARLY AGREEMENT FOR ALL OF YOUR CLIENTS?
No, it would be unreasonable to expect that, but our success rate is the same or a little better than the 90% of all divorces which start as a fight and eventually end with an agreement between the parties anyway.
The meaningful difference is that we offer an EARLY agreement. We start with that. We cherry pick our clients and their spouses, who are both willing to cooperate to reach an early agreement, and we begin negotiations for the agreement right away instead of starting a fight like most divorce attorneys.
Fighting for six months or longer before an agreement is discussed will not save you stress, time or money.
WHAT HAPPENS IF WE CAN’T REACH AN EARLY AGREEMENT AND THE CASE BECOMES CONTESTED?
We will refund any unearned fees and we can refer you to capable family law trial attorneys in the area, if you like.
YOUR APPROACH MAKES SO MUCH SENSE, SO WHY DON’T MORE ATTORNEYS PROMOTE COOPERATIVE DIVORCE?
While we don’t presume to speak for anyone else, we believe the answer is money. The way the system is set up, divorce attorneys make much more money by fighting than they do by working out an agreement.
SO WHY DOES YOUR ATTORNEY OFFER THIS APPROACH, THEN?
Here is his response: “Cooperative divorce was a part of my civil litigation practice that I really enjoyed. I love the strategy of our approach, it’s very rewarding to me to help good people work through a challenging problem, and my approach seems to attract smart clients which makes my job that much easier. I also think my profession should offer more alternatives for resolving legal conflicts other than just fighting in court. I’m too old to handle the stress of a trial practice anymore, so this is perfect for me during my retirement.”
IS YOUR ATTORNEY AVAILABLE TO MEET IN PERSON?
Sure. He has been a member of the Clubs of Peachtree City and Newnan since 2004, which includes five different golf and country clubs in the area. He regularly meets with clients at the club most convenient to his client.