1. A recent credit report- you can obtain this free online from places like freecreditreport.com or Costco

2. Copies of state and federal tax returns for the last two years

3. Copies of your pay stubs for the last two months

4. An organized file containing all of the papers filed in this case, if the case has already been filed

5. A list of basic information for all of the people involved in the matter, including the other party, his or her attorney, your children, and all employers

1. Is the law practice limited to family law? Some law firms provide services in a variety of practice areas. Other law firms are devoted exclusively to family law. A firm that only practices family law is more likely to have the necessary family law knowledge, resources and experience to properly handle your matter.

2. Who will be doing the work on my case? In some cases, the attorney that you meet with in your consultation will not do the actual work on your case. This work can be assigned to associates or paralegals. Delegating work in this way may be an reasonable way of reducing the fees in your case. On the other hand, you may prefer to work with attorneys who do all of the work on your case themselves.

3. How much will this case cost? Family law attorneys usually bill by the hour from a prepaid retainer. In this situation you pay for the attorney’s time, not his or her work. The worst part of hourly billing, is that many attorneys will not even provide an estimate for the cost of a service such as a divorce. One alternative, fixed fee billing, provides the predictability of knowing how much a legal service will cost. I have written about why fixed fee family law is better than hourly billing for the client. In the context of an initial consultation, discussing a fixed fee requires attorneys to honestly assess the case and work involved, and requires them to submit this plan to the client.

4. What type of technologies are used and how will they benefit me? This might sound like a strange question, but would you hire an attorney who did not use the phone, computer, internet or email? If you did, you would know that you were at a technological disadvantage, and that your attorney would be less efficient. These inefficiencies could harm your case or cost you money in the long term. Likewise, there are other technologies today, such as document scanners, online resources, collaborative tools, and videoconferencing that can allow your attorney to get more done in less time. These technologies can all benefit you by saving you money.

5. How often can I talk about my case, and how easy will it be for me to contact my attorney? One of the most common complaints people have about their attorney is that their phone calls are not returned. This is not a universal trait amongst attorneys. Many attorneys diligently return all client phone calls and emails before the end of the business day. Another question to ask here, and another frequent complaint is how much the attorney is going to charge you to return his call. If he a is fixed fee attorney, the answer is, nothing.

The Law Offices of Evan Braunstein practices fixed fee family law in Los Angeles, California. If you have a California family law matter, you can contact us to arrange a free consultation.

California is a no-fault divorce state. Legally adequate grounds for divorce, under California Family Code Section 2310 are “incurable insanity” and “irreconcilable differences which have caused the irremediable dissolution of the marriage.” Residency for purposes of divorce requires that one party has lived in the state of California for the last 6 months, and in the particular county where the divorce will be filed for the last 3 months.

You may be eligible to file for divorce in both California and another state

It is possible that you meet the residency requirement to file for divorce in both California and in another state. This could happen if you live in California and your spouse lives in another state, or if your spouse lives in California and you live in another state. In either case, the choice of filing state will dictate which state’s laws will be applied to the divorce. Different states have substantially different laws regarding child custody and visitation, division of assets, child support, spousal support and other family law areas.

If you and your spouse live in different California counties, you may meet the residency requirements to file in either county. In general, the differences between counties’ rules are not nearly as big as the differences between the laws of California and those of other states. However, these differences are significant in some cases. If you are thinking about divorce and believe that you have a choice of state or a choice of county in your case, you should definitely discuss this with a California family law attorney.

You can file for divorce in California if you live in another state or country

As long as you meet the requirements for grounds and residency, you can file for divorce in California regardless of where you live. It might seem strange or counter-intuitive to work with a Los Angeles family law attorney if you live in San Francisco, Phoenix, New York, or London, but it can be very practical. The lawyer in Los Angeles consults with you, and prepares and reviews documents with you, through a combination of regular mail, telephone, internet, email, and videoconferencing, and handles the case there on your behalf. Although you may need to be physically present in Los Angeles for a limited number of court appearances, in many cases the parties are never required to appear in court. Technologies such as a document scanner, online collaboration tools, and video-conferencing can save you the travel, time, and stress of actually going to your lawyer’s office. If you live in Los Angeles or anywhere else, you can call this California family law attorney to arrange a free consultation.

Our site is simple, fast, safe and efficient

There are many attorneys practicing all types of law, who use these types of online collaborative tools and other technologies to efficiently and effectively practice law. If you are in the Los Angeles area and are looking for a Los Angeles Family Law Attorney contact my office for a free consultation

A fixed fee agreement provides a sensible alternative to hourly billing. When you hire a fixed fee family law attorney, you pay for work accomplished, not time spent. A fixed fee can be charged for any family law matter including divorce, dividing of property, and setting or modifying support or custody. The fixed fee agreement between you and your lawyer is tailored to the work that is done on your behalf. Most family law attorneys do not handle family law cases on a fixed fee basis. The Law Offices of Evan Braunstein practices family law on a fixed fee basis. If you are interested in fixed fee family law services and you live in southern California, you can contact the Law Offices of Evan Braunstein for a free consultation to discuss your case. Below, are five reasons to think about fixed fee family law.

1. A fixed fee agreement lets you know the exact cost ahead of time. Most people go to a lawyer, and a family law lawyer in particular, so that they will know what is going to happen. A fixed fee agreement lets you know exactly how much you will have to pay before you agree to hire a lawyer, giving you one less thing to worry about. And while no lawyer can promise results in your case, a fixed fee agreement can tell you how much the services will cost up front.

2. A fixed fee agreement promotes efficient work. You’ll never find yourself on the phone with your lawyer looking at your watch, wondering how much the call will cost. In a fixed fee setting, both you and your lawyer stand on solid ground, working together to resolve your case. After all, you have bigger issues to deal with at a time like this than a ticking time clock.

3. A fixed fee agreement rewards the efficient use of new time-saving technology. Recent advances in technology allow us to do more, faster and easier than could be done before. The premium that a fixed fee agreement places on efficiency encourages your lawyer to adopt and use these new technologies. In my practice, for example, every document is scanned as soon as it comes in the office and each client has a free extranet account, that gives them 24×7 secure online access to all of their documents and case information. If I need you to review a document, I can securely post it for your instant review. If you want to check a piece of information, you can instantly access it via any internet connection.

4. A fixed fee agreement promotes the free flow of information between client and attorney. In a fixed free setting you don’t have to worry about how much it will cost to talk to your lawyer, or if a particular issue is really important enough to spend time on. This leads to the free flow of ideas and information between you and your attorney, which can reduce the chance of surprises and result in a better quality of legal representation.

5. A fixed fee agreement means no more monthly bills. No more reviewing, checking or discussing a bill with your attorney. No more “Did it really take that long to do this?” or “How much more will this cost?”. With a fixed fee agreement, questions like these disappear, leaving you and your lawyer to concentrate on what really matters.