5 Tips for Choosing the Best Family Attorney for Your Need
During the average adult’s lifetime, there may only be once or twice when you will need to hire local family lawyers in Sydney. From divorce to matters of life and death, like a living will or a traditional will, family lawyers are the ones to contact for help.
Here are 5 tips for choosing the best family attorney for your needs:
1. Interview a Potential Attorney
A future attorney is going to be working for you and not the other way around. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and keep asking different lawyers until you find the one that fits your needs. Not every attorney has the same methods, ethics, procedures, and fees, so finding the one that fits all your needs is important.
Most law firms will give you an estimate on what their fees will be, as well as how they handle different family law cases. These are the top things you will want to find out before hiring a family lawyer.
2. Find an Expert
Many lawyers are now narrowing their focus to one or two disciplines and therefore becoming specialists in a certain field of family law. You wouldn’t want a lawyer who specializes in traffic law to represent you in a legal family matter.
Ask the law firm which is the expert in whatever it is you need. Most of the time, each attorney in a firm has their own specialty, although they should each know all aspects of the local and federal laws.
3. Choose the Lawyer, Not the Firm
Although you want the law firm that employs, your attorney to be reputable and fair, the family law lawyer you choose is the one you need to be sure you can count on. You may not agree with everything the firm, or the attorney believes in or represents, however, overall, you need to be comfortable with them and their practices. You are hiring the lawyer and not the entire firm.
4. Budgetary Concerns
Be upfront with a potential attorney about your budget and concerns you have about their fees. Ask about payment plans and sliding scale fees. A sliding scale is based on your income and expenses, not on what the law firm needs to pay its overhead. Not all law firms are about making money, and those are the ones you should seek out and hire.
5. Make Your Own Decisions
An attorney is there to offer you advice and guidance. As an expert in their field, they will know what is best for your needs. However, you will want to make your own decisions in the end. If it doesn’t feel right, express your concerns. Talk with your representative about how you think things would be or how you were hoping things would go. One size does not fit all.
It is unfortunate that marriages end in divorce or that families fight over assets left by their elder family member, but it is part of life. Make sure you have the proper representation with an attorney you can trust. An experienced lawyer that has your best interest in mind.
