DIVORCE
Educating yourself is the most important issue in hiring an attorney to handle divorce proceedings. Divorce can be a tense situation for any party associated with the matter. They do not always need to be a "slash and burn" campaign.
The Family Divisions is the State of New Hampshire have attempted to treat all divorces and parenting (custody) matters in a uniform manner. The goal is to weed out the situations where the parties have an agreement at least in principle and get those persons through the system efficiently. The system does not work smoothly for every person.
"Unbundled Services"
I offer "unbundled" services. This is a relatively new method for assisting people in getting through the process. Unbundled services all an attorney to draft papers, appear in court and give advice about the client's situation, usually and impending court hearing.
The advantage of this type of service is that the attorney and the client agree on the precise issue at hand. The client pays only for the time they spend with the attorney and never see a bill following the completion of the task.
The client is not paying for letters going back and forth to the other party or the court. This results in a savings to the client because the attorney is not simply acting as a post office. An attorney typically charges on 6 minute increments for this service.
For example, a hearing notice is forwarded to a retained attorney. The attorney copies the notice and send a memo with the same information on it as the hearing notice to the client and charges a .1. At $175 per hour, the cost to the client is $17.50. In an unbundled situation, all notices go directly to the client.
More Attentive Representation
If you can afford more attentive representation and you want an attorney to handle all aspects I can do that as well. A typical retainer is in the $2000 to $5000 range. A typical hourly rate would range from $150 to $225 per hour.
In general, at my hourly rate of $175, it costs in the range of $1500 to have an indication as to where the case is going. That means at least an idea of what the major issues are going to be going forward. Major issues are first and foremost the status of any children, whether they are insured, whether there is child support and how much, who they are going to live with primarily and parenting time for the non-residential (non-custodial) parent.
The next issue would be the disposition of the marital home, division of debt and distribution of marital assets.
To be quite honest, I am equipped to handle most divorces. If your matter includes an estate with assets (not including the marital home) exceeding $1,000,000, I would most likely refer you to a divorce firm.
I am an experienced litigator with proven results. I am humble and speak plainly. I will not become emotionally involved in your case. With that said, I am also a husband and a parent. I do understand and I can help.