(Better Business Bureau )
This guest blog article was prepared for BBB Serving the San Francisco Bay Area and Coastal California by Law Office of Linda C. Garrett, a BBB Accredited Business.
Since 2001, I have been practicing family law in the Greater Bay Area. These two decades of experience have taught me so very much, including the conclusion that many people going to court do NOT “need” to “hire an attorney”!
It would be a big mistake to assume your family-law case requires an attorney! Not only will hiring an attorney many times make tensions between you and the other party more tense and bitter and cause your legal matter to take longer to resolve but also the amount of money you will waste, yes waste, in legal fees and costs.
A typical scenario is this: A prospective caller, sounding stressed and fearful, calls my office saying, “I need an attorney! The reasons are many and vary, of course - anything from “I’m thinking of filing for divorce” to “I have a hearing next month.”
A big (dirty) secret most family-law attorneys don’t want you to know is that you don’t always “need” an attorney. Can an attorney help? Yes, of course. But compare that to “needing” to “hire” an attorney.
Now you ask, “Then, what’s my other option?” Glad you asked! The answer is this: “hire a legal coach.” While I have many clients to which I provide full legal representation, I have also provided, as well as a limited number of attorneys, what is known as “unbundled legal services” (ULS). Simply put, it’s an a-la-carte type of legal service. The most common type is coaching-only type services. ULS works! I know this because I have been successfully providing ULS since 2002. There are thousands of ways ULS can help in your case—the most common is “coaching services.” Other common types are ghostwriting, document review, and preparation for any type of court appearance.
Coaching services
This is where you can ask countless questions about your legal case and related facts, forms, procedures, laws, etc. For instance, questions relating to the assessment of the strengths/weaknesses of your case, seeking clarification on the laws/rules for proceeding in your case, strategizing the best approach for proceeding with your case to quickly resolve it, how to prepare for mediation, how to prepare for a hearing, how to prepare for a trial—yes, a trial!
Typical example: A tearful unmarried mom calls me, saying, “I need to hire an attorney because I need to protect my legal rights against the father!” In speaking with her during her first 1-hour coaching, I learn that she and father “had a one-time hook-up” and her baby is now 1-month old.” She lives in Napa, and her biological dad lives in Los Angeles. The parties have not talked since the day she told her biological dad she was pregnant. His choice. Because she was smart to pay for just one hour of coaching and not file anything with the court until she talked with me, she learned, as an unmarried woman, that she had 100% physical and legal custody of her daughter. In other words, the biological dad had 0% rights. And, if she did, in fact, file a “petition for custody”, she would most likely LOSE about 50% of her legal rights, as statistically, the judge in her case would grant her father, at the very least, joint legal custody and court-ordered visitation for him. With coaching, she would have known not to do anything and leave it to her biological dad to file a petition for parentage. And, crossing my fingers, he never would! Her total legal cost: 1 hour of my time.
In comparison, had she called any other family-law attorney who does not offer ULS and is seeking legal representation, she would have signed a contract, paid a hefty retainer deposit of about $5,000 to $10,000, and ended up losing up to 50% of her legal rights after the case was over and ended up paying more legal fees because the attorney used up the initial retainer deposit. Before “hiring an attorney,” first find out if ULS is a possible option.
When considering researching a family-law attorney who also provides ULS, ensure they are BBB A+ rated, have great reviews, and offer ULS as an initial option.
The Better Business Bureau Serving The San Francisco Bay Area and Northern Coastal California thanks The Law Office of Linda C. Garrett for submitting this guest blog.