I Needs Me Some Lawyering On The Cheap!

OK, I am a person who has never had trouble with the law and have never had a need for a lawyer so I do not know anything about them. I am in a situation now where I need to get a lawyer. I was just served with divorce papers yesterday, and while I am a pretty intelligent guy, I could make neither heads nor tails of anything. I guess some of that could be attributed to my emotional state also.

I did see a lawyer or two about one year ago. I had to pay a $100 consultation fee each time. After brief snippets of information I was given a retainer quote and sent on my merry little way. Problem is my financial situation sucks and I can’t afford the $3,500 to $5,000 being asked of me to retainer a lawyer nor can I afford the $100 consultation fee to see anymore lawyers and shop around for someone cheaper.

I need to know how someone with little to no money can get legal console. I am in Tampa, FL if that helps. Thanks in advance for the assistance.

Bay Area Legal Services: Home Office
829 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 2nd Floor
Tampa, FL 33603-3336
(813)-232-1343

“Bay Area Legal Services is a nonprofit public interest law firm. Our commitment is to provide quality civil legal services to individuals and nonprofit community groups whose circumstances limit their access to legal assistance.”

This is not a recommendation, reference, referral, or endorsement; I found this place on the web. I live in California, I’ve never heard of them, and I’m not a lawyer.

Also check in the yellow pages for “Legal Aid.”

Bay Area Legal Services is you local Legal Aid office.

(813) 232-1343

If they can’t help you, they probably know who can.

Good luck.

IANALAFAIWWICY (I am not a lawyer and free advice is worth what it cost you)

Get a decent lawyer and work out a payment plan with him. Don’t just pick some guy out of the book. Ask around with your friends who have been divorced. If both you and your wife are local don’t get some guy from out of the area. A good local atty is the best choice for a number of reasons.

Assuming you’re a middle class guy with typical middle class assets, unless it’s completely non-contentious the divorce will probably cost you around 2,000 - 6000 in most cases, but it can be more in complicated or especially acimonious cases.

Based on your past posts re your marital situation you’ve known this was coming for a while now, so just calm down and take stock. I assume by this point there are no open bank accounts you both have access to. If there are move the cash to another account and close them, or she will.

Unless there are allegations of a quasi criminal nature in the divorce papers that you have to respond to, 90% + of most divorces these days are by the numbers and property division and child support usually follows state formulas and guidelines very closely. There may be absurd demands for support or whatever in the papers. You can generally ignore those as most of this is posturing. The bottom line is figuring out what your real assets are and based on the applicable state law how they will be sliced and diced. You can look this up on the net

The usual deal is in most scenarios, unless the wife is moving away, is that

1: If you own a home the wife keeps the house because she will have the kids most of the time, and inherits the remainder of the mortgage, and retains the equity (if any) in the house. Sometimes the house is sold and both partners get new houses.

2: You guys agree on how the martial property (ie your stuff) will be divided. Play nice.

3: Custody and visitation is established (varies) if the man is local it’s usually about 60/40 or 70/30 wife/husband timewise.

4: Child support is established. This usually hews very closely to state guidelines which you can look up on the net and calculate it for yourself.

5: Significant alimony is pretty rare these days except for short term “rehabilitative alimony” if the wife has no job or income to help her get on her feet.

6: Dozens of mundane items like who claims kids on taxes (always choose the youngest) , who pays medical insurance (this can be a big cost item over time - if she has a much better program than the other, use it and pay her the cost difference to put the lids on it), dance lessons, therapy for kids (if necessary) etc. etc. etc.

Get a decent lawyer ASAP. A hack will cost you more money and grief than you could possibly imagine.

Here is a link and worksheet for calcualting child support

http://www.myflorida.com/dor/childsupport/guidlines.html

State Divorce Laws: Florida