How to Find the Best Divorce Lawyer in Bakersfield California?  - Bakersfield DIvorce Lawyer | California Family Law Attorney

It’s a trick question. You don’t want to find the absolute best divorce attorney in Bakersfield, California There are lots of divorce lawyers in Bakersfield that would do an equally very good job for you. It would undoubtedly be impracticable to figure out which one is the “very best.”

The correct concern for you, the Bakersfield divorce consumer, is precisely how to choose one of those Bakersfield best divorce lawyers at the proper standards of representation and cost for the realities of your individual situation – while steering clear of all of the typical, and in some cases hazardous, mistakes of the Bakersfield divorce attorney hiring decision.

If you understand what those mistakes are (I will tell you in this article) and if you have the right mindset, particularly that you want to make your Bakersfield divorce attorney fit your instance and not enable the lawyer to compel your instance to fit his or her rigid practice profile, then you boost greatly your chances of nailing the Bakersfield divorce attorney employing decision. Getting you through that selection effectively is the objective of this blog post.

To begin with, let’s itemize the 4 things to stay clear of:

1. Avoid Do-It-Yourself Divorce:

It is possible, repeat POSSIBLE, to acquire cost-free family law forms from California’s judicial council or family court internet sites. Those cost-free divorce forms are going to be blank, obviously. You can then attempt to complete and record the forms at your regional Kern County divorce court by yourself without specialist aid. This is feasible – nevertheless highly improbable, really difficult, complex, irritating and incredibly lengthy.

DIY divorce would certainly be effectively unattainable, and not smart even to try, in any kind of  complex or contested family law case. It would certainly be highly improbable to be successful if you have minor children of the marriage or have any kind of property or financial obligations to be itemized in the case or have custody, visitation or assistance agreements in your matter. It would absolutely be risky in a case involving domestic violence. DIY would certainly additionally be challenging if you work or if you put any kind of value on your own time. Family law documents and processeses are created by lawyers to perplex you so that you hire – an attorney.

Please excuse me if I don’t spend too much time on the DIY danger. My experience on the front lines of California divorce for the past 40+ years is that individuals that start the divorce procedure with the intent to attempt to obtain a totally free divorce are going to  attempt DIY divorce regardless of what. For some reason, probably economic, there is nothing I have actually had the ability to uncover to encourage them not to.

DIY in Family Law is consistently false saving. You WILL almost certainly screw it up, and screwed-up matters are far more problematic and costly to fix and conclude. Do not play this game. The system is created by lawyers to perplex you and compel you to hire a divorce attorney. There are now economical alternatives readily available– see below. Do not go it alone in Divorce or Family Law.

2. Avoid Traditional Bakersfield Family Law Attorneys if Your Case is Likely to be Uncontested:

An uncontested divorce is simply one in which the participants will not be contesting any kind of problems, including the divorce itself. The participants don’t need to be pleased and they don’t need to like each other. They are either completely or mostly in agreement on all problems and are smart enough to understand that conventional full-representation divorce lawyers (with huge retainers and billable hrs) would certainly be the only winners if they contested reasonably inconsequential problems in their divorce.

Conventional complete representation by a local Bakersfield divorce attorney is when that attorney will represent you in all parts of your divorce matter. It is highly likely to be a very good service, but it is really expensive.

If you have a disputed matter, a complicated matter, a high-value matter or a case that includes domestic violence or the threat of domestic violence, complete representation by a Bakersfield divorce attorney is NOT to be evaded. It is a requirement.

A disputed matter means that you and your spouse/partner are contesting ANY issue in the matter. A complex matter consists of legal complexities such as tax problems, current business problems, a special needs child of the marriage or any one of countless other intricate legal scenarios. A high-value case denotes that your marital estate is huge. There is no particular dollar limit. Certainly, if you have a high 7-figure net marital estate or higher, that is a high-value matter.

If you suspect that you have a disputed,complex or high-value matter, you do. Work with an expert and high priced Bakersfield divorce attorney for complete traditional representation. Look for a certified Family Law specialist. You will not be sorry you did.

If you do NOT have a disputed, complex, high-value or domestic violence case, you do NOT need traditional complete representation by a Bakersfield divorce attorney. In fact, under those conditions, complete legal representation by a Bakersfield divorce attorney ends up being a risk to your economic position. Avoid it.

Naturally, if you call or email a conventional Bakersfield divorce attorney, they will not tell you that you do not need their complete representation service. In fact, they will attempt to terrify the crap out of you by informing you that you completely require their service and that your case will get messed up without it.

That could possibly come to pass– even in a non-DIY case. I’ll advise you next how to stay clear of potentially 90+% of the potential danger of getting your case messed up if you don’t go DIY and you DON’T hire a conventional Bakersfield divorce lawyer on a full representation basis.

Your case might likewise potentially get messed up if you DID hire a full representation Bakersfield divorce lawyer. That’s likewise not probable, however it could take place.

However, what will DEFINITELY take place if you hire a conventional complete representation Bakersfield divorce lawyer to handle your uncontested divorce or family law case is that you will get screwed economically. Your case might be managed extremely well, however you will overbuy excessive services and you will overpay for them.

There’s no need for that to take place anymore. Your mothers and fathers had few other alternatives on their family law employing decisions. Your grandparents had no other alternatives. You have numerous legitimate alternatives to make your Bakersfield uncontested divorce attorney employing selection based upon the nature and facts of your case, not upon the BMW payments of Bakersfield divorce lawyers. Continue reading.

3. Avoid Unqualified Unregulated Online Divorce Mills:

This is without a doubt the greatest threat you face in your employing selection in regards to damage to your future legal and economic safety. Non-lawyer online divorce is a big market. And it is incredibly hazardous to your legal and economic future.

Online divorce mills use slick sites, wicked-cool divorce software application, charges lower than MOST lawyers, no legal suggestions, no legal knowledge, no professional licensing, no legal education, no code of principles, no malpractice insurance, no knowledge of Kern County divorce procedures, no local knowledge about Kern County guidelines of court, local Kern County documents, local practices or the policies of specific local judges in the Bakersfield region and no expert interest in you or your case. And all within a completely uncontrolled Wild-West market widespread with all kinds of incompetence, price fraud, and up-selling.

Online divorce mill charges average about $300, however what you get for that $300 fee is extremely little– just prepared California divorce forms. Any other services delivered are all up-sold on the basis that when they’ve got you hooked, what are you going to do – leave cash already spent? You are at their whim and you are completely unprotected. And they recognize it!

See the Online Divorce Association of America’s website for a great summary of just a few of the more typical scams and up-sells to be discovered in the online divorce market.

If you hire an online divorce mill, you’ll constantly be contending with low-level, inexperienced, disinterested, high turn-over personnel, call center staff members and folks in India, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Mexico or some other state. Nobody will conduct any kind of analysis on your case to protect you and any minor children from future legal or monetary damage. Customer assistance will be awful because it does not need to be anything else. You will never be able to meet with anyone at an online divorce mill as it is highly likely that none of them are located in Bakersfield and even in California

If you hire an online divorce mill thinking you will save yourself a few dollars and you and your household wind up paying for their mistakes for several years, that is NOT an inexpensive divorce!

4. Avoid Me-Too Lawyer Advertising Platforms:

Me-Too Lawyer Advertising Platforms are online lawyer directory sites like Avvo, FindLaw, LegalZoom, Justia, Google Screened, Google Business Profile (formerly GMB) and now even Yelp. This is the most recent risk to stay clear of in your Bakersfield divorce lawyer employing decision.

However, the potential harm here is not significant– nowhere near the damage done consistently by non-lawyer online divorce mills or undoubtedly the damage likely to be done by you to your own case with DIY divorce.

If you hire a Bakersfield divorce lawyer you found on a mass-lawyer finder platform, you’re going to overpay to some extent, depending on just how much the lawyer is paying the lawyer finder platform, however not as severely as if you had actually hired a conventional complete representation Bakersfield family law lawyer directly.

Clearly, you don’t wish to hire a conventional complete representation Bakersfield divorce lawyer you find on a mass-lawyer platform. That would compound your over-payment, however the crucial element here is that you don’t wish to hire a conventional complete representation Bakersfield divorce lawyer to handle your easy uncontested divorce, no matter where you find that lawyer!!

The danger with employing a Bakersfield divorce lawyer that you stumble on ONLY on a mass-lawyer platform is that you’re working with a run-of-the-mill Bakersfield divorce lawyer– a drone who just stands in line with all other Bakersfield divorce lawyers and HOPES that s/he will get your trade however does nothing to distinguish himself or herself from the Bakersfield lawyer-crowd. That lawyer does nothing to convince you that s/he is the standout solution to your case. You don’t want that lawyer.

You want a Bakersfield divorce lawyer who is imaginative, vibrant, distinct, stylish and business-savvy. In fact, why would you hire a Bakersfield divorce lawyer to oversee your own legal and economic interests when s/he does not even care for his or her own business interests aggressively and decisively? You’re searching for a divorce lawyer who purposefully sets himself or herself apart from the Bakersfield lawyer-crowd and does NOT blend in by joining Avvo and doing nothing else.

Mass-lawyer finder platforms like Avvo are completely free to join, which is why every divorce lawyer in Kern County will have signed up. So you must not disqualify a Bakersfield divorce lawyer only because s/he has an Avvo account.

However, you must not think that such a Bakersfield divorce lawyer is really shrewd or business-savvy either. The issue is that while these mass-lawyer platforms are completely free for the lawyer to sign up, the lawyer needs to then start to pay continually increasing charges on a bid-basis, constantly battling against other local Kern County divorce lawyers, to be seen on the top page of the platform’s website. If that lawyer does not pay more, s/he’ll be on page 3 or 5 of the mass-lawyer website in even a medium-sized town. If that lawyer does not keep bidding up his or her charges, she’ll not get enough cases to stay in business.

It’s a winner-take-all system with the top really few lawyers in each town taking almost all the business– based on just how much marketing charges they can pay– not based on how great they are or on how they have configured their offerings to suit your case. The barrier to that me-too lawyer getting your trade is the amount of cash s/he is prepared to pay to get it, not the quality and skill of his or her service offerings.

If that me-too divorce lawyer in Bakersfield pays more to the mass-lawyer finder platform and keeps paying more, s/he’ll get a featured position on the platform’s website and will get more business, however his or her expenses of getting cases will continuously rise while his or her charges are reasonably fixed by the flat need for consumer law services such as divorce.

The Bakersfield divorce lawyer who plays the Avvo pay-to-play scheme will constantly need more and more lower revenue cases just to stay on top of sales expenses. You don’t want that business-foolishness in someone you will trust with your legal and economic future.

And yes, that lawyer is going to use the same brain to care for your case as s/he used to screw his or her own business into the ground.

How to Find the Best Bakersfield Divorce Lawyer – Bakersfield DIvorce Lawyer | California Family Law Attorney

So above are 4 factors to stay clear of: DIY divorce, traditional full-service lawyer representation in easy uncontested cases, unlicensed and uncontrolled online divorce mills and boring me-too drone lawyers who are really bad at law practice business.

So what do you actually seek in a Bakersfield divorce lawyer?

Before I tell you, I wish to set the stage by providing you 2 exceptional data that I did not believe when I initially saw them. These are game-changers in the legal profession and you need to take full advantage of them in your Bakersfield divorce lawyer employing decision:

1. There is a glut of lawyers on the market and it’s serious. According to the ABA National Lawyer Population Survey, in 2017, the whole legal profession lost some 1400 jobs while almost 20,000 brand new lawyers have been added – just in 2017. And the ABA has just certified a huge new law school down in Texas. And this has been trending for years. And all of this surplus of supply while the demand for legal services has been flat or, as in the case of family law, diminishing because of DIY divorce and the overwhelming success of fraudulent and incompetent online divorce mills (both caused by the Internet).
2. From 1988 to 2012, the average solo lawyer practitioner’s yearly income, after adjusting for inflation, dropped from $70,747 to $49,130. Read that last sentence again. This is based on published data from the IRS compiled from solo lawyer practitioner tax returns for the years specified. The legal profession is in serious economic decline. More so in areas of consumer law, like uncontested divorce, where the Internet has reduced the knowledge gap between lawyers and consumers.

What to Look For:

Business-savvy lawyers who want to participate in the divorce industry are under considerable price and business-model pressure right now. Take advantage! You want to hire a Bakersfield divorce lawyer who has responded to this professional crisis in the following ways.

You want as many of the following factors as you can find in one Bakersfield divorce attorney:

1. Licensed local Bakersfield divorce attorney (not an unlicensed out-of-state online divorce mill);
2. Offers unbundled services in uncontested cases– this suggests that you just pay for the legal services your case needs. You will normally do your own filing of docs at court and schedule the service of filed docs on your spouse/partner. The divorce lawyer will examine your docs before they are submitted to court, identify problem issues in your case and recommend the very best alternatives based upon legal suggestions and local knowledge. If you call a lawyer and inquire about unbundled services and you can determine they don’t know or don’t want you to know, just hang up. They don’t yet get it. Carry on. Do not educate them.
3. Uses online divorce software that allows you to log into a client portal and enterall of the information in your case.  This not only conserves time and money, but it actually empowers you in your own case. You are the source of all datain your case. Also, there’s no 50-page paper copyone-size-fits-all questionnaire for you to complete in the lawyer’s waiting room.
4. Uses other cloud-based software and apps – listen for buzz phrases like “client portal” and “virtual law practice.” Ask about e-filing and listen closely to determine if the lawyer even knows what it is.
5. Doesn’t have a fancy office in a downtown high-rise or across from the courthouse. You don’t want to pay those rents. This is even more so during C-19. You’re looking for a lawyer in a strip mall or even one who works at home and has one or more shared office arrangements for client meetings. Don’t use a lawyer who has obviously big expenses – YOU pay them!
6. Look for a competitive edge. Look for a lawyer who understands what is going on around him or her in his or her chosen profession. The practice of law is legal education, knowledge and experience attached to a business model. If you call a lawyer and ask about unbundled services or online divorce interviews and they act like law practice is ONLY a noble profession and not a competitive business, hang up. Don’t educate them. They don’t yet get it.
7. Specialization – You don’t want to hire a lawyer who is a jack-of-all-trades on the basis that s/he might get hired for something. There are many different areas of law practice. They are very different from each other. Specialization is the name of the game today. Look at the lawyer’s website. It will tell you whether s/he is trying to get work in numerous areas of practice. It doesn’t matter if the lawyer handles maybe 2 areas of law, particularly if they are both areas of consumer law, such as divorce and bankruptcy. However, if you see that the primary practice area is DUI or personal injury or criminal law and family law appears to be an add-on, move on. Don’t explain.  Just move on. They do not handle enough family law to be any good.  They use family law as an unwanted add-on.  They will not be experienced enough and they will have to charge you a lot because you will be one of very few family law clients. Also, personal injury law paydays are huge and criminal law cases are critical to someone’s personal freedom. Where do you think your family law case will fit into that lawyer’s busy day?
8. Look for a spark – You are looking for a lawyer who has positioned himself or herself in such a way as to convince you that s/he is the unique local divorce lawyer in Bakersfield that is best suited to resolving your case and your specific problems. This is hard to define, but you will understand if that lawyer makes this connection with you. If there is no such spark on the first exposure, there never will be. Move on.
9. Look for Unique Action – Obviously, this does not involve ONLY standing in line with every other lawyer at Avvo or similar me-too lawyer platforms. Avvo owns all of that attorney’s blog posts and may control his or her entire marketing outreach. Avvo takes money from that lawyer in order to sign up more lawyers in Bakersfield lawyer-crowd. You’re looking for someone with style who stands out, not melds in. 1-800-DIVORCE is exclusive in Bakersfield. There is only one 1-800-DIVORCE lawyer in Bakersfield. Check here or complete the web form below to see if Bakersfield has a 1-800-DIVORCE.

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