How to Find the Best Divorce Lawyer in Baton Rouge Louisiana?  - Baton Rouge Divorce Lawyers - Local Family Law Firms in Baton Rouge

It’s a trick question. You don’t need to get the very best divorce lawyer or attorney in Baton Rouge, Louisiana There are numerous divorce attorneys in Baton Rouge who would certainly do an every bit as excellent job for you. It would undoubtedly be out of the question to figure which one is the “absolute best.”

The actual issue for you, the Baton Rouge divorce consumer, is exactly how to identify one of those Baton Rouge top divorce attorneys at the appropriate standards of representation and expense for the realities of your individual situation – while avoiding all of the common, and sometimes hazardous, mistakes of the Baton Rouge divorce lawyer hiring choice.

If you know what those mistakes are (I will advise you in this post) and if you have the correct attitude, specifically that you intend to make your Baton Rouge divorce lawyer fit your situation and not enable the attorney to compel your situation to fit his or her rigid practice profile, after that you enhance substantially your chances of nailing the Baton Rouge divorce lawyer hiring choice. Getting you through that choice successfully is the purpose of this article.

To start with, let’s specify the 4 aspects to stay clear of:

1. Avoid Do-It-Yourself Divorce:

It is entirely possible, repeat POSSIBLE, to download cost-free family law documents from Louisiana’s judicial council or family court web sites. Those cost-free divorce documents are going to be blank, obviously. You can at that point attempt to complete and file the documents at your regional East Baton Rouge Parish divorce court on your own without specialist aid. This is possible – nevertheless extremely unlikely, extremely difficult, complicated, irritating and incredibly slow.

Do it yourself divorce would be practically unachievable, and not wise even to attempt, in any  complex or contested family law process. It would be extremely unlikely to be effective if you have minor children of the marriage or have any assets or debts to be detailed in the case or have custody, visitation or support agreements in your case. It would certainly be reckless in a case entailing domestic physical violence. Do it yourself would additionally be difficult if you have a job or if you put any kind of value on your own time. Family law forms and procedures are made by attorneys to confuse you to make sure that you work with – a lawyer.

Please excuse me if I don’t invest way too much time on the do it yourself risk. My experience on the cutting edge of California divorce for the past 40+ years is that people who start the divorce procedure with the intent to attempt to get a totally free divorce are most likely to  attempt Do-It-Yourself divorce regardless of what. For some reason, most likely economic, there is absolutely nothing I‘ve been able to uncover to encourage them not to.

Do It Yourself in Family Law is typically fake saving. You WILL almost certainly screw it up, and screwed-up matters are a lot more troublesome and expensive to fix and conclude. Don’t play this game. The system is made by attorneys to confuse you and compel you to hire a divorce lawyer. There are now economical alternatives available– see listed below. Don’t go it alone in Divorce or Family Law.

 

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

An uncontested divorce is just one in which the parties will not be contesting any issues, including the divorce itself. The parties don’t have to be pleased and they don’t have to care for each other. They are either completely or mainly in agreement on all issues and are wise enough to recognize that traditional full-representation divorce attorneys (with huge retainers and billable hrs) would be the only winners if they contested relatively inconsequential issues in their divorce.

Baton Rouge Divorce Lawyers - Local Family Law Firms in Baton RougeConventional complete representation by a neighborhood Baton Rouge divorce lawyer is when that lawyer will represent you in all facets of your divorce matter. It is extremely likely to be an excellent professional service, yet it is way over-priced.

If you have a disputed matter, a complex matter, a high-value matter or a case that involves domestic violence or the threat of domestic violence, complete representation by a Baton Rouge divorce lawyer is NOT to be avoided. It is a necessity.

A disputed matter denotes that you and your spouse/partner are contesting ANY issue in the matter. A complicated matter contains legal intricacies such as tax issues, current business issues, a special needs child of the marriage or any one of many additional intricate legal issues. A high-value case means that your marital estate is very large. There is no particular dollar limit. Definitely, if you have a high 7-figure net marital estate or greater, that is a high-value matter.

If you suspect that you have a disputed,complicated or high-value matter, you do. Hire an expert and high priced Baton Rouge divorce lawyer 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 require traditional complete representation by a Baton Rouge divorce lawyer. In fact, under those circumstances, complete legal representation by a Baton Rouge divorce lawyer becomes a threat to your economic position. Steer clear of it.

Naturally, if you call or email a conventional Baton Rouge divorce lawyer, they will not tell you that you do not require their complete representation service. In fact, they will attempt to frighten the crap out of you by telling you that you without a doubt are in need of their service which your case will get messed up without it.

That might come to pass– even in a non-DIY case. I’ll share with you next how to stay away from perhaps 90+% of the prospective risk of getting your case messed up if you don’t go DIY and you DON’T hire a conventional Baton Rouge divorce attorney on a full representation basis.

Your case might likewise perhaps get messed up if you DID hire a full representation Baton Rouge divorce attorney. That’s likewise not likely, but it could possibly take place.

However, what will DEFINITELY take place if you hire a conventional complete representation Baton Rouge divorce attorney to manage your uncontested divorce or family law case is that you will get screwed economically. Your case may be managed extremely well, but you will overbuy needless services and you will pay too much for them.

There’s no requirement for that to take place any longer. Your mothers and fathers had few other alternatives on their family law hiring choices. Your grandparents had no other alternatives. You have numerous valid alternatives to make your Baton Rouge uncontested divorce lawyer hiring choice based upon the nature and facts of your case, not upon the BMW payments of Baton Rouge divorce attorneys. Keep reading.

3. Avoid Unqualified Unregulated Online Divorce Mills:

This is without a doubt the greatest danger you face in your hiring choice in terms of damage to your future legal and economic safety. Non-lawyer online divorce is a big industry. And it is incredibly hazardous to your legal and economic future.

Online divorce mills offer slick sites, wicked-cool divorce computer software, costs lower than MOST attorneys, no legal suggestions, no legal knowledge, no professional licensing, no legal education, no code of principles, no malpractice insurance, no knowledge of East Baton Rouge Parish divorce policies, no regional knowledge about East Baton Rouge Parish rules of court, regional East Baton Rouge Parish forms, regional practices or the policies of specific regional judges in the Baton Rouge area and no expert interest in you or your case. And all within a totally unregulated Wild-West industry rampant with all sort of incompetence, price fraud, and up-selling.

Online divorce mill costs average about $300, but what you get for that $300 fee is incredibly little– just prepared Louisiana divorce documents. Any other services provided are all up-sold on the basis that when they’ve got you hooked, what are you going to do – walk away from cash already invested? You are at their mercy and you are completely vulnerable. And they realize it!

See the Online Divorce Association of America’s site for a very good assessment of merely some of the more typical frauds and up-sells to be found in the online divorce industry.

If you choose an online divorce mill, you’ll constantly be dealing with low-level, untrained, disinterested, high turn-over personnel, call center workers and folks in India, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Mexico or some other state. Nobody will conduct any kind of analysis on your case to safeguard you and any minor children from future legal or monetary damage. Customer support will be awful due to the fact that it does not have to be anything else. You will never have the ability to consult with anybody at an online divorce mill as it is highly likely that none of them lie in Baton Rouge or perhaps in Louisiana

If you work with an online divorce mill thinking you will conserve yourself a few dollars and you and your household end up paying for their mistakes for years, that is NOT a low-cost 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 newest mistake to stay clear of in your Baton Rouge divorce lawyer hiring choice.

However, the prospective damage here is not big– 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 work with a Baton Rouge divorce attorney you found on a mass-lawyer finder platform, you’re going to pay too much to some extent, depending on just how much the lawyer is paying the lawyer finder platform, but not as badly as if you had hired a conventional complete representation Baton Rouge family law attorney directly.

Undoubtedly, you don’t want to hire a conventional complete representation Baton Rouge divorce attorney you discover on a mass-lawyer platform. That would intensify your over-payment, but the crucial factor here is that you don’t want to hire a conventional complete representation Baton Rouge divorce attorney to manage your simple uncontested divorce, no matter where you discover that lawyer!!

Baton Rouge Divorce Lawyers - Local Family Law Firms in Baton RougeThe risk with hiring a Baton Rouge divorce attorney that you discover ONLY on a mass-lawyer platform is that you’re hiring a mediocre Baton Rouge divorce attorney– a drone who just stands in line with all other Baton Rouge divorce attorneys and HOPES that s/he will get your trade but does nothing to distinguish himself or herself from the Baton Rouge lawyer-crowd. That lawyer does nothing to influence you that s/he is the unequalled resolution to your case. You don’t want to have that lawyer.

You want to get a Baton Rouge divorce lawyer who is imaginative, vibrant, unique, classy and business-savvy. In fact, why would you work with a Baton Rouge divorce lawyer to care for your own legal and economic interests when s/he does not even take care of his or her own business interests strongly and decisively? You’re looking for a divorce lawyer who purposefully sets himself or herself apart from the Baton Rouge lawyer-crowd and does NOT blend in by joining Avvo and doing nothing else.

Mass-lawyer finder platforms like Avvo are free of charge to sign up with, which is why every divorce lawyer in East Baton Rouge Parish will have signed up. So you need to not disqualify a Baton Rouge divorce lawyer only because s/he has an Avvo account.

However, you need to not think that such a Baton Rouge divorce lawyer is extremely shrewd or business-savvy either. The issue is that while these mass-lawyer platforms are free of charge for the lawyer to sign up, the lawyer must then start to pay constantly increasing costs on a bid-basis, constantly competing versus other regional East Baton Rouge Parish divorce attorneys, to be seen on the leading page of the platform’s site. If that lawyer does not pay extra, s/he’ll be on page 3 or 5 of the mass-lawyer site in even a medium-sized town. If that lawyer does not keep bidding up his or her costs, she’ll not get sufficient trade to keep up.

It’s a winner-take-all system with the leading extremely few attorneys in each town taking almost all the business– based on just how much advertising costs they can pay– not based on how good they are or on how they have configured their offerings to fit 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 distinctiveness of his or her service offerings.

If that me-too divorce lawyer in Baton Rouge pays more to the mass-lawyer finder platform and keeps paying more, s/he’ll get a highlighted position on the platform’s site and will get more clients, but his or her costs of doing business will continuously rise while his or her costs are relatively set by the flat need for consumer law services such as divorce.

The Baton Rouge divorce lawyer who plays the Avvo pay-to-play game will constantly require a growing number of lower profit cases just to stay on top of sales costs. You don’t desire that business-foolishness in somebody you will rely on with your legal and economic future.

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

How to Find the Best Baton Rouge Divorce Lawyer – Baton Rouge Divorce Lawyers - Local Family Law Firms in Baton Rouge

So above are 4 problems to refrain from using: do it yourself divorce, traditional full-service lawyer representation in simple uncontested cases, unlicensed and unregulated online divorce mills and boring me-too drone attorneys who are really bad at law practice business.

So what do you actually search for in a Baton Rouge divorce attorney?

Baton Rouge Divorce Lawyers - Local Family Law Firms in Baton RougeBefore I advise you, I want to set the stage by offering you 2 remarkable statistics that I did not accept when I initially saw them. These are game-changers in the legal profession and you need to maximize them in your Baton Rouge divorce lawyer selection choice:

  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 Baton Rouge 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 Baton Rouge divorce attorney:

  1. Licensed local Baton Rouge divorce attorney (not an unlicensed out-of-state online divorce mill);
  2. Offers unbundled services in uncontested cases– this means that you just buy the legal services your case needs. You will usually do your own filing of docs at court and schedule the service of filed docs on your spouse/partner. The divorce lawyer will review your docs before they are filed, determine problem concerns in your case and recommend the best alternatives based upon legal suggestions and regional knowledge. If you call a lawyer and ask about unbundled services and you can determine they don’t know or don’t desire you to know, just hang up. They don’t yet get it. Carry on. Don’t inform them.
  3. Uses online divorce software that allows you to log into a client portal and enterall of the personal data in your case.  This not only saves time and money, but it literally empowers you in your own case. You are the source of all informationin your case. Also, there’s no 50-page hard copyone-size-fits-all questionnaire for you to get through 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 Baton Rouge 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 Baton Rouge lawyer-crowd. You’re looking for someone with style who stands out, not melds in. 1-800-DIVORCE is exclusive in Baton Rouge. There is only one 1-800-DIVORCE lawyer in Baton Rouge. Check here or complete the web form below to see if Baton Rouge has a 1-800-DIVORCE.

Divorce and Other Family Law Services Are Available Through 1-800-DIVORCE in Most Medium to Large Cities, Including the Following Cities, As Well As in Baton Rouge:

Lafayette, New Orleans, Jackson, Beaumont, Mobile, Shreveport, Pearland, Houston, Tyler, Little Rock, College Station, Montgomery, Memphis, Birmingham, Mesquite, Waco, Garland, Dallas, Richardson, Plano, McKinney, Grand Prairie, Carrollton, Frisco, Irving, Arlington, Lewisville, Round Rock, Columbus, Killeen

 

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If you’ve made the difficult personal decision to terminate your marriage or to seek other critical family law relief, you should proceed at your pace and at your comfort level.

So continue to think and please keep us in mind. We know you’ll remember 1-800-DIVORCE.

Remember also that you want a bold competitive divorce lawyer who stands out from the me-too lawyer-crowd. You don’t want a lawyer to look after your legal and economic future if s/he doesn’t even compete and look after his or her own future.

…including emergency orders, disclosure laws, negotiation of settlements and trial work but also in mediation or collaborative law – should your case be suitable for those methods either now or later on.

Non-lawyer online divorce providers only provide the most basic divorce papers. For you to obtain any additional services through a non-lawyer, they would have to make a cold referral to a lawyer in your area.

Why not start off with the best divorce lawyer near me, such as your local 1-800-DIVORCE lawyer, who will already know the facts and issues of your case if additional services become necessary?

Use 1-800-DIVORCE to find the best divorce lawyer near me.

Your local 1-800-DIVORCE lawyer is required to maintain a professional and confidential relationship with you.  S/he is required to handle your case with the highest ethical standards.  S/he is required to take continuing legal education and professional responsibility courses.

Non-lawyer online divorce providers are NOT staffed by lawyers.  They are not licensed or bonded.  They get on-the-job training only! You will have no effective recourse should you be treated dishonestly or incompetently by an online provider.

Search for “online divorce problems” and you will have plenty to read.  Many online providers are truly terrible.  A few are downright fraudulent. If you get caught with a bad one, you will need a lawyer, and much more money, just to get your case sorted.

Don’t take that risk when a local solution exists at a similar cost.  Use 1-800-DIVORCE to find the best divorce lawyer near me.

A non-lawyer online divorce provider will likely be located far away and will be clueless about your state’s laws and your local Rules of Court. Online divorce providers claim to know how to handle divorces in all 3000+ counties in the US – an impossibility.

You can make an appointment to see your local 1-800-DIVORCE lawyer if the need arises. 

If you hire a non-lawyer online divorce provider, it will be the blind leading the blind. And when things go wrong, which they will, you will never get face time with that online provider and you will rarely be able to reach them on the phone or by email. Find a local divorce lawyer. Find the best divorce lawyer near me.

If you hire an unregulated online divorce outfit for $300-$1000 and end up paying for their mistakes forever, that’s NOT a cheap divorce.

Divorce is tough enough already! Don’t go it alone. Find the best  divorce lawyer near me through 1-800-DIVORCE.

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