How to Find the Best Divorce Lawyer in Billings Montana?  - Best Billings, Montana Divorce Lawyer Yellowstone County

It’s a trick question. You don’t want to find the very best divorce lawyer or attorney in Billings, Montana There are several divorce lawyers in Billings who will do an equally great effort for you. It would definitely be impossible to decide which one is the “absolute best.”

The correct issue for you, the Billings divorce buyer, is precisely how to discover just one of those Billings top divorce lawyers at the precise levels of assistance and also price for the facts of your particular situation – while steering clear of every one of the usual, and also occasionally hazardous, challenges of the Billings divorce attorney selection decision.

If you understand what those challenges are (I will advise you in this post) and also if you have the correct perspective, specifically that you want to make your Billings divorce attorney fit your case and also not enable the lawyer to compel your case to fit his or her stiff practice profile, then you raise considerably your opportunities of nailing the Billings divorce attorney hiring decision. Getting you through that choice effectively is the intention of this article.

First, let’s itemize the 4 traits to steer clear of:

1. Avoid Do-It-Yourself Divorce:

It is entirely possible, repeat POSSIBLE, to acquire cost-free family law documents from Montana’s judicial council or family court internet sites. Those cost-free divorce documents are going to be blank, obviously. You can at that point try to finish and also file the documents at your local Yellowstone County divorce court on your own without specialist assistance. This is possible – however very improbable, extremely challenging, complex, aggravating and also incredibly slow.

Do it yourself divorce would be effectively impossible, and also not wise even to try, in any kind of  complex or contended family law case. It would be very improbable to be successful if you have minor children of the marital relationship or have any kind of assets or debts to be listed in case or have custody, visitation or support settlements in your case. It would definitely be unwise in a matter entailing domestic violence. Do it yourself would also be difficult if you have a job or if you place any type of worth on your own time. Family law forms and also processeses are made by lawyers to puzzle you to make sure that you hire – an attorney.

Please excuse me if I don’t spend way too much time on the DIY risk. My experience on the cutting edge of California divorce for the past 40+ years is that folks who start the divorce process with the intent to try to get a cost-free divorce are going to  try DIY divorce regardless of what. For some reason, probably financial, there is nothing I have actually had the ability to discover to persuade them not to.

DIY in Family Law is typically fake economy. You WILL almost certainly screw it up, and also screwed-up cases are far more challenging and also very expensive to deal with and also finalize. Don’t play this game. The system is made by lawyers to puzzle you and also compel you to hire a divorce attorney. There are now cost-effective alternatives offered– see listed below. Don’t go it alone in Divorce or Family Law.

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

An uncontested divorce is simply one in which the litigants will not be challenging any kind of issues, including the divorce itself. The litigants don’t have to be pleased and also they don’t have to care for each other. They are either completely or mostly in agreement on all issues and also are wise enough to understand that traditional full-representation divorce lawyers (with massive retainers and also billable hours) would be the only winners if they contended fairly unimportant issues in their divorce.

Standard complete representation by a neighborhood Billings divorce attorney is when that attorney will represent you in all facets of your divorce matter. It is very likely to be a good service, yet it is high priced.

If you have a contested matter, a complex matter, a high-value matter or a matter that entails domestic violence or the threat of domestic violence, complete representation by a Billings divorce attorney is NOT to be refrained from. It is a requirement.

A disputed matter means that you and also your spouse/partner are contesting ANY issue in the matter. A complex matter has legal intricacies such as tax issues, current business issues, a special needs child of the marital relationship or any one of many additional complex legal issues. A high-value case denotes that your marital estate is huge. There is no specific dollar limit. Definitely, if you have a high 7-figure net marital estate or higher, that is a high-value matter.

If you think that you have a contested,complex or high-value matter, you do. Hire an expert and also high priced Billings divorce attorney for complete traditional representation. Search for a certified Family Law specialist. You will not be sorry you did.

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

Naturally, if you call or email a traditional Billings divorce attorney, they will not tell you that you do not need their complete representation service. In fact, they will try to scare the crap out of you by informing you that you positively require their service and that your case will get screwed up without it.

That could possibly transpire– even in a non-DIY case. I’ll share with you next how to steer clear of potentially 90+% of the possible risk of getting your case screwed up if you don’t go DIY and you DON’T hire a traditional Billings divorce lawyer on a complete representation basis.

Your case might also potentially get screwed up if you DID hire a complete representation Billings divorce lawyer. That’s also not probable, however it could possibly occur.

Nevertheless, what will DEFINITELY occur if you hire a traditional complete representation Billings divorce lawyer to manage your uncontested divorce or family law case is that you will get screwed economically. Your case might be dealt with extremely well, however you will overbuy needless services and you will pay too much for them.

There’s no need for that to occur anymore. Your parents had few other alternatives on their family law hiring decisions. Your grandparents had no other alternatives. You have lots of legitimate alternatives to make your Billings uncontested divorce attorney hiring choice based upon the nature and facts of your case, not upon the BMW payments of Billings divorce lawyers. Read on.

3. Avoid Unqualified Unregulated Online Divorce Mills:

This is by far the most significant risk you are confronted by in your hiring choice in regards to damage to your future legal and financial security. Non-lawyer online divorce is a huge market. And it is incredibly hazardous to your legal and financial future.

Online divorce mills provide slick sites, wicked-cool divorce computer software, charges lower than MOST lawyers, no legal guidance, no legal knowledge, no professional licensing, no legal education, no code of principles, no malpractice insurance coverage, no knowledge of Yellowstone County divorce procedures, no regional knowledge about Yellowstone County guidelines of court, regional Yellowstone County forms, regional practices or the policies of individual regional judges in the Billings area and no professional interest in you or your case. And all within a completely uncontrolled Wild-West market rampant with all kinds of incompetence, price scams, and up-selling.

Online divorce mill charges average about $300, however what you get for that $300 cost is extremely little– just prepared Montana divorce documents. Any other services offered are all up-sold on the basis that when they’ve got you hooked, what are you going to do – ignore money already invested? You are at their whim and you are completely unguarded. And they recognize it!

See the Online Divorce Association of America’s website for a very good analysis of just a few of the more common frauds and up-sells to be discovered in the online divorce market.

If you choose an online divorce mill, you’ll constantly be contending with low-level, untrained, disinterested, high turn-over personnel, call center employees and folks in India, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Mexico or some other state. Nobody will perform any type of analysis on your case to safeguard you and any minor children from future legal or monetary damage. Client support will be dreadful due to the fact that it does not have to be anything else. You will never ever be able to meet with anyone at an online divorce mill as it is highly likely that none lie in Billings and even in Montana

If you hire an online divorce mill believing you will save yourself a few dollars and you and your household end up spending for their mistakes for several 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 pitfall to steer clear of in your Billings divorce lawyer hiring decision.

Nevertheless, the possible harm 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 hire a Billings divorce lawyer 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, however not as badly as if you had actually hired a traditional complete representation Billings family law lawyer straight up.

Obviously, you don’t wish to hire a traditional complete representation Billings divorce lawyer you discover on a mass-lawyer platform. That would compound your over-payment, however the crucial factor here is that you don’t wish to hire a traditional complete representation Billings divorce lawyer to manage your easy uncontested divorce, no matter where you discover that lawyer!!

The risk with hiring a Billings divorce lawyer that you find ONLY on a mass-lawyer platform is that you’re employing an average Billings divorce lawyer– a drone who just stands in line with all other Billings divorce lawyers and HOPES that s/he will get your business however does nothing to differentiate himself or herself from the Billings lawyer-crowd. That lawyer does nothing to persuade you that s/he is the exceptional resolution to your case. You don’t wish to have that lawyer.

You want to get a Billings divorce lawyer who is creative, strong, distinct, stylish and business-savvy. In fact, why would you hire a Billings divorce lawyer to oversee your own legal and financial interests when s/he does not even look after his or her own business interests aggressively and decisively? You’re looking for a divorce lawyer who purposefully sets himself or herself apart from the Billings lawyer-crowd and does NOT blend in by joining Avvo and not doing anything else.

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

Nevertheless, you must not think that such a Billings divorce lawyer is extremely good or business-savvy either. The problem is that while these mass-lawyer platforms are cost-free for the lawyer to join, the lawyer needs to then start to pay continually increasing charges on a bid-basis, constantly competing against other regional Yellowstone County divorce lawyers, to be seen on the top page of the platform’s website. If that lawyer does not pay extra, 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 adequate trade to keep up.

It’s a winner-take-all system with the top extremely 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 match your case. The barrier to that me-too lawyer getting your trade is the amount of money 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 Billings pays more to the mass-lawyer finder company and keeps paying more, s/he’ll get a featured position on the platform’s website and will get more cases, however his or her expenses of getting business will continuously rise while his or her charges are fairly fixed by the flat demand for consumer law services such as divorce.

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

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

How to Find the Best Billings Divorce Lawyer – Best Billings, Montana Divorce Lawyer Yellowstone County

So above are 4 concerns to avoid: DIY divorce, old-fashioned full-service lawyer representation in easy uncontested cases, unlicensed and uncontrolled online divorce mills and boring me-too drone lawyers who are truly bad at business.

So what do you in fact try to find in a Billings divorce lawyer?

Before I advise you, I wish to set the stage by providing you 2 impressive statistics that I did not presume true when I first saw them. These are game-changers in the legal profession and you really need to maximize them in your Billings divorce lawyer hiring 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 Billings 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 Billings divorce attorney:

1. Licensed local Billings divorce attorney (not an unlicensed out-of-state online divorce mill);
2. Offers unbundled services in uncontested cases– this means that you just purchase the legal services your case actually requires. You will normally do your own filing of docs at court and arrange for the service of filed docs on your spouse/partner. The divorce lawyer will examine your docs before they are filed, identify problem concerns in your case and suggest the very best alternatives based upon legal guidance and regional knowledge. If you call a lawyer and ask about unbundled services and you can tell they don’t know or don’t want you to know, just hang up. They don’t yet get it. Move on. Don’t educate them.
3. Uses online divorce software that allows you to log into a client portal and enterall of the details 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 datain your case. Also, there’s no 50-page hard copyone-size-fits-all questionnaire for you to get through in the lawyer’s waiting area.
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 Billings 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 Billings lawyer-crowd. You’re looking for someone with style who stands out, not melds in. 1-800-DIVORCE is exclusive in Billings. There is only one 1-800-DIVORCE lawyer in Billings. Check here or complete the web form below to see if Billings 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 Billings:

Salt Lake City, West Valley City, West Jordan, Fort Collins, Boise, Provo, Boulder, Spokane, Thornton, Westminster, Arvada, Denver, Lakewood, Aurora, Centennial, Las Vegas