How to Find the Best Divorce Lawyer in Topeka Kansas?  - Find the Best Divorce Lawyer Topeka

It’s a trick question. You don’t need to locate the very best divorce lawyer in Topeka, Kansas There are several divorce attorneys in Topeka that would do an equally good effort for you. It would undoubtedly be inconceivable to establish which one is the “best.”

The correct question for you, the Topeka divorce client, is precisely how to choose one of those Topeka top divorce lawyers at the correct standards of assistance and cost for the aspects of your particular circumstances – while keeping away from all of the usual, and sometimes hazardous, pitfalls of the Topeka divorce lawyer hiring choice.

If you understand what those pitfalls are (I will certainly advise you in this blog post) and if you have the appropriate mindset, namely that you wish to make your Topeka divorce lawyer fit your instance and not permit the lawyer to require your instance to fit his/her rigid practice profile, then you enhance considerably your opportunities of nailing the Topeka divorce lawyer employing choice. Getting you through that choice successfully is the purpose of this post.

First, let’s mention the 4 factors to keep away from:

1. Avoid Do-It-Yourself Divorce:

It is feasible, repeat POSSIBLE, to acquire totally free family law documents from Kansas’s judicial council or family court web sites. Those totally free divorce documents are going to be uncompleted, obviously. You can at that point attempt to finish and submit the documents at your neighborhood Shawnee County divorce court by yourself without specialist aid. This is possible – nevertheless very improbable, extremely difficult, complicated, frustrating and very slow.

DIY divorce would be practically out of the question, and not smart even to try, in any type of  complicated or contested family law proceedings. It would be very improbable to be successful if you have minor children of the marriage or have any type of assets or financial obligations to be specified in the event or have custody, visitation or support agreements in your proceedings. It would certainly be ill-advised in a matter involving domestic physical violence. DIY would likewise be tough if you have a job or if you place any kind of worth on your own time. Family law forms and processeses are created by lawyers to confuse you so that you employ – a lawyer.

Please excuse me if I don’t invest way too much time on the DIY danger. My experience on the cutting edge of California divorce for the past 40+ years is that people that start the divorce process with the intent to attempt to get a free divorce are going to  attempt Do-It-Yourself divorce whatever. Somehow, most likely financial, there is absolutely nothing I have actually had the ability to discover to persuade them not to.

DIY in Family Law is typically false affordability. You WILL almost certainly screw it up, and screwed-up proceedings are far more troublesome and expensive to deal with and finalize. Do not play this game. The system is created by lawyers to confuse you and require you to employ a divorce lawyer. There are now cost-efficient options offered– see below. Do not go it alone in Divorce or Family Law.

2. Avoid Traditional Topeka 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 type of issues, including the divorce itself. The participants don’t need to be cheerful and they don’t need to care for each other. They are either totally or generally in agreement on all issues and are smart enough to realize that traditional full-representation divorce lawyers (with huge retainers and billable hours) would be the only victors if they contested fairly unimportant issues in their divorce.

Standard complete representation by a neighborhood Topeka divorce lawyer is when that lawyer will represent you in all parts of your divorce case. It is very likely to be an excellent professional service, but it is expensive.

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

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

If you think that you have a disputed,complicated or high-value case, you do. Work with an expert and high priced Topeka divorce lawyer for complete traditional representation. Try to find a certified Family Law specialist. You will certainly 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 Topeka divorce lawyer. In fact, under those conditions, complete legal representation by a Topeka divorce lawyer ends up being a risk to your financial position. Stay clear of it.

Naturally, if you call or email a traditional Topeka 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 advising you that you absolutely need their service and that your case will get messed up without it.

That could happen– even in a non-DIY case. I’ll tell you next how to avoid possibly 90+% of the prospective danger of getting your case messed up if you don’t go DIY and you DON’T employ a traditional Topeka divorce lawyer on a complete representation basis.

Your case could also possibly get messed up if you DID employ a complete representation Topeka divorce lawyer. That’s also not probable, but it could possibly happen.

Nevertheless, what will DEFINITELY happen if you employ a traditional complete representation Topeka divorce lawyer to handle your uncontested divorce or family law case is that you will get screwed economically. Your case may be dealt with very well, but you will overbuy needless services and you will pay too much for them.

There’s no need for that to happen nowadays. Your mothers and fathers had few other options on their family law employing options. Your grandparents had no other options. You have lots of legitimate options to make your Topeka uncontested divorce lawyer employing choice based upon the nature and facts of your case, not upon the BMW payments of Topeka divorce lawyers. Read on.

3. Avoid Unqualified Unregulated Online Divorce Mills:

This is without a doubt the most significant risk you face in your employing choice in terms of damage to your future legal and financial security. Non-lawyer online divorce is a substantial industry. And it is very hazardous to your legal and financial future.

Online divorce mills use slick sites, wicked-cool divorce 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, no knowledge of Shawnee County divorce policies, no regional knowledge about Shawnee County rules of court, regional Shawnee County forms, regional practices or the policies of specific regional judges in the Topeka local area and no professional interest in you or your case. And all within an entirely uncontrolled Wild-West industry rampant with all type of incompetence, price fraud, and up-selling.

Online divorce mill charges average about $300, but what you get for that $300 charge is remarkably little– simply prepared Kansas divorce documents. Any other services delivered 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 mercy and you are totally unprotected. And they recognize it!

See the Online Divorce Association of America’s website for a great overview of merely a few of the more common scams and up-sells to be experienced in the online divorce industry.

If you employ an online divorce mill, you’ll always be dealing with low-level, inexperienced, disinterested, high turn-over staff, 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 terrible since it does not need to be anything else. You will never ever be able to meet with anybody at an online divorce mill as it is most likely that none are located in Topeka and even in Kansas

If you employ an online divorce mill thinking you will conserve yourself a few dollars and you and your household end up spending 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 directories like Avvo, FindLaw, LegalZoom, Justia, Google Screened, Google Business Profile (formerly GMB) and now even Yelp. This is the latest mistake to keep away from in your Topeka divorce lawyer employing choice.

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

If you employ a Topeka divorce lawyer you found on a mass-lawyer finder platform, you’re going to pay too much to some extent, depending on how much the lawyer is paying the lawyer finder platform, but not as terribly as if you had actually employed a traditional complete representation Topeka family law lawyer straight up.

Obviously, you don’t wish to employ a traditional complete representation Topeka divorce lawyer you find on a mass-lawyer platform. That would compound your over-payment, but the crucial aspect here is that you don’t wish to employ a traditional complete representation Topeka divorce lawyer to handle your simple uncontested divorce, no matter where you find that lawyer!!

The danger with employing a Topeka divorce lawyer that you find ONLY on a mass-lawyer platform is that you’re working with a below average Topeka divorce lawyer– a drone who simply stands in line with all other Topeka divorce lawyers and HOPES that s/he will get your trade but does nothing to differentiate himself or herself from the Topeka lawyer-crowd. That lawyer does nothing to influence you that s/he is the standout solution to your case. You don’t want to have that lawyer.

You would like a Topeka divorce lawyer who is imaginative, bold, distinct, stylish and business-savvy. In fact, why would you employ a Topeka divorce lawyer to care for your own legal and financial interests when s/he does not even take care of his/her own business interests strongly and decisively? You’re searching for a divorce lawyer who purposefully sets himself or herself apart from the Topeka lawyer-crowd and does NOT blend in by signing up with Avvo and doing nothing else.

Mass-lawyer finder platforms like Avvo are cost-free to sign up with, which is why every divorce lawyer in Shawnee County will have signed up. So you ought to not disqualify a Topeka divorce lawyer just because s/he has an Avvo account.

Nevertheless, you ought to not think that such a Topeka divorce lawyer is extremely intelligent or business-savvy either. The problem is that while these mass-lawyer platforms are cost-free for the lawyer to register with, the lawyer must then start to pay constantly increasing charges on a bid-basis, always competing against other regional Shawnee County divorce lawyers, to be seen on the leading 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/her charges, she’ll not get enough clients to keep up.

It’s a winner-take-all system with the leading extremely few lawyers in each town taking almost all the business– based on how much advertising charges 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 case is the amount of money s/he is prepared to pay to get it, not the quality and distinctiveness of his/her service offerings.

If that me-too divorce lawyer in Topeka pays more to the mass-lawyer finder company and keeps paying more, s/he’ll get a highlighted position on the platform’s website and will get more cases, but his/her costs of getting business will constantly increase while his/her charges are fairly fixed by the flat demand for consumer law services such as divorce.

The Topeka divorce lawyer who plays the Avvo pay-to-play scheme will always require more and more lower profit cases simply to keep up with sales costs. You don’t desire 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 take care of your case as s/he used to screw his/her own business into the ground.

How to Find the Best Topeka Divorce Lawyer – Find the Best Divorce Lawyer Topeka

So above are 4 things to stay clear of: DIY divorce, conventional full-service lawyer representation in simple uncontested cases, unlicensed and uncontrolled online divorce mills and lackluster me-too drone lawyers who are actually bad at business.

So what do you in fact look out for in a Topeka divorce lawyer?

Before I advise you, I wish to set the stage by giving you 2 impressive data that I did not believe when I initially saw them. These are game-changers in the legal profession and you really need to make the most of them in your Topeka 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 Topeka 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 Topeka divorce attorney:

1. Licensed local Topeka divorce attorney (not an unlicensed out-of-state online divorce mill);
2. Offers unbundled services in uncontested cases– this denotes that you only pay for the legal services your case requires. You will generally do your own filing of docs at court and arrange for the service of filed docs on your spouse/partner. The divorce lawyer will review your docs before they are submitted to court, recognize problem concerns in your case and recommend the best options based upon legal guidance and regional knowledge. If you call a lawyer and ask about unbundled services and you can determine they don’t understand or don’t desire you to understand, simply hang up. They don’t yet get it. Move on. Do not educate them.
3. Uses online divorce software that allows you to log into a client portal and inputall of the details in your case.  This not only saves time and money, but it actually empowers you in your own case. You are the source of all datain your case. Likewise, there’s no 50-page hard 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 Topeka 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 Topeka lawyer-crowd. You’re looking for someone with style who stands out, not melds in. 1-800-DIVORCE is exclusive in Topeka. There is only one 1-800-DIVORCE lawyer in Topeka. Check here or complete the web form below to see if Topeka has a 1-800-DIVORCE.

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Olathe, Overland Park, Kansas City, Independence, Wichita, Lincoln, Omaha, Columbia, Tulsa, Broken Arrow, Des Moines, Oklahoma City, Norman, Cedar Rapids, Saint Louis, Sioux Falls, Davenport, Springfield, Little Rock, Rochester, Wichita Falls, McKinney, Rockford, Memphis, Denton, Frisco, Plano, Lewisville, Richardson, Carrollton