Rhode Island Divorce Tips by Attorney Chris Pearsall

Uncontested Divorce Tip - Communicate with Your Spouse During Your RI Divorce!

Do you want your Rhode Island divorce to go easier?  Would you rather it go as quickly as possible, and be reasonable and amicable?

Let me give you a huge tip that many Rhode Island lawyers would rather you disregard completely.

If you have a Rhode Island Divorce Lawyer and your lawyer tells you something like this,

"Now that I'm your attorney.  Let me do my job.  Everything goes through attorneys.  That's the way divorces work.  Do not talk to your spouse.  If you say anything to your spouse, tell him (or her) to talk to your attorney." 

Here is what I suggest.  GET A NEW LAWYER!

Why do I say this?  Most divorces are resolved without costing you a fortune because you DO talk to your spouse.  The moment you listen to that crap that your lawyer just handed out, is the moment you just doubled or tripled your legal bill and handed over control of your life to your lawyer.  It is also the first moment that you say goodbye to money that you are entitled to from the marital assets because each dollar you pay your lawyer is a dollar that you won't get.

That's it in a nutshell.  If you listen to that "advice" from your lawyer you just shot yourself in the foot in my professional opinion.

There is only one instance when that advice might be even remotely correct and that is when your spouse is threatening or bullying you and you are incapable to dealing with it.  I am not talking about a spouse talking to you about what you would like to do for settlement or how to resolve things and you are simply nervous or uncomfortable around your spouse.  I am talking about directly threatening your well-being or threatening to harm you.

In the very least I hope that many people read and take this divorce tip to heart.  Do yourself a favor... when you hear that advice and you are not being seriously threatened by your spouse, it is a good idea to get another lawyer.  Try looking for one who cares about you enough to truly resolve your divorce in an amicable fashion.

What is an Uncontested Rhode Island Divorce? A Rhode Island Divorce Attorney's Perspective

QUESTION:

What is an "uncontested divorce" in the Rhode Island Family Court System?  I keep calling attorneys to ask for the total cost of a basic uncontested divorce in Rhode Island and I keep getting asked by the lawyers I call what do I mean by a basic uncontested divorce.  Shouldn't they know what it is?

ANSWER:

Good question.  Here's the problem.  If you are calling for the price for one then shouldn't YOU know what it is you're asking for a price for?  

I'm not being sarcastic, talking down to you, or belittling you in any way.  

The truth is that you have an excellent question.  Here's the predictament most lawyers will have with your question.  If the lawyer doesn't have a set fee for what the lawyer refers to as an uncontested divorce then how can he or she give you a quote?  The answer.  The lawyer can't.

It might surprise you that most lawyers do not have a set flat fee price for an uncontested divorce because your idea of what an uncontested divorce is versus what it may take to accomplish an uncontested divorce from beginning to end.  If you think an uncontested divorce involves one set of things and the lawyer thinks it involves a different set of things then how can the lawyer give you a price for something that is in your mind that he or she doesn't know.

Consider this Example:

John wants to divorce his wife Margaret.  John calls to get a quote from Attorney Snittle.  John tells the attorney that he and Margaret have agreed to everything and will put it in writing.  They both just want it done as quickly as possible and need an attorney to take them through the process. John asks Attorney Snittle for her charge for this basic uncontested divorce.  Let's imagine that Attorney Snittle actually tells him that it should only cost him $1,000.

John comes in with $1,000 and retains Attorney Snittle's services.  Attorney Snittle is clear that she charges $200 per hour against the $1,000 but if it is as he said then the estimate should be close.  

Here's what happens though.  John's wife Margaret evades service of the divorce papers and Attorney Snittle has to spend extra time tracking Margaret down.  She also has to spend more time dealing with the constable to get Margaret served.  Attorney Snittle asks John to have him and his wife put down in writing and signed before a Notary Public the settlement agreement John and Margaret made and had signed. John says there isn't one.  John expected Attorney Snittle to draw it up for both of them and take care of the signing formalities.  Attorney Snittle believed based upon John's representations that John and Margaret had that covered.  Now John asks Attorney Snittle to draw up an agreement for him and his wife.  Attorney Snittle now has to interview John regarding every aspect of their assets, debts, children, etc... in order to prepare the agreement because she has to be able to give John proper legal advice.  Attorney Snittle also needs the information to prepare the divorce agreement.

Eventually the divorce is completed amicably.  However, Attorney Snittle reasonably gave a price of $1,000 but it was based on incomplete information.  John gets billed for $1,625.00 based on the Attorney's hourly rate agreement.  John claims he is being swindled because he was quoted $1,000 for a basic uncontested divorce and now he is being over charged.

Yet Attorney Snittle was substantially misinformed or was not thoroughly informed by John.  John just wanted the fast quote and that's what he got but his case was not a basic uncontested divorce to Attorney Snittle.  Why?  Because in Attorney Snittle's estimation a basic uncontested divorce does not include a spouse evading service of process.  It also doesn't involve the attorney drawing up the agreement between the parties when she is lead to believe that the parties have already completed their divorce settlement agreement in writing, or that they will put their divorce settlement agreement in writing on their own without additional time by the attorney.  Attorney Snittle provided a quote based on incomplete information and Attorney Snittle was required to do more work because of John and his wife, not because Attorney Snittle is dishonest.

So what did John think?  Did he think a basic uncontested Rhode Island divorce includes taking care of service of process no matter how difficult it is or how much time it takes on the attorney's part to get it accomplished?  It sounds like he did.  Yet Attorney Snittle never said anything like that.

What else did John think?  Did he think that the attorney always prepares the divorce settlement agreement in a basic uncontested divorce?  It certainly seems like that, doesn't it!  Attorney Snittle didn't promise that and was told by John that they agreed on everything and they'd even put it in writing.

See the trouble that can occur if the person asking is not on the exact same page as the lawyer.

The fact is that there is no true definition for a basic uncontested Rhode Island divorce because every couple is different, every case is different, every attorney may have different understandings of it, and neither John nor Attorney Snittle can predict what the other spouse is going to do or not do.

I could give you 3 to 5 different definitions that different lawyers have for their understanding what an uncontested divorce consists of in Rhode Island and they would all be different and have all different estimates.

In this case John believes he was cheated and Attorney Snittle probably believes that John is being unrealistic because he knows the extra work that she had to put into his case.  She may have been able to resolve it amicably, but issues that were not within her quote caused more time to be required and she did the work for that time and still got the case resolved amicably.

An uncontested divorce can be one that is understood by everyone as a case being filed by one spouse and not being opposed by the other spouse.  However, the amount of services that it takes to get that unopposed divorce resolved is rarely the same each time.  Unless the Attorney knows the whole story and the prospective client and the attorney are on the same page about what is and what is not included in the entire divorce proceeding or quote given then the quote is worthless.

Therefore, if this is your method of shopping around for a lawyer to handle your uncontested divorce in Rhode Island Family Court, you need to consider quite a bit more factors and reconsider the manner in which you search for the lawyer.

My Best to All of You Going before the Rhode Island Family Court, 

I am Attorney Christopher A. Pearsall, and
I am the original Rhode Island Divorce Coach.

Do yourself a favor?  Give me a quick call and set up an affordable coaching and legal advice session for only $145 for an hour.  Get the information you need as well as answers to your worrisome questions so you can make the important informed decisions you need to make so you can good decisions.

Isn't your life, and your peace of mind in a divorce worth $145 to get the facts and know your options?  If not, why call an attorney at all?

Meetings by appointment only.  Call Now for Your own Peace of Mind - (401) 632-6976.

What is Your Rhode Island Divorce Lawyer's Philosophy? Are you a Lawyer's Paycheck?

If you don't know about Rhode Island divorces and how they are processed or the laws that guide the family court, that is understandable.

However, knowing your divorce lawyer's philosophy about divorce can make you or break you.  A divorce lawyer should know what his or her own philosophy is and it is a valid question to ask what a lawyer's divorce philosophy is when you interview lawyers to represent you.

What is a philosophy?  It is the underlying thought process and guiding principles by which a person does something.  For instance, there is a philosophy of law itself yet there are also different philosophies for different types of lawyers and even different philosophies for lawyers who practice in the area of divorce.

So what is the philosophy of the divorce lawyer you may be interviewing or meeting with about your case?  It is said that actions speak louder than words, but at the outset the best you may be able to do is to ask the lawyer the question, namely "What is your divorce philosophy?"  Or, "What is your philosophy for handling divorce cases?"  My personal thought is this.  If a lawyer has no idea what you are asking or does not know what you mean by a philosophy, I believe that to be a sign that the attorney you are interviewing has not thought deeply enough about their own method of handling cases and therefore you may not be happy with the attorney's representation.  

In my professional and personal opinion, any Rhode Island attorney who practices divorces, should readily know what their philosophy is.  So what should you be doing?  Well, that's your choice as a prospective client, but if I were a client I would be thinking about how I would like my attorney to approach my case and what considerations they should have in mind when addressing my case.  If the lawyer's philosophy doesn't meet the case approach or considerations that you believe you would like to be taken with your approach, then it is probably not a good match with that attorney.

My philosophy is not agreeable to every prospective client and I don't expect it to be, yet I believe my philosophy to be as noble as the principles that I endeavor to project to my clients because these principles are part of me.

My philosophy is client-centric.  The client is at the center of everything and therefore it is not a matter of the divorce lawyer dictating every step of the process.  In my divorce lawyer's philosophy I should always do several things.

1)  Listen to your legal and personal needs;

2)  Consider your financial well-being and balance any items that might need to be done in your case with the cost of those items in legal fees, etc...  In other words, is the work cost-effective.  Would you approve of what needed to be done for the possible benefit?

3)  Address matters based upon your mental and physical well-being and considering all factors in your divorce situation.  There is value to your  anxiety, grief, emotional, mental and physical well-being and health.  Isgetting an extra $1,500 for you in your settlement worth the cost to you of two extra days of stress and anxiety?  It may not be worth pursuing due to non-legal factors because your importance is far greater than just a "divorce case"  you as a whole person is most important.

4)  I consider the stress on your finances and trust.  Clients deserve respect and I must earn and keep your trust not only by your words but by my actions in your divorce.  In a divorce situation you have entrusted me with a major part of his or her life.  That is a tremendous amount of trust.  Because of this you are not a paycheck to me.  You are not a file folder.  You are a person who has placed an important part of your life in my hands.  

5)  Ultimately, my goal is always to reach a reasonable settlement for you as quickly as possible and to do it within the parameters that you find reasonable provided I advise you of all the pros and cons of each aspect of your case.  I need to do this because it is important that you be informed.  How can you make crucial decisions in your divorce without being informed by your lawyer?  You may need to have things explained to you only because they do not live in my lawyers world of technical jargon from day to day and I don't expect you to know what all the legal terms mean. So I make sure that understand it.  Plain and simple.

6)  In summary, I endeavor to settle cases reasonably, make sure youare are informed and understand everything that would go into the settlement, and help you to settle your case with as little stress, anxiety, physical drain on your system and as little drain on your finances as possible.  

7)  I serve you.  I am the way lawyers were intented to be.  No hidden agendas or motives.  You deserve my help, my respect, my honesty, my understanding of your situation and the fact that you deserve to be listened to them more than I need to be talking.  This is all about doing what is best for you as my client.

There you have it.  This is my divorce lawyer's philosophy for my clients and explains how I process cases.

My philosophy does not work for every prospective client.  Prospective clients who simply want to use my expertise to hurt or damage their spouse or cheat their spouse out of what they are entitled to from marital assets do not match my philosophy.  Could they ask me for representation just the same?  Certainly.  Would I agree?  Not likely.  I have rejected cases that could put $20,000+ in my pocket for a single case.  Yet knowing what the person wants to do is all I need to know.  

My philosophy is one of integrity for my clients and for people generally.  

Ultimately, some lawyers may bend for a price, especially in hard times when money is tight for many of us.  I will not do it.  My integrity is not for sale at any price.

Find a good divorce lawyer with integrity and a strong central morality that is designed to protect people and preserve the family unit and you have located a good divorce attorney.  If that lawyer also offers a divorce philosophy that meets your needs and financial budget then you may have found just the right divorce lawyer for you.  

Philosophy is at the center of every business man.  Ask enough questions and you will find it.  Match your needs to the business person's philosophy and you found the right lawyer (or business person) to meet your divorce needs.  This isn't just for Rhode Island.  It works for anything you need help with.

I am Attorney Christopher A. Pearsall 
and I am The Rhode Island Divorce Coach! 

My Best to All Who Will Go before the Rhode Island Family Court,

Chris

Rhode Island Divorce Lawyers Tip for Today - Client's should maintain Control!

Hiring a Rhode Island lawyer to handle your divorce should not mean that you leave everything to the lawyer.  In my humble opinion, too many clients do that out of a sense of relief.  Once a client engages a lawyer for his or her divorce, there is some sense of relief to the client.  That's understandable.  Now the client has someone who should be knowledgeable in divorce and family law to help him or her through the process and usually adds a certain level of comfort.  A client no longer feels as though he or she is floundering in the dark.

Divorce clients, here is the catch.  You need to retain a reasonable amount of control!  Why?  

Here are Three (3) Excellent Reasons to retain reasonable control in your RI Divorce over the Decision-Making:

1.  It's either your credit, your money, or perhaps money that you borrowed that is paying for your lawyer, right?  The less control you keep over the decisions in your case, the faster that money is likely to be burned up because your attorney is going to do what he or she thinks is right to protect your interests because you don't seem interested enough or because you aren't clear that you WANT to make the decisions as to what IS or IS NOT done in your case.  Certainly the lawyer can advise you of the repercussions of your decisions, as long as it is clear what decisions you have made.

2.  It's YOUR LIFE.  You can hire the best Rhode Island lawyer to handle your divorce but ultimately it is YOUR LIFE that is on the line here.  Who knows your life better than you?  NOONE!  So it makes perfect sense that you should control the decisions that are going to control YOUR future.

3.  The less control you retain, the more decision making authority you hand over to your attorney or to the court regarding YOU LIFE!

If you haven't followed the common divorce thread I've tried to establish here, let me just spell it out bluntly.  It's YOUR LIFE!  You are the one who has lived it.  You are the one who has to live with the decisions and how they affect your life.  

Rhode Island divorce isn't always complicated but it isn't always easy either.  So what's the point of having an attorney, right?  Frankly, you should be hiring a divorce attorney to help guide you through the process and it's procedures and to know your rights and the alternatives available to you.

Too many times clients will hire lawyers in their divorce cases and give them carte blanche authority to make the decisions throughout their divorce.  

Too often I have heard a male spouse tell me, "She says she won't do anything that her attorney doesn't recommend doing, OR  I'm not doing anything unless my divorce lawyer tells me to do it."   This is even in cases where a husband is offering an excessive amount of money and property to settle a case and the woman has already spoken to the woman about the offer.  Even when the offer is so generously slanted in the wife's favor, I have heard that the attorney did not recommend it to their client.

I can't tell you the number of times I have sat in my office with my mouth wide open as attorneys reject settlement offers over the phone that they know from experience are absolutely fantastic without even having brought the offer to their client FIRST!  

Now let me be very clear.  I am NOT talking about small disagreements that attorneys might have.  I'm talking about cases such as when I tell my client that he should not offer his wife 90% of everything and agree to pay all debt but the client insists that I do so anyway so I follow my client's directive and STILL the opposing spouse rejects the offer because the attorney did not recommend it.  No explanation why.  No idea why.  No rational reason to reject an offer that is rarely awarded even after trial.  Yet even the wife has no idea why her attorney didn't recommend it.  She just wanted to here if her attorney recommended it or not.

That woman has made a crucial mistake.  She has turned over complete control of her life and it's decisions to the divorce attorney without even knowing the reasons why.

Clients should not blindly expect that a lawyer's judgment should substitute for their own judgment.  Lawyers in divorce cases should be informing you, instructing you, and advising you about alternatives, and risks involved.  Based on these things YOU should be making the decisions based upon your own common sense, what has been explained to you, and the very fact that it is YOUR LIFE!

Remember, that the longer a divorce takes to complete the more money attorneys earn from the conflict and possibility of trial and consequently the LESS money there is left for you and your spouse to divide.  In fact, attorneys' fees may actually cause your debts to rise if you have to put attorneys' fees for your divorce on your credit cards or if you have to pay back a friend or family member you may have borrowed the money from to pay for your attorneys' fees.

In the end, please use your common sense.  

Personally, as a Rhode Island lawyer who focuses my law practice exclusively on divorce coaching and representation, I DO NOT want to take any more of your hard earned dollars than necessary.  I grew up knowing what it was like to struggle and working numerous jobs.  

While it took a lot to get me here, I understand that it's one thing to be paid for one's expertise in an area of law but it's another thing entirely for your divorce and all that goes with it to go any longer than it absolutely needs to.  

Admittedly, I am only one of thousands of lawyers who practice divorce and not all attorneys think the way I do.  I'll guide you.  I'll inform you.  I'll educate you.  I'll give you my thoughts and the benefit of my experience.  Yet what I won't do is substitute my judgment and decisions for yours!  I understand that it is YOUR LIFE!  I understand that you need to be able to live YOUR LIFE!  I understand that you need to be able to move on in life without some attorney taking away your chance for a fresh start!  You need to keep control of your case and I make sure that my clients know that.

Whether you come to see me or not, please do yourself a favor.  Protect YOUR LIFE!  Make sure that you don't turn over control of the decisions in your Rhode Island Divorce case to any attorney or to the court. They don't have to live your life and the consequences of the decisions that affect it.  You do!

Find a common ground, be reasonable, decide on your own once you've been informed.  You're not powerless!  Once you have the information, you have all the power you need.  

ALWAYS REMEMBER GOOD PEOPLE . . .  it's YOUR LIFE!

Happy Holidays and My Best to All In Your Rhode Island Divorce and Family Court Matters!

One Reason Rhode Island Divorce Lawyers Bill Against Retainers Provided by Divorce Clients?

Rhode Island Divorce lawyers have strayed away from being good-hearted and accepting payment arrangements and smaller retainers from divorce clients. 

Why?

Well, one reason is far from greed.  This story explains one major reason why most Rhode Island divorce lawyers bill against retainers and more and more are asking for larger retainers.

 

* * Attorney Goodheart's Story * * 

Attorney Natalie Goodheart was an experienced Rhode Island divorce lawyer.  When Clementine D. Vorce called Attorney Goodheart and explained her story, Attorney Goodheart was appaulled and entered into an agreement to represent Clementine for roughly a 40% reduced hourly rate.  

Attorney Natalie Goodheart was true to her name and didn't hold Clementine strictly to their written fee arrangement.  Instead, Attorney Goodheart focused on Clementine's needs rather than her own pocket and wasn't sending her a bill every other week despite the mounting hours because Clementine's needs were more important.  

It was not your typical case.  Sydney had filed suit claiming that he and Clementine were married.  Clementine's position was that she wasn't married to Sydney.  Yet Attorney Goodheart believed that Clementine was correct when it clearly appeared that Sydney simply was angry the relationship was over and wanted part of Clementine's assets despite his failure to contribute substantially to those assets during their relationship.

Unfortunately this particular Rhode Island divorce case became more difficult as it continued.  This was not due to Clementine but due to Sydney wanting more and more from Clementine's assets.  

Attorney Goodheart's work hours started mounting up on the case so from time to time she was forced to ask Clementine for a payment against all the hours that hours she was working.

Still, the Rhode Island Divorce attorney kept working for Clementine sometimes without asking for a payment for months despite the increasing hours.  

Finally, Sydney forced the Rhode Island divorce to a trial. Attorney Goodheart warned Clementine that a Rhode Island divorce trial would be costly to prepare for and undergo and could cost between $10,000 and $20,000.

Attorney Goodheart and Clementine had already made several offers to resolve the issues present in the case but they were rejected.  Clementine was understandably fed up.  Clementine informed Attorney Goodheart that she would rather pay her to fight through the Rhode Island divorce trial than to make even one more offer to resolve the case.

Attorney Goodheart prepared extensively for the trial and unlike many cases this was a common law marriage allegation so in the end there would be a winner. 

When the dust cleared Attorney Goodheart had won for Clementine. The Rhode Island Judge found there was no marriage and denied and dismissed Sydney's claims.

Attorney Goodheart's prepared the final bill for her representation at the reduced amount of 60% of her normal fee.  In addition, she decided to offer to write off another $4,000 if Clementine paid the bill in full in 30 days.

Clementine's response was not the positive one Attorney Goodheart expected, especially in light of their "win" at trial.  

Clementine offered to pay Attorney Goodheart 40% of the entire bill as payment in full.  Attorney Goodheart was upset by her client's inability to realize what she was already offering yet she agreed to meet Clementine halfway by writing off approximately 50% of her bill.

Attorney Goodheart was astounded by the response.  Clementine once again offered Attorney Goodheart the same offer after picking apart the Rhode Island Divorce attorney's performance during the case and the trial and clearly indicating that Attorney Goodhearts services were only worth 40% of the entire bill.

In the end, Attorney Goodheart decided that she wasn't about to let that much work go unpaid.  A Notice of Appeal to the Rhode Island Supreme Court was filed and Attorney Goodheart terminated the attorney/client relationship and gave notice that she intended to collect on the entire debt.

This is on reason why Rhode Island Divorce lawyers bill against retainers and are more and more being less "Good-hearted" and requiring higher retainers.  

There are many people who don't pay their divorce lawyers for the good work they do, even when their fees are reduced and the divorce lawyers agree to take a big hit on their fees.  

Several Rhode Island attorneys who had the tendency to be "good-hearted" have shared with me that being "good-hearted" just landed them 3 times more clients that don't pay them than the ones that do and their receivables were huge.  These attorneys lost several times more money than they make without the ability at tax time to reclaim any of their unpaid hours which may be lost forever.  

Many RI divorce lawyers have learned that being good-hearted often leads to bankruptcy because the lawyer needs to be paid and good intentions of clients don't pay very many bills. 

The fact is, many lawyers are not fat cats with condos, summer homes, boats, planes, large bank accounts, etc.....  Some attorneys make much less than clients simply because clients won't pay a good-hearted attorney's bill.

Clients who don't pay their divorce attorneys cause a circular pattern which increases fees and causes rates and retainers to rise.

Perhaps derrogatory jokes about lawyers should end and jokes are more appropriate for the deadbeat clients who cause the polycentric problem of higher retainers and rates that attorneys need to charge to survive.

Yet for those of us who retain an optimistic hope, we are willing to work for a reasonable legal fee for clients who will actually pay our bills.

Authored By:

Christopher A. Pearsall, Attorney-at-Law

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Copyright 2000 to Present.  Christopher A. Pearsall, Esquire
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Note: If this article contains a case scenario with names, dates or amounts, any resemblance any connection to any person or situation now or previously existing is purely accidental, unintentional, and is merely a mistaken creation in the mind of the reader.

* The Rhode Island Supreme Court licenses all attorneys in the general practice of law.  The court does not license or certify any lawyer as an expert or specialist in any particular field of practice.

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