The term “child custody” is so broad that asking how much your child custody case will cost can be quite difficult to answer. Child custody is not a term that you see listed in the Texas family code at all. For the most part, when we talk about child custody issues, we are referring to conservatorships. Conservatorship means Being able to make decisions on behalf of your child as well as hold certain duties such as the duty to provide shelter, clothing, and the other essentials for your child.
However, the term child custody is utilized throughout the family law world to synthesize the issues at hand and help people understand what You are talking about. Rather than referencing each area of family law, we can more generally talk about child custody, and everyone will know what you’re talking about. However, when you want to know more about the potential cost of hiring an attorney to represent you in a child custody case, we need to walk through what it means to go through a child custody case In Texas.
the most interesting and difficult part about trying to determine the cost associated with hiring an attorney for your child custody case will be looking at the specific circumstances that your family is facing and then trying to figure out what those circumstances will do to the costs of your case. Will your family see that your ability to work together and resolve differences amicably decreases the overall costs associated with your case? Or are your goals such that you will need to engage in a longer, more drawn-out custody case? These are the sort of questions that you need to be asking yourself.
Time is money. You’ve heard that expression, I’m sure. The idea that the longer something takes the more money that will have to be spent is not unique to family law. However, since family law attorneys bill by the hour, it makes a ton of sense that the more work that must be performed within your case the more expensive your case will become. Probably the most important factor to consider when it comes to the cost of your child custody case will be whether you and your Co-parent must appear in court on any issues related to your child custody case.
The costs of a courtroom child custody case
When it comes to determining the overall costs of your child custody case the need for you and your Co-parent to appear in court should be at the top of the list of your concerns. Sometimes, it is unavoidable for the two of you to end up in court. Much of the time, we see people like yourself, and your Co-parent finds themselves in court due to problems beyond their control period, for example, if you and your Co-parent both want to be primary conservatorship of your children then it is possible that you all will need to attend court multiple times to do so.
The desire to be the primary conservator of your children likely involves appointing an attorney ad litem to make recommendations to the court, the conducting of a social study to give the judge a better understanding of the issues in your home and how suitable you and your Co-parent are at solving those problems on behalf of your children. The social study in guardian ad litem will both submit written reports to the court in the judge will be able to review those and have them entered into the record as far as evidence is concerned. This process takes time and resources. In the world of Texas family law, time and resources equal money. However, these types of issues can be unavoidable given the goals of you and your Co-parent. When you have lofty goals, such as trying to modify a prior court order to allow for you to have primary custody of her children, attending court and thus increasing the costs of your case are part of that process.
On the other hand, you and your Co-parent may be going to court to resolve a problem that may be less detailed and can be resolved quicker. For example, consider a situation where you and your Co-parent are trying to figure out a more appropriate child support figure. Since child support is something that is based on objective factors like the number of children before the court as well as the amount of net monthly income of the paying parent, this could be a subject that is solved relatively quickly. With that in mind, you and your Co-parent may be able to negotiate through that subject upon the filing of your case.
The benefit of negotiation in a family law case is that you can avoid going to court. By avoiding court, you not only minimize the length of your case in terms of time but also the costs of your case as far as money spent going to an attorney and time spent away from your place of employment. All these factors become increasingly relevant as you increase or decrease the length of your case. Sometimes circumstances allow for you to mediate rather than litigate your child custody case. However, in some cases, you will find yourself needing to spend a considerable amount of time such as in the scenario where the primary conservatorship of your child is at issue.
Regardless of what the circumstances of your case are if you are going to go through the time and trouble of a child custody case you need to make sure that you are spending your money on a lawyer who can help you accomplish your goals. It is not nearly enough to hire an attorney that your friend recommended to you for that you have seen their billboard driving home from work. Rather, you need to be able to have said that you had met with this lawyer, felt comfortable working with him or her, and believe that the lawyer has your best interest in mind period from there, you can have Peace of Mind that the lawyer is capable of advocating for you and working to accomplish your goals while minimizing costs.
When considering all those factors, I believe that the most suitable, experienced, and prepared attorneys in Southeast Texas are those with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan. Our licensed family law attorneys offer free-of-charge consultations six days a week. Those consultations are offered in our two Houston area locations, over the phone, and via video. When your relationship with your children is at stake alongside your time and your money you cannot afford, literally or figuratively, to hire anything but the best. Look no further than the Law Office of Bryan Fagan and be sure to reach out to our attorneys today.
Do you need to hire a lawyer for your child custody case?
Before we go any further in today’s blog post I wanted to touch on whether you must hire a family law attorney at all. There is no requirement in the Texas family code that you have an attorney to represent you in a child custody case. As a result, you may be curious about whether it is even worth your time to do so. After all: if you think you could handle the subject matter in case management of a child custody case on your own why bother dealing with the lawyer and having to pay him or her to represent you?
There is indeed no requirement in the Texas family code for you to hire an attorney to represent you in the child custody case you are pursuing. People everyday file these types of cases and proceed without a lawyer. However, there are advantages to hiring an attorney and disadvantages to not hiring an attorney that I think are worth sharing today with you. Some of these factors will be obvious to you if you begin your child custody case without a lawyer. However, some of the other factors will be less obvious but just as important and as a result, I wanted to share those with you right now.
Meeting the deadlines associated with the family law case
Being able to ensure that all filing deadlines are met associated with your case is one of the most important aspects of having an attorney to represent you. Just like you probably have deadlines to consider at your place of employment, there are also important deadlines for you to meet within your family law case. At the beginning of that list would be something like being able to respond in time to your parent’s petition that initiated the family law case. If your Co-parent is the person who started the family law case, then you have a certain period to respond to their petition. If you fail to do so, your Co-parent can obtain a default judgment against you. This means that he or she could pursue court orders from the judge without your permission. Even if you are not happy about having to hire a lawyer or even proceed with a family law case participating in a case is better than failing to do so.
Even in something as simple as this, it can be frustrating to have to learn how to file documents, draft the paperwork and otherwise meet these sorts of deadlines. Furthermore, the answer to a petition is a relatively straightforward and simple document. While there are resources available online to show you how to respond to these sorts of documents there is no substitute for experience. As a result, an attorney will be able to vary Quickly get your paperwork filed and respond appropriately to petitions and other requests for information filed by your Co-parent. On the other hand, you are doing the same may take an extended period.
This is a factor that I think is incredibly relevant. When you think about a child custody case it is normal to think about the case from the standpoint of a concerned parent. Maintaining your relationship with your child, ensuring that your child has the essentials in life, and also following through with different responsibilities regarding the enforcement of prior court orders are what many parents envision when they talk about a child custody case. However, to get to those loftier goals, you must first be able to meet the basic requirements of a family law case. That means drafting documents correctly filing them on time and providing notice of your filing to the opposing party. These are the sort of under-the-radar benefits that an attorney can provide you with.
Next, you need to consider that the rest of your life will not go on pause simply because you have become involved in a child custody case. In our mind, when we get involved in something as important as a child custody case, the rest of the world seems to slow down and become much less important. Those trivial matters on the periphery of your life no longer seem as important do too you’re being engaged in a family law case. Just the same, however, the reality is that those areas of your life are still going to be relevant. Even more important, the important areas of your life are still going to be important even though you are involved in a child custody case.
I am referencing parts of your life such as your work, issues with other children, your family, and any other responsibilities you have outside of maintaining a child custody case. These are the areas of your life that will still be relevant and extremely important even while a family law case is ongoing. Do not underestimate the significance of these types of matters in your life. Rather, you can and should seek to maintain your attention in these important areas of your life even while your family law case is ongoing. However, the time you spend in these areas will take away from any time that he would have spent attending to your family law case.
Time is a resource that is in short supply for any parent. No matter how much you want to be in multiple places at one time you are still limited and being able to focus your tire tension on only one area of your life at one time. Even though you may want to become more involved in your family law case, your other responsibilities in life are likely going to make that difficult for you. Find some degree of balance in your life during this time. Will also prove to be a difficult feat.
Having one of the junior attorneys with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan available to assist you in your case can be a great benefit. one of our attorneys can help you to be more efficient in managing your child custody case. Keep in mind that no matter, if you hire an attorney for your case or not it, is still your case. As a result, the decisions that you make will impact you and your child. An attorney does not tell you what to do within the confines of your case. Rather, your attorney with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan will help you to synthesize information and make better decisions because of having better information. The attorney advises and makes recommendations but does not make decisions for you. At no point will an attorney from our office overstep their bounds and begin to make decisions for you.
Again, there is so much about a Texas child custody case that you will not have much direct control over. However, if your goal is to do the best that you can for your child about their child custody case then the best place for you to start that journey would be to speak to one of the experienced junior and senior attorneys with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan. By deciding to move forward and speak with one of our attorneys if you can be sure that you are meeting with a person of integrity and great experience. Fierce advocates in the courtroom and diligent negotiators outside of it, the attorneys with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan can assist you in whatever child custody circumstance you are facing. However, we can only help you when he reached out to us. Please contact us today so that we may earn your trust and help you begin to accomplish your goals in whatever child custody circumstance you were facing.
Questions about the material contained in today’s blog post? Contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan
If you have any questions about the material contained in today’s blog post, please do not hesitate to contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan. Our licensed family law attorneys offer free of charge consultations six days a week in person, over the phone, and via video. These consultations are a great way for you to learn more about the world of Texas family law as well as about how your family circumstances may be impacted by the filing of a divorce or child custody case.
from Texas Bar Today https://ift.tt/RxmKWv5
via Abogado Aly Website
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