Want to Save Money on Legal Fees? Negotiate Early.

This is a very common scenario in family law cases: The parties enter litigation when someone files a lawsuit. The lawsuit begins an endless stream of legal pleadings, court appearances, document preparation, depositions and all of the other parts of litigation that drive up legal bills. The parties are too mad or stubborn to really try to work out a resolution for fear of appearing weak in the eyes of the other side. So, everybody builds up their arsenals in preparation for mutually assured destruction in the courtroom.

On the day of hearing or trial, the judge asks the attorneys where the parties stand on a settlement. The judge then recommends that the parties either try to work something out in the hall or in chambers with the judge.

Then the lawyers seriously discuss the hard issues in the case and try to work out an agreement. You would be amazed at how many settlements are reached on the day of a hearing or a trial.

Sometimes this is unavoidable. But, most often it can and should be avoided. If the parties had instructed their attorneys to really explore a resolution at the beginning of the case, then much of the huge legal expense of preparing for the courtroom would have been avoided.

Is it always possible resolve a case without going to court? No. Some cases and issues are so tough and so complex that a judge needs to make a decision for the parties. However, in the majority of cases, clients can save thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars by instructing their attorney to really work at exploring settlement options at the beginning of the case, rather than on the day of trial.

After all, if you are going to settle the case on the day of your court appearance after months (or years) of litigation and tens of thousands of dollars of legal fees, why not cut to the chase and seriously explore settlement up front?

If you are interested in legal representation, please contact me by email or at (919) 781-1311. You can also find me at www.nichollscrampton.com (this site currently being updated).

Please note that nothing on this blog should be considered legal advice and that viewing the information on this blog does not create an attorney-client relationship between us. You are advised to consult with an attorney to confirm the current state of any legal information contained in this blog, as the law constantly changes.

What's It Like to Go to Court? See For Yourself.

One of the biggest decisions that any family law client will have to make is whether they want to accept the negotiated resolution that is available or take their chances in court.

No one can make that decision for you. Your attorney should provide you with all of the information possible to help you make your decision. This includes talking about the strengths and weaknesses of your case, the judge's inclinations, and other factors that may influence the outcome.

However, no attorney can or should guarantee a particular outcome. So, there is always an element of risk in allowing your case to be resolved by a judge. One of the factors that has to be considered in your decision is whether you are willing to endure the process of a courtroom trial. A hearing or trial can be emotionally grueling. Further, the intimate details of your life will be on display for anybody that happens to wander into the courtroom. Many clients are surprised to find out that anybody can sit in the courtroom to listen to their case.

In order to get a true idea of what a domestic trial is like, I advise clients to take a day off and go to the family court in their county (In Wake County, family courts are located on the 9th floor of the courthouse). If you go, you should watch a hearing or a trial. That, in turn, will give you the best idea of what it will be like to go through a trial in your case. And, more importantly, it will give you a very good idea of whether you want to push your case to court, or resolve it through negotiation.

If you are interested in legal representation, please contact me by email or at (919) 781-1311. You can also find me at www.nichollscrampton.com (this site currently being updated).

Please note that nothing on this blog should be considered legal advice and that viewing the information on this blog does not create an attorney-client relationship between us. You are advised to consult with an attorney to confirm the current state of any legal information contained in this blog, as the law constantly changes.

How to Prepare for Your First Meeting With Your Lawyer

Many clients are completely overwhelmed by their first meeting with a family lawyer. They are frequently emotionally distraught by the potential end of their marriage, scared by the possibility of losing control over their children, afraid of their economic future or all of the above. Thus, many people are unprepared for their initial conference with an attorney. This leads to an inefficient use of time with an attorney, and wasted money. I have found that having specific tasks helps clients focus on resolving their problems and lessens anxiety about the unknown future. Further, being prepared for your meeting with an attorney saves money in two ways: The attorney spends less time mining you for information, and you will have done much of the work that you would have paid the attorney to do for you. Following these five steps in preparing for your first attorney meeting will save you time, money and probably some anxiety as well:

1. Create a Budget: In the event that you are going to be separated from your spouse, you need to know how much money you need to survive until the financial issues are resolved. This requires a budget. If a lawsuit is filed, you may very well be required to submit a budget to the court, so you might as well get started on this right away. You should include every monthly expense that you incur in your budget. If you incur a cost quarterly, then divide the total annual cost by 12 to obtain a monthly amount. You may have to estimate things like rent and utilities if you are still living in the marital home. The legal form that attorneys in Wake County use to submit budgets to the court can be found here. This form provides a useful guide to budget items that may not occur to you.

2. Create a List of Assets and Debts: Having an inventory of assets and debts is absolutely crucial to your ability to make educated decisions about dividing marital assets. Do you know what your net worth is? Do you know whether you have more assets than debts? Include homes, vehicles, art, collectibles, retirement accounts, bank accounts, insurance benefits, stocks, bonds, business interests and other assets. You do not necessarily need to inventory the silverware, dishes, linens and other smaller items unless they are especially valuable. Also include all debts including credit cards, loans, mortgages, credit lines, equity lines and other financial liabilities. You can find a fairly extensive list of assets on this form. Having a list of assets and debts (and when possible amounts for each) will save your attorney a lot of time, and you a lot of money. It will also help you and your attorney formulate a strategy for resolving your case at an earlier stage.

3. Estate Planning Issues: Review your papers so that you can inform your attorney of any Wills and Powers of Attorney that you have created. If possible, have copies of those documents for your attorney. Your attorney will want to discuss these documents with you. Also, tell your attorney if your spouse is designated as the beneficiary of any insurance policies or financial accounts. Identifying these issues will prevent your attorney from having to dig for this information later. Again, this saves you money in legal fees.

4. Organize Your Documents: You will probably encounter a lot of paper while you create a budget and a list of assets and debts. As you find this paperwork, organize it by account/asset/debt and statement date. Even if you don't bring these documents to the first meeting, you will need them eventually. Lawyers and paralegals spend untold hours digging through boxes of random unorganized documents supplied by clients. If you can organize the documents as you go through them, you will save a lot of money in legal fees. And, you will have a much clearer view of your own financial picture.

5. Make a List of Questions for Your Attorney: No matter what you do, you will likely be emotionally charged during this first conference. This causes clients to lose their focus and forget to ask the questions that they really want answered. So, make a list of your questions before you arrive for the meeting. Using this list, you can make sure that you leave your meeting with the information that you were seeking.

If you take all or even some of these steps prior to meeting with an attorney, then you will be much better prepared to get what you need out of that meeting. If you are going to be divorced, you will need to take charge of your own financial life. This is the first step in that process. Even if you reconcile (and I hope that you do), many clients find that taking these steps opens their eyes to their real financial situation. And, you will have saved thousands of dollars in legal fees by doing the grunt work yourself.

If you are interested in legal representation, please contact me by email or at (919) 781-1311. You can also find me at www.nichollscrampton.com (this site currently being updated).

Please note that nothing on this blog should be considered legal advice and that viewing the information on this blog does not create an attorney-client relationship between us. You are advised to consult with an attorney to confirm the current state of any legal information contained in this blog, as the law constantly changes.

Family Law Research DIY

If you want to investigate North Carolina family law on your own, you can find most of the rules that the legislature has made for family law cases on the North Carolina General Assembly's website.

As an important side note, you should know that each of these rules (in legalese, "statutes") has been interpreted or explained by the North Carolina Court of Appeals and/or the North Carolina Supreme Court. These explanations of the rules come in the form of written "decisions" by those courts (these decisions are also commonly referred to as "case law" and "common law"). So, in order to have a full understanding of many of the rules, you have to also review the interpretations issued by the courts. Understanding the rules as well as the court's written interpretation of the rules is a very large part of what makes a family lawyer a valuable resource for you.


If you are interested in legal representation, please contact me by email or at (919) 781-1311. You can also find me at www.nichollscrampton.com (this site currently being updated).

Please note that nothing on this blog should be considered legal advice and that viewing the information on this blog does not create an attorney-client relationship between us. You are advised to consult with an attorney to confirm the current state of any legal information contained in this blog, as the law constantly changes.

Is Your Lawyer a Skilled Negotiator?

If you are in the market for an attorney to help you with a family law matter, then you need to make sure that the attorneys you are considering are skilled negotiators. This is true for alimony, post-separation support, child custody, child support, equitable distribution and other types of family law cases. One of the little known secrets about the legal profession is that at least 50% of what a family lawyer does in a day consists of negotiation. That being the case, having a skilled negotiator as your attorney provides you with a greatly increased chance of resolving your case without the time, expense and emotional trauma of going to court. A good family law attorney should also be experienced in the court room and be willing to pursue a case in court if necessary. However, I strongly believe that an attorney should not counsel a client to allow a judge to make decisions for their family unless and until the attorney has done everything they can do to reach an agreed resolution outside of court. Going to court takes all control out of the hands of the client and puts it squarely in the hands of a judge that knows neither the client, nor the client's family.

Therefore, having an attorney that has actual negotiation skill (as opposed to just experience) is crucial to obtaining the best possible outcome in your case. Many attorneys have experience negotiating. Some have been doing it for decades. But, do not confuse experience with skill. Skill requires possessing knowledge of specific negotiation techniques and strategies. Experience requires neither technique nor knowledge. Acquiring skill as a negotiator requires obtaining training in the many types of negotiation settings (mediation, collaborative law, direct negotiation between attorneys, etc...). It further requires that attorneys obtain training on specific skills such as how to deal with cooperative negotiators, aggressive negotiators, difficult negotiators and unskilled negotiators. It also requires that the attorney study his her own personality and negotiation style to pinpoint their own strengths and weaknesses. Only then can the attorney capitalize on their strengths and bolster their weaknesses. Few attorneys actually obtain training in negotiation and therefore few attorneys actually possess the skills necessary to obtain the best result in your case. Instead many simply rely on their "experience" or "gut", instead of skill, in trying to resolve your case. This leads to a premature breakdown of negotiations, an increase in hostility and a stranger making the rules for the intimate details of life for you and your family.

If you are looking for an family law attorney, I encourage you to inquire into that attorney's specific training in negotiation. Don't rely on their experience alone to help you resolve your case.

Tre' Morgan is an experienced family law attorney with extensive negotiating training and education to help you obtain the best possible outcome in your case. He is a North Carolina Dispute Resolution Commission Certified Mediator, has trained in the Collaborative Law process and has studied and is trained in numerous other negotiation skills and techniques. He continues to actively supplement his negotiation skills through education, training and daily negotiation in family law cases.


If you are interested in legal representation, please contact me by email or at (919) 781-1311. You can also find me at www.nichollscrampton.com (this site currently being updated).

Please note that nothing on this blog should be considered legal advice and that viewing the information on this blog does not create an attorney-client relationship between us. You are advised to consult with an attorney to confirm the current state of any legal information contained in this blog, as the law constantly changes.

FAMILY LAW QUOTE OF THE DAY

"The law should, when practicable, encourage the resolution of family issues without resort to court interference."

This quote is taken directly from a North Carolina Court of Appeals decision in a child support case. Even the courts think that most family law cases should be resolved outside of court! This is, in my mind, an admission that the courts are poorly equipped to find the best possible solution to family disputes. Yet another reason that parties should work very hard to resolve family law issues before going to court.



PLEASE NOTE THAT NOTHING ON THIS BLOG SHOULD BE CONSIDERED LEGAL ADVICE AND THAT VIEWING THE INFORMATION ON THIS BLOG DOES NOT CREATE AN ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN US. YOU ARE ADVISED TO CONSULT WITH AN ATTORNEY TO CONFIRM THE CURRENT STATE OF ANY LEGAL INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS BLOG, AS THE LAW CONSTANTLY CHANGES.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN LEGAL REPRESENTATION, PLEASE CONTACT ME BY EMAIL OR AT (919) 781-1311. YOU CAN ALSO FIND ME AT WWW.NICHOLLSCRAMPTON.COM (this site currently being updated).

Collaborative Law - An Introduction

All to often, the parties involved in a divorce emerge from the legal process financially and emotionally devastated. Families and lives are destroyed in the process of ending a marriage. I have had cases where I honestly feared that the grief and stress from the process was going to kill my client.

Some of the negative effects of a divorce cannot be avoided. Grieving for a lost relationship is natural, and will be a part of any divorce. Some degree of financial loss is unavoidable because it costs more to run two households than it does to run one. Divorce is difficult for children of any age because of the unavoidable changes in their lives.

But, contrary to popular belief, divorce does not have to be nasty, ugly and combative. The parties do not have to "jump into the mud" or "take the low road" in order to effectively advocate for their interests and resolve the issues that arise in a divorce.

Over the last few decades, lawyers that had grown weary of seeing clients devastated by the legal process of ending marriages developed a new process for resolving the legal issues that arise in a divorce. That process was based on spouses working together, or collaboratively, to resolve the issues of property distribution, financial support, and the parenting and financial support of children. That process became known as Collaborative Law.

Through the next series of posts, I will describe the structure and process of Collaborative Law. I will also explain the tremendous benefits of the Collaborative Process. Hopefully, by the end of the series, I will have shed some light on this process so that more divorcing couples will explore this option before waging war on each other.

In my next post, I will provide an overview of the actual structure and mechanics of the collaborative process.