Why hire lawyer?
If you are finding yourself making the difficult decision on whether or hire a lawyer or considering to represent yourself, here are the top reasons why hiring the a lawyer makes a lot of sense:
No. 1 - Many Judges and opposing attorneys are inflexible when you attempt to represent yourself. The current law is that when you represent yourself, you are expected to know what a lawyer knows. The problem is that for you to have that kind of knowledge, you would have to spend hours every day in the law library to be adequately prepared.
You'll often find yourself violating court rules, maybe sanctioned, and unable to get documents into evidence at a court date because you don't know how to properly lay foundation at a hearing or trial. If a court date doesn't go your way, you'll end up paying double or more for lawyer to try and fix the biggest mistake of your life. Often times, those mistakes cannot be corrected.
No. 2 - Even with no court dates on the horizon, how you approach the case in the earliest days will largely dictate whether your case will be smooth or whether your case is going to turn into a disaster. If your case gets out of control, it will take months for a good lawyer to later turn the tide of the case, but often times it's too late.
No. 3 - If you thought retainers are high when you first started calling around for a lawyer, guess again. Retainers are often $10,000 or more, if you have a pending court date and waited to hire a lawyer.
No. 4 - Arizona is one of the few States that allows for what's called a Jackpot Trial. This means that you are lured into believing that everyone is representing themselves, but to your surprise, your spouse or the other parent shows up at your trial (or hearing) with a lawyer without giving you any advance notice. Judges will not allow a continuance under those circumstances, so now your forced to conduct a trial against a lawyer and you'll lose. This risk alone is one of the biggest reasons you should always have a lawyer.
No. 5 - Lawyers are better suited to avoid the technical pitfalls of a divorce. Love them or hate them, lawyers can move your case around common problems that would otherwise plague most cases where spouses and parents represent themselves.
No. 6 - Lawyers are simply more effective. Judges can't stand when people represent themselves and make arguments that are only emotionally based. This is very common problem and you will not get what you want, unless your argument is legally based and you have case law to support your position. Lawyers are in the best position to give you good advice, but to also better set your expectations.
Call Mr. Nordini to discuss an affordable option to better ensure you have a lawyer representing you in your case.