What do you do when a couple is separating but only one of them has a grasp about finances? How do you manage the emerging reality that, not only will the same money now have to fund two households but that only one of the parties has a clue about how to fiscally run a household at all? How can you move forward when only one party comprehends and can work with the family budget?
But it was just a divorce!
As our nation comes further out of the recession, I'm watching the discussion of affordability in divorce drop farther and farther into the background, away from polite conversation. But now that money may be somewhat more available for working families, this issue must remain front and center in our considerations or else cost consciousness will have been no more than a marketing strategy and affordability just a sales pitch.
Let's Get Real
Tonight I'm going to write about billable hourly rates. This is the real world business of family law and it's impact on you couldn't be greater.
Affordability
Lately there has been a strong trend against affordability in family law. In other words, there has been a strong trend toward increasing costs. A tried and true way to increase costs in family law is to deny the obvious. Let me give you a few examples:
Reconciliation
A fair number of people who file for divorce decide instead to try to preserve their relationship and reconcile. We have that experience in The Firm as well. A percentage of our clients who are involved in divorce actions decide to reconcile and dismiss their divorce. Sometimes, often-times, that is a wonderful thing and we wish the parties well. Sometimes however, we know that reconciliation is a very bad idea.
W. Darrin Keaton
I am pleased tonight to welcome Darrin Keaton to The Firm.
Jeremy Jamal Abernathy
Epochs come and epochs go. And as families transition, so do law firms.
The Supreme Court of the United States of America, Part V
"I had but the last few days in DC to study, to write and re-write and to wait for the pinnacle experience of my profession." (From Part IV)
The Supreme Court of the United States of America, Part IV
When we last left our happy band, the Supreme Court of the United States of America had just accepted our Petition for Writ of Certiorari on International Family Law and told us to submit our Brief on the Merits.
Brain Dead
No, this is not a post about certain opposing counsels or opposing parties. This is not a post on the fortunately seldom encountered but still occassionally out there judge whose rulings are almost certainly from another planet. This is not even a post about politicians who seek death and destruction.
