Divorce can be an expensive process. It can be even more expensive if you don’t go about it the right way.
In this video, divorce attorney Chaim Steinberger explains some ways to save money while going through a divorce. One crucial and unexpected tip: it’s actually a good thing if your spouse has a good lawyer. This helps the whole process go smoother.
Chaim Steinberger is a family law attorney with Chaim Steinberger, P.C, based in New York. To learn more, contact him directly by calling 888-981-0039.
Are you looking to save money on your divorce? I'm Rob Rosenthal with AskTheLawyers.com™ and New York City-based divorce attorney Chaim Steinberger has this advice for you.
Chaim Steinberger:
So I'll give you an unconventional answer on how to save money in a divorce. Many years ago, when Collaborative Law... So the best process to use for working these issues out is Collaborative Law. Capital C, Capital L and it's mediation with protection, mediation where you come in and you don't have a lawyer sitting at your side, how do you know if you're making a misstep? And once you build on that misstep, it may become really hard to undo it. So whenever I mediate a divorce case, I beg, borrow and plead for the parties to bring their lawyers in the room. Costs a couple of dollars more, but in the long term, it pays off. The lawyers are sitting in the negotiation room and the mediation room, and when they make a trade off, they see why they're making the trade off. And if a client's about to make a misstep, they say, excuse me, Mr. Mediator, let's step outside. I need to explain something to my client. And so that's a protected way of getting it done.
When you have a lawyer, the biggest sort of time drain and therefore money drain is when the client has lawyers start and stop and start and stop. Every time you pick up a case file, it takes a certain amount of time, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, half an hour, or an hour to get back into the groove of things, to remind yourself of all of the aspects of this case. So when you have a lawyer start and then they need a document or they need some information like, oh, let me get that for you. And now the lawyer puts it down and three weeks later, you come back with the information. Now the lawyer has to ramp up again. That is incredibly expensive. Don't do it.
Other than that, what can you do? Play a smart game. If you play a bad game, if you teach the other side not to get along with you, then you've taught them to make trouble. And that extends it, that draws it out, that costs you more money. Be reasonable yourself. Knowing what the law is... I tell my clients the best thing you can have is have your spouse represented by a good lawyer. Two good lawyers who know what they're doing, they know what the law is, they can sit down, they can work things out. But get a lawyer on the other side who doesn't know what they're doing and they think that non issues are issues and they miss the most important things. But their lawyers end up hurt. But they also end up hurting the other side. And when the other side lies, cheats, and steals, unraveling that, unpacking that, demonstrating it to the court. I've made people pay when the other side has lied. I've made them pay in court for doing that. But that becomes expensive.
So what can you do? Play a smart game. I got a woman, a Jewish religious divorce again. And when six others weren't able to and she said, I'm of the divorce whisperer because she said I had the perfect blend of iron fist and the velvet glove. She says, if I would have been any softer on him, you would have bulldozed over me, and if I would have been any harsher and tougher with him, then I would have provoked a backlash from him. So treating people with dignity and respect so that they don't make trouble just for the sake of making trouble, so that they don't feel like they have their their masculinity involved. They don't feel like they have to make trouble just for the sake of making trouble. And so that you can work things out and help the other side, give you what you want so that you can work things out in a quick, efficient way without causing more trouble for yourself and for your children.
For more information on how to save money on your divorce, visit AskTheLawyers.com™.
Disclaimer: This video is for informational purposes only. In some states, this video may be deemed Attorney Advertising. The choice of lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely on advertisements.
