How To Hire a Divorce Lawyer

By Diana Shepherd

Before you hire a lawyer to represent you in your divorce, you need to learn this important truth: you and your divorce lawyer will become partners, for better or for worse, during and perhaps for years after the divorce process. And how well your partnership works can have an enormous affect upon the process and outcome of your divorce -- and how much you'll have to spend in legal fees along the way.

So you must make every effort to hire the right divorce lawyer from the outset. " If you pick the wrong lawyer, your future, your assets and your children could be in jeopardy, " says Forrest Bayard, an attorney in private practice in Chicago . " You should examine your goals and attitudes before going to see a lawyer, do you want to be generous, or nail your ex to the wall? Do you want an amicable or an adversarial divorce? " Look to your future. Determine what you want for yourself, your kids, and your ex in six months, one year, and five years, " advises Bayard. " Then choose a divorce lawyer who will support you in realizing that future. " Attorneys have different styles and biases, he notes, so you should look for one who's " compatible " with you: who understands and respects your thoughts and feelings -- and who will support you to be the best you can be in realizing your goals.