Engaging an Attorney – Process and Costs

Can you provide a quick overview of the divorce process in Colorado?

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I mean the basics of a Colorado divorce

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are that the case gets filed

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um either as a petition which is one

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person filing and serving the case on

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the other or as a competition where both

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parties are presenting to the court that

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they would like to get a divorce

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and the first time that a decree can be

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entered in Colorado is 91 days after the

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case starts in that time there are a

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bunch of things that need to happen and

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many divorces take longer than 90 days

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to get done but you know the timeline of

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divorce is really within the first 42

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days we have an initial status

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conference where we check in with the

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court and tell the court what we think

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the issues are what experts are going to

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be needed what issues are going to be

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needed to be addressed during the

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process of the divorce and in some cases

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we schedule a permanent orders hearing

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we gather information we have a series

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of mandatory disclosures in Colorado

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that include an exchange of certain

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documents and an exchange of a sworn

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affidavit and certificate of compliance

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that reflect the assets and debts of the

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parties and the income and the expenses

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so that everybody has an idea of what

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the scope of

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the assets are going to be and after

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that exchange either it’s a simple

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divorce and we can go ahead and try and

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get it settled courts will order in

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every single District in Colorado that

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we mediate but sometimes we get it’s

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settled before mediation or if it’s

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complex Divorce by the time we’ve

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exchanged the financial disclosures we

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know we need to get an expert to Value

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the business and we maybe need to get an

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expert to look at whether or not the

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trust has a marital component so we’ve

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discussed what experts are going to be

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needed and then really the discussion of

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settlement is delayed until we get those

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answers from experts about what are

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these values that we’re dealing with

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other issues obviously if there’s a

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maintenance component or alimony as some

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people call it we have to talk about

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what are the people the party’s ability

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to support themselves and what were the

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reasonable needs of the marriage during

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the marriage child support again is

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another thing we look at and then

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parenting time sometimes parties aren’t

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able to come to agreements on

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how the parenting time should look how

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much time should the children spend with

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each party in those cases sometimes we

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have to get an expert called a child and

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family investigator or a parental

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responsibilities evaluator to

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investigate and and make recommendations

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to the court about what might be in the

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best interest of the children our goal

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is always to get the cases settled

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because parties who settle have the most

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control over their case but sometimes we

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end up at a permanent orders here and

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contested in front of a judge and again

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that will further delay the case in

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Colorado because many dockets are backed

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up so while 91 days is a great goal to

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shoot for and certainly people who are

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working well together might be able to

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get their case done in 91 days people

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who are going to a contested hearing are

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probably looking at a much longer way to

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get a divorce in Colorado

From Kristi’s interview for the Masters of Family Law series on ReelLawyers.com.

Representation

When you engage a family law attorney to represent you in a legal proceeding, you need to choose one that you will be able to trust and work well with. During the initial call to our office, we will clear you in our conflicts system and schedule you on the attorney’s calendar at the earliest date available.

During the initial consultation, the attorney can answer any questions you have and explain the law in Colorado. The attorney will also discuss the two types of representation that we offer:

Full Legal Representation

Full legal representation includes:

Identifying issues raised by the dissolution of marriage, legal separation, or post-decree matter;
Identifying separate property, disposition of your marital estate and, if applicable, maintenance, child support, allocation of parental responsibilities and parenting time issues;
Analyzing and explaining the law as it relates to those issues;
Identifying and analyzing the financial circumstances of your marriage;
Analyzing and explaining alternatives for compromise and settling disputed issues;
Negotiating disputed issues and fees;
Litigating disputed issues, if necessary.

Limited-Scope Representation (“unbundled legal services”)

In limited scope representation, we represent you only for an agreed-upon, specific purpose or purposes, similar to a consulting arrangement. In a limited-scope arrangement we perform only specific tasks or limited processes, such as answering questions, reviewing legal documents, or assisting with child or spousal support calculations. You perform all other aspects of your case. This form of representation can be very economical for our clients.

Your choice of representation is confirmed when you sign an Engagement Agreement Letter outlining the scope of representation.

Costs

For both types of representation, our fees for services are based on the time, labor and skill required to represent you properly and reflect our respective experience, reputation, and ability. We will record our time spent on your behalf at our current hourly rates. We will staff your case as efficiently as possible, attempting to balance the skills and expertise required against the cost to you of providing such skills and expertise. There are several things you can do to keep fees as low as possible:

Be thoughtful regarding how you use our services. Legal assistants, paralegals or another of our attorneys can frequently answer questions or otherwise provide helpful information. Only attorneys are permitted to provide legal advice;
Be prompt and cooperative with us when we seek your assistance; and, perhaps most importantly,
Avoid the temptation to use your attorney and the legal process to express counterproductive negative emotions to or about your spouse or ex-spouse.

Unfortunately, we cannot estimate the total attorney fees and disbursements that will be required to represent you. The primary reason for that is that we cannot predict how cooperative or reasonable your spouse or ex-spouse, or their counsel, will be. To the extent he or she is uncooperative, contentious and/or unreasonable, the time (and therefore the expense) required to work through the process will necessarily increase. All we can do is keep you advised, by monthly invoices, of the time, labor and costs required, and you must direct us as to how aggressively you wish to respond to the circumstances arising in your case.

Settlements necessarily involve compromise, and contested hearings necessarily involve risks beyond our control. That said, the attorneys at Wells Family Law are committed to providing you with the best possible representation under all circumstances.

Engaging an Attorney – Process and Costs

Can you provide a quick overview of the divorce process in Colorado?

Representation

Costs

Wells Family Law | PC

303-309-1077