One of the most important and widely asked questions when it comes to Texas family law is how to find a qualified attorney. One thing is for sure: you will not suffer for lack of options when it comes to finding an attorney to represent you in a divorce or child custody case in southeast Texas. Many, many family law attorneys would be willing to take your case. In a way, that is the beginning of the problem. With so many options to choose from you may suffer from paralysis of the analysis. Meaning, you may have so many options to choose from you may be stuck in neutral trying to pick through ones that you think are the best.
Think of it like when you are at a nice restaurant, and you see a handful of items on the menu that look good to you. You may sit and stare at the menu for many minutes trying to decide which option looks best to you. The same could theoretically happen when it comes to your family law case. With so many options available you may have difficulty choosing from the sheer number of lawyers that there are in Southeast Texas.
Therefore, your job is to think about your case from the perspective of someone who needs to be able to narrow down their list of candidates to find just the right attorney for your type of case. There is no one-size-fits-all lawyer. You may have a situation where you can find a lawyer who is willing to take your divorce for a child custody case but unless he or she is the right attorney for you then you may be stuck in a situation where you have selected an attorney who is either not experienced or doesn’t fit the bill for your case. In that case, you may be spending good money to chase a good result but with an attorney who is not right for you.
Today’s blog post from the Law Office of Bryan Fagan will help you to be able to look through your options for selecting a family law attorney and help you to pick the right one. This can seem like a daunting task. However, after helping thousands of our neighbors here in Southeast Texas sort through their divorce or child custody cases over the past several years we believe that we are in a unique position to be able to help determine what a good strategy looks like when it comes to hiring an attorney. In short, we believe that our attorneys are uniquely suited to represent almost any person who is going through a family law case in Texas. However, in working through an analysis of the best attorneys in our area you may come to a different conclusion. We want to be able to equip you to make the best choice for you and your family.
The Law Office of Bryan Fagan offers free-of-charge consultations six days a week in person, over the phone, and via video. We have multiple Houston area locations and have recently opened an office in San Antonio, as well. This means that no matter where you are in the Lone Star State there are ample opportunities for you to meet with us in person to discuss your case. Additionally, we can help you by meeting with you via video or over the phone. No matter what you are looking for in an attorney we are here for you. They’re free of charge consultation with one of our attorneys is a phone call away.
Do you need a family law attorney?
You may be thinking that this is an obvious question to ask given that you are on the blog for a family law attorney, but it is reasonable to wonder whether you need to hire an attorney in the first place. There is no guarantee that it is an essential part of your case that you hire a lawyer. For instance, there are many family law cases where hiring an attorney may not be necessary. A divorce where you have no minor children involved or where you do not have any community property to divide are low-stakes cases and ones where you can consider not hiring a lawyer. You can consider your circumstances before deciding to hire an attorney.
There are advantages to hiring an attorney. Having someone available to assist you with making decisions, advising you regarding family law issues, and generally helping you keep up with your case are all definite advantages to hiring a lawyer. However, there are also drawbacks in certain cases to having a lawyer. The foremost among those drawbacks is that it costs money to hire a lawyer. The last thing you need in your case is to find out that you paid money for an attorney when one was not necessary. Therefore, you should consider meeting with an experienced family law attorney to determine the likelihood that you need to hire a lawyer.
It is also possible that you do not even need to engage in a family law case. Many people have an incorrect belief about their case from the beginning and it becomes necessary to hire a lawyer because of an incorrect belief about the need to move forward with the family law case. In many cases, this belief is incorrect, and you should put some thought into whether there are any alternatives to a family law case that may be able to help you avoid looking for an attorney in the first place. Examples of alternatives to a family law case would include counseling, mediation, or even direct communication with your co-parent on issues regarding your children. Any of these alternatives should be sought after before considering a family law case.
We know that hiring an attorney can be a difficult decision to make. There is something about making that move that propels your case into the realm of “no going back.” Just know that if you do hire an attorney and you and your opposing party have second thoughts about the case then you certainly can tap the brakes on the case and move towards one of those options we just finished discussing where you could resolve your issues outside the courtroom. It helps to have a good relationship with your co-parent and to have already laid the groundwork with good and honest negotiation skills.
When you do decide to move forward with hiring an attorney there are several avenues that you can choose to go down as far as meeting with an attorney. For example, the Law Office of Bryan Fagan offers consultations six days a week at no charge. These consultations can be held over the phone, via video, or in person at one of our many Houston area locations. We want to make the process of hiring an attorney as comfortable and simple as possible. While hiring an attorney and even beginning a family law case may not be necessary, we are here for you if it gets to that point for you and your family.
How much thought have you put into hiring an attorney?
When it comes to hiring an attorney, you should put more thought into what you are doing than you put into determining what you are going to wear that day. It always amazes me to find out but some people choose the attorney that they are going to hire for an important legal case based on the recommendations of a friend or family member whom they would not trust in many other areas when it comes to advice. For that reason, you need to perform your due diligence when it comes to hiring a lawyer.
Understandably, you would look at the internet first and foremost when it comes to finding out about an attorney. Of course, we do so much these days when it comes to our daily lives as far as conducting business online. We meet with coworkers, shop for clothes, and even find our significant others on the computer. While this is not a bad plan necessarily when it comes to trying to find an attorney you should not always trust what you see online. Rather, trust what you see and then verify what you have read and observed.
The bottom line is that you need a plan when you start to look for an attorney in your family law case. It is not good enough for you to aimlessly wander around the internet and select an attorney to work with based on feelings or the way that the attorney wears their hair or the look of their office. These are not good qualities to select an attorney from. Rather, you need to have a set of criteria that matter a lot to you so that when it comes time for you to hire an attorney you know that you have been diligent and intentional in your search. Many people begin the process of looking for an attorney and quickly find out that their goals and needs change from time to time. When this happens, it is a good idea for you to continue to evolve your search and meet with the attorneys that you plan to consider hiring.
Hiring an attorney means building a relationship
When you are beginning to learn more about an attorney and the services that he or she provides you must be able to look at that circumstance as one where you are building an important relationship. It may not feel that way at first. Hiring a lawyer may seem to be more transactional than anything else. However, we can tell you from experience that the clients who have the most success and tend to accomplish more of their goals do so because they are comfortable building a relationship with that attorney.
One of the reasons for this is that in a family law case, your entire life becomes relevant. The reason for this is that family law cases deal with so much of our personal lives whereas a business dispute, personal injury case, or bankruptcy simply would not be involved in your personal life on a day-to-day basis. Since so much of your life is relevant you need to be comfortable with sharing information about your personal history with your attorney. We call this sharing the skeletons in your closet and having a conversation with your attorney about it at the beginning of your case.
If you are not comfortable with doing this, then you should consider whether the attorney that you are meeting with is someone that you should ultimately hire. He or she may not be a good fit with you on many levels. When you are working through the issues in a family law case you and your attorney must be on the same page. Communicating information, setting goals, and trying to work through problems are frequently encountered a family law cases. These things do not just happen at the beginning of a family law case or the end. You need to be prepared for all these things to occur throughout your case. Having an attorney who could walk with you always matters a great deal.
Have you started looking for social media content?
Currently, even attorneys have begun to dip their toes in the world of social media. The Law Office of Bryan Fagan is no exception. We have a presence on all the major social media platforms including YouTube. To that end, if you have not done so already we think it is worthwhile for you to be able to look at our YouTube page where you can find many videos on a wide range of family law issues. We don’t just come at you with statistics or boring and rehearsed dialogue about the Texas Family Code. Rather, we aim to provide our viewers with great information in an entertaining way.
Another advantage to using social media is that we can help our clients and potential clients alike learn more about our law practice. You can become comfortable with our office and our attorneys before even beginning the process of hiring a lawyer. For those of you who are hesitant about the idea of hiring an attorney, this can be a great benefit. We know that it is not easy to begin the process of looking to hire an attorney. Therefore, we want to make it as comfortable as possible for you when it comes to deciding to move forward with hiring a lawyer.
There is something about being able to see the face of an attorney that you may want to hire that can make the process seem much more personalized and familiar. It isn’t as if you are going to be looking to hire a family law attorney to represent you for a traffic ticket or a minor contractual dispute with the business partner. When you were hiring an attorney for a family law case you were looking to invest into that lawyer so that you can garner the best possible result for you and your family. We hope that you can utilize our social media accounts to help determine whether you and our office would be a good fit together.
Do not underestimate the power of a good first impression
A lot of times, we tend to overlook and undervalue our first impression of a person or a situation. It could be that we have been burned in the past by trusting our gut and instead choosing to analyze the situation based on a longer track record or wanting to see how something pans out over an extended period. As a result, we may be missing out on an opportunity to make a good decision for ourselves and our family by hiring an attorney who we have a good first impression of. When you meet with a lawyer you can learn a lot about him or her through the way that they talk to you and their body language.
When you are trying to decide about what attorney to hire the tiebreaker in this type of analysis could be small things like body language or your level of comfort with him or her. Do not second guess yourself when you are having either good or bad thoughts while meeting with an attorney. If the thoughts are negative, then you certainly have other options to pursue as far as hiring a lawyer. On the other hand, if you feel confident that this is the right person for you then do not discount those impressions, either.
Questions about the material contained in today’s blog post? Contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan
If you have any questions about the material contained in today’s blog post please do not hesitate to contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan. Our licensed family law attorneys offer free-of-charge consultations six days a week in person, over the phone, and via video. These consultations are a great way for you to learn more about the world of Texas family law as well as about how your family’s circumstances may be impacted by the filing of a divorce or child custody lawsuit.
Bryan Fagan, a native of Atascocita, Texas, is a dedicated family law attorney inspired by John Grisham’s “The Pelican Brief.” He is the first lawyer in his family, which includes two adopted brothers. Bryan’s commitment to family is personal and professional; he cared for his grandmother with Alzheimer’s while completing his degree and attended the South Texas College of Law at night.
Married with three children, Bryan’s personal experiences enrich his understanding of family dynamics, which is central to his legal practice. He specializes in family law, offering innovative and efficient legal services. A certified member of the College of the State Bar of Texas, Bryan is part of an elite group of legal professionals committed to ongoing education and high-level expertise.
His legal practice covers divorce, custody disputes, property disputes, adoption, paternity, and mediation. Bryan is also experienced in drafting marital property agreements. He leads a team dedicated to complex family law cases and protecting families from false CPS allegations.
Based in Houston, Bryan is active in the Houston Family Law Sector of the Houston Bar Association and various family law groups in Texas. His deep understanding of family values and his professional dedication make him a compassionate advocate for families navigating Texas family law.
