Having a question and not answering that question is one of the most frustrating things that you can experience. You can find yourself searching for answers to questions that seem impossible while the rest of your life swirls around you. If you are going through a situation regarding your children, your marriage, or a combination of the two, this is exactly the set of circumstances that I have in mind. Anyone in your position should have several questions about their family law matter at any one time. That’s not to mention the rest of your life going on simultaneously. Try telling your boss that you missed an important work deadline because you were staring into space and trying to figure something out about your family law case.
With this situation in mind, I wanted to write today about the answers to one of the most important questions you can ask regarding your family case: where can you find a family lawyer in Texas? I’ll rephrase that question with an even greater degree of specificity in mind: where can you find a good, experienced family lawyer in Texas? If you can answer these questions, I believe that the rest of your family case will fall nicely into place. Here is why I believe that finding the right attorney for you and your case is so important.
Why is it even important to hire an attorney for a family law case?
You would expect a family law attorney’s blog to feature a post on the importance of hiring a lawyer, wouldn’t you? It makes sense for a lawyer to tell you how important it is to have a lawyer by your side. Not only do I want you to strongly consider hiring our law office to represent you and your family in your family law matter, but I also think it is important and nearly always essential for you to have an attorney representing you. That’s not just lip service to get you to hire us or any other lawyer. I have this opinion after having represented many people who were in positions very likely similar to the one you are in currently.
First, it is not always essential for you to be represented by counsel in a family law case. The Texas Family Code does not require you to be represented by counsel. There are a few exceptions here and there in the world of family law where a judge can appoint an attorney. Primarily these occur in cases where your parental rights can be terminated (such as in a Child Protective Services case) or in a situation where you can be ordered jail time (such as in a delinquent child support/enforcement case). Otherwise, there is no requirement for a judge to allow an attorney to be appointed for you.
I have two basic ideas surrounding whether or not you need to have an attorney for your family law case. First, if you have children involved in your case, you need to have an attorney. Your kids are too important for you to risk losing time and rights due to your not wanting to spend money on a lawyer. I’m not downplaying the high costs that can be associated with hiring a lawyer. I am telling you that spending money on a lawyer is a short-term investment into your long-term future. Your kids are an investment in the long term, and an attorney is your short-term investment to help you secure your longer-term one.
Next, if you have a significant property in play, you also need to hire an attorney. Think about all the long hours you’ve put in at work. Think about your years of living right- saving money, investing, being generous, etc. All that hard work and intentionality could be down the tubes in a divorce case if you do not protect yourself and your money. The fact is that families like yours don’t always get second chances in family law cases. When it comes to property matters, there almost certainly will not be a second chance. What gets decided regarding the property will stick no matter what the other circumstances of your case are.
Most family cases involve some degree of children involvement or property involvement. Every child custody case involves children (obviously). Most divorce cases have a degree of property and children, or both, being involved. As a result, my general rule of thumb is that you need to have an attorney in most family law cases. You are free to disagree, but that is where I approach this topic from. You don’t need an attorney to say that you are willing to put a lot on the line when it comes to your family law case.
Choosing to hire an attorney is not like picking which vacation spot you want to visit next summer. This is not a pleasant experience. Family law cases are frequently messy, and hiring an attorney does not solve all the problems or answer all the questions you probably have surrounding the case. However, an attorney will make it easier for you to achieve your goals, whatever they are. Often this is true simply because your attorney can and hopefully will force you to become more intentional about your case.
Attorneys help you to focus on specific goals.
Being asked what your goals are for a family law case is like asking where you see yourself in five years during a job interview. It is a trick question of sorts because it is an easy question to answer, but it is difficult to answer well. You can use many words and go into a lot of detail about issues like the goals you might have for a family law case. Often, if he asks a person with their goal for their family log case, they will tell you that their goal is to win or two do better than their Co-parent. What this means in the real world is anyone’s guess. While it may make you feel good to say these things, you do not have a plan in place.
What you have to look for is what do these goals mean for your family, and what are the concrete steps towards you accomplishing these goals? You may have specific goals for yourself, but you need to synthesize them down and become specific with them. Anything short of that will leave you in a position where you cannot transfer those general goals into specific and achievable ones for your case. On a practical level, this means that you will not be able to take any goals and benefit your children’s lives. The facts associated with family law cases are so personal that you need to take significant interest in the case to benefit yourself in your kids. Anything less, and you all have good intentions but no clear path towards getting there.
Having achievable and measurable goals is a lot more simple than regarding your children when it comes to your property. The fact is that you can break your property down into categories like dollars, shares of stock, or even pieces of property. If you put your mind to these rough metrics for classifying and quantifying property, I lied to think up some concrete goals. For example, your attorney can help you organize, inventory, and appraise your property that has to be divided in the divorce. Doing so will not only help you negotiate better with your spouse, but it will allow you to think about real-world goals that are a lot more practical and achievable than you might think.
Next, it is straightforward to tell someone that you have a goal of gaining split custody in a divorce or becoming your child’s primary conservator. There is nothing wrong with having general goals like this, especially at the outset of a divorce or child custody case. However, as your case goes on, you must learn more about your case in terms of its specifics to stand a chance at being named a primary conservator or in gaining a split-cost city. The Y associated with your goals is just as important as the what. I would argue that the Y can be even more important than the Y is your primary motivation for filing a case and paying close attention to the facts and details. Otherwise, it is tough to sustain an effort throughout a family law case due to the stress associated with the case and the mental fatigue that you may undergo.
One of the hallmarks of a good goal is that the goal should be associated with a timeline. This means that if you do not achieve your goal with a certain amount of time in mind, you should be willing to move forward and consider other achievable goals within a reasonable period. Otherwise, you will spend your time attempting to achieve a goal that not only sets you back in other areas but can also be harmful to your case overall. You can speak to your attorney early and often in your case about certain goals that are achievable and which ones are not. Doing so will help you develop particular goals that help you achieve success in a case on a scale that you can measure and on a timeline that will not allow your case to go out of control.
Another point I will make is that even if you do not have any goals currently, gaining the insight of an experienced family law attorney can help in this regard while assisting you with courtroom activities is important; he will only set foot in court a few days out of your entire family law case. Rather, the vast majority of a family lowercase has spent outside of court. This is where your attorney can make a huge difference in your case. Rather than shield yourself from important information in your case, your attorney will help you confront the difficult aspects of your case and work with you to achieve goals to better yourself and your family’s position within the case itself.
If you can’t tell, I favor you hiring an attorney to represent you in a family law case, all things being equal. While a family law case is not one that always necessitates the use of an attorney, I can think of almost no situations where an attorney would harm your case. Rather, the truth is a family law case is one where having an attorney can be not only a great benefit for you but your family. And his charity does not take an agreeable case and turn it into a litigious one. If anything, having an attorney will help you make your simple divorce case into an even simpler one.
Where to find the right family law attorney for you?
This is the $1,000,000 question that we need to answer. Hopefully, by now, we have arrived at the same page that you need to have a family law attorney in your case. Once we have established this, we need to discuss where you can find the attorney that suits you and your case the best. For me, you don’t even need to devote a heck of a lot of time to this goal. Rather, you need only consider the best sources, or you can make the biggest difference in your search.
First of all, I think the best place for you to do your initial searches for an attorney would be the Internet. While much of the information you find on the Internet may not be correct, the reality is that when performing basic research for an attorney, the Internet is a great place to start. At the very least, doing so is more efficient than driving up every major St in he was sent to look for a lawyer. The Internet allows you to save time and resources so that you can look for an attorney in the most efficient manner possible.
Once you begin to find attorneys who appealed to you based on your case, you should attempt to schedule a consultation with their office. For example, the attorneys with the law office of Brian Fagan offer free of charge consultations six days a week in person, over the phone, and via video. These consultations will allow you to learn more about the world of Texas family law and what it means to file and proceed with a Texas family law case.
My suggestion would be to find three family law attorneys you are interested in hiring and then attempt to interview that attorney. Remember that the attorney will be working for you and vice versa. I get the impression that many of you reading this blog post tend to think of it as a situation where you are working for the attorney and vice versa. However, the attorney is there to serve you and not the other way around. Do not put yourself in a position where you feel like you need to justify yourself to a lawyer. Rather, it is the attorney’s job 2 help you get through your family case.
That begins by allowing yourself to be quiet when you meet with an attorney to hear what the lawyer has to say. Often, the tendency is to want to talk over an attorney to get every point across that you would like. However, sometimes it is just as important for you to remain quiet and allow the attorney to speak into your situation. This can take some degree of patience, but I can assure you that it is better to do this than have spent an entire consultation with your lawyer trying to argue or speak over one another.
Once you have an opportunity to meet with multiple family law attorneys, you will have a much better sense of your options and how to proceed. Making decisions within a family law case is never easy, but it is important to make those decisions with as much confidence as possible. An attorney is a great resource to have in this regard.
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 for 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 and how your family circumstances may be impacted by the filing of a divorce or child custody case.
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Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC | Houston, Texas Divorce Lawyers
The Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC routinely handles matters that affect children and families. If you have questions regarding divorce, it’s important to speak with one of our Houston, TX Divorce Lawyers right away to protect your rights.
Our divorce lawyers in Houston TX are skilled at listening to your goals during this trying process and developing a strategy to meet those goals. Contact Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC by calling (281) 810-9760 or submit your contact information in our online form. The Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC handles Divorce cases in Houston, Texas, Cypress, Klein, Humble, Kingwood, Tomball, The Woodlands, Houston, the FM 1960 area, or surrounding areas, including Harris County, Montgomery County, Liberty County, Chambers County, Galveston County, Brazoria County, Fort Bend County and Waller County.
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.
