Alaska Divorce Lawyer & Attorney : Peg Roston Law Firm : Property Division, Net Worth, Division of Assets : Anchorage, Alaska

In the last post, I made some suggestions about questions to ask an attorney at your initial consultation help you to decide whether to hire that attorney or whether you should look further. Once you have decided who you want to represent you, there are steps you can take to make the most out of the first meeting with the attorney you have selected. Some attorneys will send you a list of information to bring to the meeting. If not, then here are some tips.

• Take advantage of the information on the Family-Law Self-Help Center website. In particular, read the information about the divorce process so you have a “roadmap” of what to expect. You may want to print out the glossary from the Center’s website because as your case progresses your attorney will be using legal terms, with which you may not be familiar.
  
• Make a written list of your financial assets and debts as you would if you were filling out a loan or financial application.
  
• Make a written list of your month expenses and sources of income.
  
• If you have two years of tax returns readily available, you should bring them with you.
  
• Make a written list of any questions you may have for the attorney, including questions about your legal rights and your legal obligations.

Having this information readily available will save you money because the better prepared you are, the less time the attorney will have to spend trying to get this information from you.

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The more prepared you are before you meet with the attorney you have selected as your top “candidate” the more productive your first meeting with the attorney will be.  Your initial consultation is the time to ask questions you have about the “nuts and bolts” of the attorney’s law practice.

• Will the attorney handle your case personally or will another attorney in the office handle the case?

• Will a paralegal be working on part of the case?

• What percentage of the attorney's practice involves representing divorce clients?  How long has the attorney been practicing law?

• Has the attorney handled cases other than divorce cases, and if so what type of cases?

• If the case cannot be settled, is the attorney comfortable with going to court?

• What is the attorney's hourly rate? 

• Does the attorney require a retainer, which is an initial deposit towards costs and legal fees?

Some attorneys will apply the retainer to the monthly invoice. Other attorneys will keep the retainer on deposit as a form of security for legal fees and will require the client to pay the monthly bill out of pocket. It is important for a client to have a good understanding of the attorney’s policy regarding retainers, including whether the attorney refunds the unused portion of the retainer.

• In addition to legal fees for the attorney's services, what other types of costs should you anticipate?

By the end of your initial consultation, you may have obtained enough information to decide whether you feel comfortable about working with the attorney on your case.  However, if there are any doubts in your mind, you might want to interview a second attorney so that you at least have a point of reference before you make your final decision. 

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If you are experiencing marital problems, having a consult with a divorce attorney sooner rather than later is certainly a good idea. Our state bar association does not certify Alaska attorneys as family law specialists. Therefore, to find an experienced divorce attorney may require you to do some research. 

Here are some ideas for finding an experienced family law attorney.

• Word of mouth. Most of my referrals come by way of “word of mouth.” Many times, I do not even know the person who has referred a client to me. If you have friends who have gone through a divorce you could ask them for the name of their attorney, if you feel comfortable talking to your friends about your situation.


• Your accountant, broker or financial planner. Many accountants, brokers and financial planners have experience with assisting other clients who are going through a divorce and would be able to refer you to a divorce attorney or at least give you a list of names of attorneys with whom they are familiar.


• Your corporate or estate planning attorney. Since Anchorage is a small community, it is highly probable that your business or personal attorney can give you the name of a good divorce attorney.


• On-line resources. The Alaska Bar Association has an on-line list of members of the Family Law Section of the Bar. Even though the Bar does not cerify attorneys as specialists, members of this section are attorneys who practice in the family law area.

Once you have two or three names, then it would be worthwhile to see if you can find out about each of the attorneys from multiple sources.  If this is not possible or if you are operating under time constraints, then the next step is to set up a consultation with one or two of the attorneys on your listl

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A divorce can have a catastrophic impact on a family’s finances. But if you have reason to believe a divorce is looming on your horizon, there are precautionary steps you can take to make sure you know what you own and what you owe. Here are a few suggestions. You might also want to look at CNN's on-line article about planning for a divorce.

• Run a credit report on yourself.

• If you track your finances on your computer, make a backup copy of each financial data file.

• Open a checking account in your name only at a bank or credit union. The account should not be opened at the bank or credit union where you already bank.

• Apply for a credit card in your own name using an address other than your home address.

• Make copies of at least 5 years of tax returns, investment account statements, loan applications, and store these copies off-premises with your lawyer or if you do not have a lawyer, store them with a friend or relative.

• If your spouse manages the family finances on-line and you do not have access to any of the bank or credit card passwords, you could ask your spouse for the passwords. If this is likely to provoke an argument, then you can call your credit card company and/or go to the bank to request copies of account statements.

• Once you get access to bank statements and credit cards, you should go through them to see if your spouse is transferring money or is taking frequent cash advances.

• Make a list of the family’s monthly household bills and other expenses. You can use the Alaska Court System’s Financial Declaration as a worksheet. You might also want to look at the Net Worth Statement used in New York. It is more detailed than the Financial Declaration used in Alaska divorce cases.

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A divorce is processed through the court system like any other civil case. Both spouses retain attorneys to represent them. One spouse, the “plaintiff,” files a complaint for divorce against the other spouse, the “defendant” who then files an answer to the complaint. The case is assigned to a superior court judge on a random basis. Judges certainly encourage attorneys and their clients to work cooperatively. But the court process is based upon an adversarial system, which pits the parties against each other as each attorney argues in favor of the client’s position. Consequently, divorce litigation is financially draining because of the amount of time and legal fees involved. It is emotionally draining, particularly since it is almost impossible for an attorney to give a client the peace of mind of knowing how the judge is going to rule on the points of contention between the parties.

Fortunately, there are alternatives to the adversarial court case. These alternatives seek to build a consensus between the parties on issues related to property, custody, and support. The first alternative is mediation. In divorce mediation, a neutral third party works with you and your spouse to identify issues on which you do not agree and to assist you and your spouse in coming to an agreement on all financial and child-related divorce issues. The neutral third party cannot give advice to either of you so it is quite common for each spouse to have an attorney present at mediation sessions. 

The second alternative is the collaborative law process. Unlike mediation, the collaborative law process does not involve a neutral third party. Instead, you and your spouse each hire an attorney whose role is to assist you in going through each step of the collaborative process to come to an agreement on all divorce issues without going to court. The attorneys may bring other collaborative professionals including coaches, child specialists, and financial planners into the process for guidance and information. 

You can learn more about the differences between the traditional court case, mediation, and the collaborative practice from the Comparison Of Divorce Options chart, created by Conneticut attorney Harold Brienes.

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 During a marriage, spouses manage their finances and raise their children according to their personal values and family traditions. Unless one or both of them decide to end the marriage, it is unlikely that they will become familiar with Alaska divorce law. But if you are reading this post, you are probably interesting in learning about the legal framework, which guides a family lawyer in representing divorce clients. 

A divorce case can be divided into property, custody and support issues.  This post offers some general information about the division of property in a divorce case.  The process of dividing property in a divorce case is referred to as "equitable distribution."  Under Alaska law all property and debts spouses acquiring during marriage are subject to being divided between them when they divorce. In the case of property, it does not matter how it is titled or whether only one spouse’s earnings were used to purchase the property. If the property was acquired while the spouses were married and before they permanently separated, it is subject to being divided when they divorce. Similarly, if a debt was acquired while the spouses were married, the balance of the debt at the time the spouses permanently separate will be included in the list of property and liabilities, which have to be allocated between the spouses.  There are a couple of exceptions to this general rule including property acquired by gift or inheritance. But depending on how the spouses handled this property during the marriage, the “immunity” generally afforded property acquired by gift or inheritance may be lost. If you have gifted or inherited property, you should be sure to discuss this property with your divorce attorney. 

If you are interested in paths to divorce other than the traditional civil divorce lawsuit, you may want to visit the South Carolina Family Law Blog's post about on-line videos, which have short presentations about the changing landscape of divorce.

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