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Your attorney should not have a business relationship of any kind with your spouse or his or her family. For example, if the attorney you want to use drew your will and your spouse's will, he or she should probably not be representing you in the divorce. (If your spouse consents, it might be okay, but the wiser course would be to find someone else.) If the attorney has had a prior business relation as counsel for a jointly owned business, the attorney may be disqualified from representing either party. It is better to stipulate that a lawyer who has been representing the spouses in business activities should not act as lawyer for one of the spouses. |
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Answering Phone Calls and Questions: What's the Protocol? |
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Your attorney should return your calls within 24 hours unless there is some reason why that's not possiblefor instance, if she's in court or in the middle of a trial. On the other hand, you should only call when you have something to ask or something important to say. It's a good idea to write down questions and save them for a few days (unless they are urgent in nature) so you can ask several at one time. |
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Many lawyers bill you a minimum of 15 minutes per call, so you might as well take up the time you'll be billed for anyway. |
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Keeping Your Lawyer Up to Speed: How Much Does Your Attorney Need to Know About the Nitty-Gritty of Your Life? |
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For many clients, it's easy to know when to call with a question or problem. Your dilemma might be when to call to advise the attorney about something you think may be important to your case, but you're not sure. Your husband brought the kids back ten minutes late. Should you call to let the lawyer know? |
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It depends. If she is hard at work on a motion about visitation, it's important that your attorney know about the problem right away. If a conference between the lawyers is not going to take place for another two weeks, it's probably better to save the call for later, when you have more to add. |
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