May 2, 2021

Save a Bundle of Legal Fees
With Unbundled Representation

There’s something really special about sitting in court with your lawyer waiting for your case to be called while the clock ticks away dollars from your wallet into your lawyer’s. And it’s especially painful if you’re waiting for something like a status conference that you could have handled (with a few minutes of instruction) yourself.

“Unbundled representation,” also known as “discrete task” or “limited scope” representation allows you do to that, by separating out or “unbundling” tasks for which you most need a lawyer, such as contested court proceedings, preparing settlement agreements and legal research, and paying only for those.

Tasks that you might be able to avoid paying your lawyer (or her paralegal) by handling yourself include:

• Preparing routine court filings such as motions for continuance
• Handling perfunctory court appearances such as status conferences
• Obtaining, copying, scanning and organizing financial documents
• Preparing a draft of your financial affidavit or “disclosure statement”

Unbundled representation is not for every client or every case.  A successful unbundled representation arrangement requires the following:

• A client able to manage certain tasks customarily handled by lawyers
• A written agreement clearly specifying the respective responsibilities of attorney and client
• Adherence to relevant state ethical rules and laws
• A client educated about how unbundled representation works, its benefits, and its limitations

Note also that unbundled representation has a number of potential downsides:

• The line between the respective responsibilities of lawyer and client can become blurred, leading to confusion and tasks being neglected
• In an arrangement limiting the lawyer’s role to providing advice, clients do not always know when to seek that advice, and thus may miss important guidance
• Clients who feel they can handle, for example, a “routine” court proceeding may find out otherwise when they hit the courtroom
• An unbundled representation lawyer who is responsible for very limited portions of a case may not be in a position to negotiate an overall settlement

However, in the right circumstances for clients and lawyers who communicate clearly and work well together, unbundled representation can save, well… a bundle. To find out the extent to which your state permits unbundled representation, visit the American Bar Association’s Pro Se/Unbundling Resource Center at: https://www.americanbar.org/groups/delivery_legal_services/resources/

Then discuss with your lawyer an arrangement that will avoid you paying her to drive to (and back from) court, wait around for an hour, and then spend 30 seconds reporting to the court that your case is nearing settlement and requesting a final hearing date.

Saving Attorneys’ Fees in Divorce:
Pay Less with Good Timing

If you can afford a divorce lawyer, you should hire one. There’s too much at stake and too many complexities in divorce to risk “winging it” without expert advice. However, you can save some money by delaying hiring a lawyer while you take care of some things yourself. Here are some tasks you can probably handle without a lawyer’s help:

• File for divorce yourself using forms available on your state’s court system website
• Use a certified divorce planner or certified divorce financial analyst who charge substantially less than lawyers, to
  • Help you organize your financial paperwork
  • Help you prepare your financial disclosure statement
  • Discuss with you other divorce-related issues such as pensions, alimony deductions, etc.
• Consult a divorce coach if necessary regarding organizing your finances and dealing with non-financial issues such as caring for, and making decisions about your children

Note that you should use this approach only if:

• You have consulted with a matrimonial attorney who indicates that there are no pressing matters requiring immediate legal representation such as pendente lite (temporary) support or custody issues
• You and your children are not at risk of harm from your spouse
• You have very little money available for attorneys’ fees
• There are experienced CDPs or CDFAs in your area

If you’re going through a divorce, you have enough problems. You don’t need to add a crushing legal bill to the pile. Under the right circumstances, you can limit legal fees by limiting the amount of time your lawyer spends on your case.

Learn more about saving legal fees in
Divorce, Simply Stated (2nd ed.)

What your divorce lawyer’s hourly rate doesn’t tell you

Q: When does a 3-minute call from a divorce lawyer who charges $300 per hour cost MORE than the same call from a lawyer who charges $400/hr.?

A: When the $300/hr. lawyer charges in increments of 2/10 of an hour, and the $400/hr. lawyer charges in 1/10 increments.

Wait… WHAT?

The great majority of divorce lawyers charge by the hour, or portions (“increments”) thereof. Hourly rates depend on factors such as expertise, reputation, geographical location… and maybe how much they’re shelling out for their kids’ college educations.

Clients correctly consider hourly rates a key consideration in choosing a divorce lawyer. The problem is that hourly rates don’t tell the whole story.

Based solely on their hourly rates in the above example, you would expect “Attorney 300” to charge you $15.00 for that 3-minute call, and “Attorney 400” to charge $20.00.

But they won’t.

Why? Because neither of those lawyers charge for the actual minutes spent. Instead, “Attorney 400” charges in increments of 1/10 (.1) of an hour (6 minutes), and “Attorney 300” uses increments of 2/10 (.2) of an hour (12 minutes). And what makes incremental billing so expensive is that when lawyers bill in 6 or 12-minute increments, those increments are minimum charges. A lawyer using .1 increments charges a minimum of 6 minutes for anything she does on your case—even if it only takes 2 or 3 minutes. And a lawyer using .2 increments bills even more in extra fees—a minimum of 12 minutes!

While your heartbeat is receding from atrial fibrillation, remember that minimum increments impact only to tasks that take less than 6 minutes for .1 increment billers, and less than 12 minutes for .2 increment billers. Nevertheless, minimum charges add up. While they won’t make Attorney 400 cheaper than Attorney 300 over the course of a divorce, they substantially narrow the difference between Attorney 300 and a lawyer charging say, $350.00/hr., making Attorney 350 a more attractive option than would initially appear to be the case.

Read more about saving legal fees in divorce in Divorce, Simply Stated.

Using Mindful Parenting to Respond to Children’s Greatest Needs

Among the most frequently asked questions by new divorce clients is: “Will my kids be okay?”

The answer is that whether the children do well or poorly depends largely upon whether the adults act appropriately.   
Easy to say; not so easy for the adults to accomplish.

Good, mindful divorce parenting requires you to conscientiously and thoughtfully address your kids’ needs at a time when their world has been turned upside down. The problem is that your world is in turmoil as well.

So how do you protect your kids with all that swirling around you? 

First, identify the four principal needs that are shared by just about all kids in divorce: They are:

1. An end to their parents’ fighting
2. An end to uncertainty about where and with whom they will be living
3. A return to some degree of normalcy in their lives 
4. Security in knowing that their parents will continue to love and care for them

Then, try to keep those four needs in mind as you deal with your children and your co-parent. If you find acronyms helpful, try one that is particularly inappropriate to the very un-fun divorce experience (and thus easy to remember), FUNS:

Fighting
Uncertainty
Normalcy
Security

You can measure your (and your co-parent’s) parenting by the extent to which it meets, or fails to meet, those four needs.  If you find that you and your co-parent are falling short, give thought to how the parenting can be adjusted to be more responsive to the children in ways that may not be immediately apparent.

That may require a higher level of introspection than you’re used to. For example, if you’re avoiding quarrels in front of the kids, that’s great. But there’s more to it than that. Kids can also be upset by the animosity they sense between you and your co-parent that might be left over from an argument you had outside their presence. That means that you have to work on not provoking, or being provoked into unnecessary arguments at ANY time, so that the children won’t have to deal with the resulting tension. Like I say, mindful parenting during divorce is easy to talk about, not as easy to do.