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Fair or should I seek a lawyer?

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Officec

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Louisiana

After being married for 10 years, my wife had an
affair and carried a child for nine months before kicking me out of my
home and telling me that the baby isn't mine.

We have been living apart since 2007, she with the boyfriend who the
child belongs to.

We have had one child together while we were married, Evie who is
four, and I adopted her son, Noah, 10, while we were married.

She has gotten a pro bono lawyer for handling the divorce case. There
isn't much to contest to this, but I don't know if I'm being treated
fairly so I'd like to ask your opinion. Her lawyer is putting pressure
on me to sign this by tomorrow at 3 pm and while I'm sure it's just pressure
talk, it is still intimidating while I'm trying to figure out if what
is being presented is reasonable.

We've already split material items. I'm not asking for much from this.
Most of what concerns me are the child support payments and if they
sound fair and the 'elusive' court costs that the lawyer points out
that I would be agreeing to pay in full if I sign the paperwork. I
already pay for a credit card bill which was my wife's from before,
along with having paid regularly, what isn't court ordered yet, money
every month plus medical costs and school needs.

I earn about $16 an hour and work full time , and I sometimes work freelancing jobs part time. I don't mind paying money for the sake of my children, and I happily give more than what is being asked here every month, but I wish to make sure it does seem fair.

I am unsure about getting a lawyer. There was pressure that a lawyer
would cost me $2000 or more if I tried to find one and didn't just
sign the papers. I'd like to ask your opinion about this case, if
there's anything that could be done or things I'm not seeing that I
should look out for when if this divorce is going through. I honestly
wouldn't mind paying for a lawyer but I wasn't sure much would change
from this paperwork or if it would have any advantage.

I just feel nervous signing papers when I'm not totally sure if I'm
signing over rights or just agreeing to an amount that might be
unfair. Would hiring a lawyer just make this more costly or would it
change much from the paperwork? If you have any tips or suggestions,
I'd be grateful.

Thanks for your time.
 


Proserpina

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Louisiana

After being married for 10 years, my wife had an
affair and carried a child for nine months before kicking me out of my
home and telling me that the baby isn't mine.

We have been living apart since 2007, she with the boyfriend who the
child belongs to.
Did he actually get paternity established legally? Because if not - you're the child's legal father, not him.

We have had one child together while we were married, Evie who is
four, and I adopted her son, Noah, 10, while we were married.

She has gotten a pro bono lawyer for handling the divorce case. There
isn't much to contest to this, but I don't know if I'm being treated
fairly so I'd like to ask your opinion. Her lawyer is putting pressure
on me to sign this by tomorrow at 3 pm and while I'm sure it's just pressure
talk, it is still intimidating while I'm trying to figure out if what
is being presented is reasonable.

We've already split material items. I'm not asking for much from this.
Most of what concerns me are the child support payments and if they
sound fair and the 'elusive' court costs that the lawyer points out
that I would be agreeing to pay in full if I sign the paperwork. I
already pay for a credit card bill which was my wife's from before,
along with having paid regularly, what isn't court ordered yet, money
every month plus medical costs and school needs.
Why would you be the one paying her legal bills?

I earn about $16 an hour and work full time , and I sometimes work freelancing jobs part time. I don't mind paying money for the sake of my children, and I happily give more than what is being asked here every month, but I wish to make sure it does seem fair.

I am unsure about getting a lawyer. There was pressure that a lawyer
would cost me $2000 or more if I tried to find one and didn't just
sign the papers. I'd like to ask your opinion about this case, if
there's anything that could be done or things I'm not seeing that I
should look out for when if this divorce is going through. I honestly
wouldn't mind paying for a lawyer but I wasn't sure much would change
from this paperwork or if it would have any advantage.

I just feel nervous signing papers when I'm not totally sure if I'm
signing over rights or just agreeing to an amount that might be
unfair. Would hiring a lawyer just make this more costly or would it
change much from the paperwork? If you have any tips or suggestions,
I'd be grateful.

Thanks for your time.
Go here, plug your numbers in and see if it compares to what her attorney is suggesting:

http://tinyurl.com/LA-child-support-guidelines
 

Officec

Junior Member
Did he actually get paternity established legally? Because if not - you're the child's legal father, not him.



Why would you be the one paying her legal bills?



Go here, plug your numbers in and see if it compares to what her attorney is suggesting:

Support Enforcement Services | Department of Social Services | State of Louisiana
No paternity test was done, as far as I know. There's not contesting whose child it is between us. But that's a good point, if legally someone might point that out later.

The court document says that if I sign it, I'd be responsible for paying all court costs. Her pro bono lawyer wants me to cover it all.

And thanks for the link. I really mostly wasn't sure what was fair from the state and wasn't sure if fighting this might be useful at all. Bringing in another attorney would just be more money from my pocket and I don't know if any adjustments could be made to anything.
 

Silverplum

Senior Member
No paternity test was done, as far as I know. There's not contesting whose child it is between us. But that's a good point, if legally someone might point that out later.

The court document says that if I sign it, I'd be responsible for paying all court costs. Her pro bono lawyer wants me to cover it all.

And thanks for the link. I really mostly wasn't sure what was fair from the state and wasn't sure if fighting this might be useful at all. Bringing in another attorney would just be more money from my pocket and I don't know if any adjustments could be made to anything.
Adjustments can be made -- BEFORE signing.

You don't work for her attorney, and you don't have to jump to his demands. There's no rush for you to sign at 3 pm. That's ridiculous.

You don't need to pay $2K for an attorney, necessarily. You can pay for an hour of an attorney's time to review the paperwork, give you advice, look for holes or problems. I'd strongly advise you to do just that. For instance, there is NO reason for you to pay her attorney. None. You can refuse. (You may be ordered by a judge to do so, if outlawyered. But till ordered, I'd refuse.)
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
Adjustments can be made -- BEFORE signing.

You don't work for her attorney, and you don't have to jump to his demands. There's no rush for you to sign at 3 pm. That's ridiculous.

You don't need to pay $2K for an attorney, necessarily. You can pay for an hour of an attorney's time to review the paperwork, give you advice, look for holes or problems. I'd strongly advise you to do just that. For instance, there is NO reason for you to pay her attorney. None. You can refuse. (You may be ordered by a judge to do so, if outlawyered. But till ordered, I'd refuse.)
Her attorney is pro bono. Its not the attorney they are asking him to pay for, its her court costs. However, he shouldn't agree to that either.

You could tell the attorney that you will sign, IF he takes out the part about you paying her court costs and if he can prove to you that the child support was calculated according to state guidelines.

Or, you could pay for an hour of an attorney's time to review the paperwork.
 
Last edited:

Officec

Junior Member
Adjustments can be made -- BEFORE signing.

You don't work for her attorney, and you don't have to jump to his demands. There's no rush for you to sign at 3 pm. That's ridiculous.

You don't need to pay $2K for an attorney, necessarily. You can pay for an hour of an attorney's time to review the paperwork, give you advice, look for holes or problems. I'd strongly advise you to do just that. For instance, there is NO reason for you to pay her attorney. None. You can refuse. (You may be ordered by a judge to do so, if outlawyered. But till ordered, I'd refuse.)
Traditionally, this lawyer always asks that the defendant pay her lawyer fees ($250 per hour) and all court costs. (What the court asks in payment of doing the paperwork). I found this out by going to the courthouse and doing research on her previous cases, as I wanted to check out what I was in for.

The paperwork she provided to me showed nothing about paying her fees, just the court costs.

When I got the paperwork, I emailed back about the court costs, and what was the average costs was. I asked also about if these include any costs from her office specifically.

The lawyer said the fees vary, but said the court takes $300 up front as a deposit at a time and takes what they need from that deposit. I would be responsible for paying what costs the courts actually took only, and she would not bill me for fees from her office.

This is in an email though. While the paperwork I sign is kind of elusive and just says "court costs".

Which had me concerned, of course, to be asked to sign something that was not specific.
 

Proserpina

Senior Member
Traditionally, this lawyer always asks that the defendant pay her lawyer fees ($250 per hour) and all court costs. (What the court asks in payment of doing the paperwork). I found this out by going to the courthouse and doing research on her previous cases, as I wanted to check out what I was in for.
Then she's not pro bono...

The paperwork she provided to me showed nothing about paying her fees, just the court costs.

When I got the paperwork, I emailed back about the court costs, and what was the average costs was. I asked also about if these include any costs from her office specifically.

The lawyer said the fees vary, but said the court takes $300 up front as a deposit at a time and takes what they need from that deposit. I would be responsible for paying what costs the courts actually took only, and she would not bill me for fees from her office.

This is in an email though. While the paperwork I sign is kind of elusive and just says "court costs".

Which had me concerned, of course, to be asked to sign something that was not specific.
This is not sounding right.
 

Officec

Junior Member
I'm at a loss as to what else I could ask of this lawyer. Should I ask for some specific information be put into the text of the document?

Is it not normal for a 'normal' lawyer to pick up pro bono work and work regular divorced cases? In other words, can a normal lawyer who charges normal rates take a pro bono case?
 

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