How To Communicate Effectively With Your Divorce Lawyer

Establishing good communication and trust with your lawyer will help your case succeed. Here are some additional suggestions to help your divorce lawyer from firms like Simple Divorce provide you with the most effective representation possible.

Having a skilled lawyer on your side is essential in divorce, but you need more than that. If you want to get what you want out of a situation, you must know how to communicate effectively. Before your first appointment, you should read these guidelines for communicating with your lawyer.

1. Pay Close Attention To What Your Divorce Attorney Has To Say

Pay attention to your lawyer's advice because you presumably spent a lot of time trying to find the best one. However, in spite of its apparent simplicity, only some follow that advice. You can go against the grain by paying close attention when your attorney discusses the relevant laws for your situation. If you have any concerns or don't fully grasp a legal phrase your lawyer employs, feel free to ask for clarification. Rather than wasting everyone's time by pretending you do, it's preferable if you take the time to fully grasp the situation.

2. Never Deliberately Mislead Your Lawyer

It’ll not help your case if you withhold or distort information from your counsel. Your lawyer is the one person who must have all the details of your case. Your lawyer needs to know all the details of your case, no matter how unflattering they may be, to effectively represent you. Your lawyer will be better prepared to deal with the other side, the judge, and anyone involved in your case once they have this information. But if you don't tell your lawyer, they could be caught off guard in court, which would look bad for you. If you lie to a judge or in court documents, you could face sanctions, be found in contempt, or have your lawyer drop you as a client. Don’t do that. Put your faith in your lawyer's ability to handle the case and handle any potential setbacks as part of their representation.

3. Be An Effective Communicator

To properly represent a client, you and your lawyer must be able to communicate with each other. Providing your lawyer with the information, documents, and other materials they seek is essential to this end. Check your email frequently in case your lawyer has any questions or needs anything from you; it's the quickest and most common means of contact. Repeated demands for the same information or paperwork are a major drain on resources. Don't make your lawyer chase you for answers; instead, be prompt and thorough. Keep in mind that your attorney will only be able to do their job properly if you can connect with them.

 
If you write your lawyer with a question or a request for information, they should get back to you as soon as possible. The most common reason clients switch legal offices is that their previous lawyers were unresponsive. Don't let this happen to you; if you're paying for a service, you should get answers to your questions and updates on the status of that service.

4. Learn The Ins And Outs Of The Attorney-Client Privilege

Knowing the ins and outs of attorney-client privilege will help you interact more freely with your divorce lawyer. Generally speaking, the attorney-client privilege ensures the privacy of any information shared with your lawyer to obtain legal counsel. This is so that you and your lawyer can work together in an atmosphere of trust and open communication. It has several limitations that you may need to be made aware of.

If, however, you decide to tell everyone you know about a particular component of your case and then get angry when your ex-spouse learns about it, you cannot blame the failure of attorney-client privilege on the fact that your communications with your lawyer are no longer confidential. You also can't expect your conversation with your lawyer to be confidential if you have other people in the room, use a speakerphone, or speak loudly about your case in public.

 
Lastly, your conversations with your lawyer will not be confidential if you ask for their assistance in committing fraud or any other illegal act. This means that you shouldn't talk to a lawyer to find out how to hide assets during the divorce because doing so could get you in trouble with the law.

The Takeaway

Following these guidelines will make communicating with your lawyer less complicated and fruitful. Keep in mind that if you’re having problems adhering to them, you need to only speak through your lawyers or mediators. The lesson here is to take preventative measures to ensure that any problems that may occur during the divorce are kept to a minimum.