Single Parents
PrincessFiona9
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met w/ attorney
PrincessFiona9
member
Yesterday I had a consultation with an attorney. We discussed a lot of things, but the bottom line is he advised to file the CS paperwork because it won't start accruing till the judge orders it. He said filing that and having CS established will not give DB any rights to see DD and he will still need to hire an attorney to take me to court. So today I got the copy of DD's BC and mailed in the paperwork. I had already filled out the documents and had them notarized. We will see how this process goes!
P.S. If I end up retaining this attorney I will have to pay $2000 up front but he says since DB will contest things it will cost me $5000 in the end (as in estimate.)
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Re: met w/ attorney
The last attorney I met with wanted a $1500 retainer but said if DB fights anything it could end up costing lots more. I don't know how you ladies do it. If he had offer a payment plan later I would have considered, but he basically told me well by the time the retainer runs out I should be getting child support and can use that to pay. Yeah.. one of the few reason I did not hire him.
Can you go through the state? I have gone through the state for all my child support so far. It takes longer but the state assitant attornery general represents me in court. And with the CS its cut and dry. He makes what he makes and I do as well. So I just did not see needing a lawyer for this part.
Yes, the state handles the CS side of things but I would need an attorney to win custody. I'm not retaining him yet because it's highly unlikely DB will be able to come up with that kind of money to hire an attorney to take me to court for visitation, so I'm just keeping the status quo.
I also cannot imagine how I would do it. I might have to sell my car. It's the only asset I have. That's pretty rude of that lawyer to say you can pay him with your CS money....I would have dropped him too.
Yah, ditto Carrie, be prepared that it could end up costing you A LOT more.
Just to give you an idea: I retained my attorney for $3,500. As of now, I owe him $3,400 (approximately) which doesn't count how much I've already paid him. Be prepared because lawyers will suck you dry. Anything you CAN do yourself: do it! You will save tons of money in the long run.