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If you are searching for an experienced (and hopefully not "aggressive", as I will explain below) Seattle divorce attorney, you need to bear in mind a few fundamental points about attorneys and legal knowledge in general. First of all, there is no such thing as a good divorce attorney who has not been practicing less than five years.

Family Court Hearings in King, Snohomish and Pierce Counties:

Total # of Divorce Cases All Types: About 500 Litigated Divorce Court Hearings: 300+ (note: one individual case might have 2-3 hearings)
Custody & Child-Support: 200+
Property Alimony: 100+
Contempt of Parenting Plan: 70+
Uncontested Washington Divorce cases: 200+

If you have an agreed divorce, I have a system for handling them for flat fees which results in a fast, inexpensive, yet professional divorce.

I have actually lost track of the number of court hearings but above is a conservative minimum that I have handled.  This does not even include 15+ long, drawn-out trials, a number of which have lasted over a week.  In a trial you are in Court from 9 am until 5 pm, every day, until it ends.  Court Hearings for custody, child-support etc. usually last an hour.  I have done over 300 Court hearings and various other motions for every type of relief in contested divorce and custody cases. You need a divorce attorney who is confident, but aggressive lawyers use up their own client's funds on useless tasks. They exacerbate an already bad situation, and I think they give the Judges and Family Court Commissioners ulcers. I will stand put, if you are not being treated fairly. You can bank on that. But I try to keep in mind both the needs of the overall system, as well as the funds you have available to fully develop and flesh out your case.
Sometimes I look at a case after the first Court hearing, and just know: this case is going to require further and longer hearings and testimony from witnesses to uncover what is truly best for the child. But that may mean a trial. And that is not inexpensive. An aggressive divorce attorney may end up convincing the Court that you should pay the other sides's attorney fees because so much of the pre-trial discovery and motions were unnecessary given the circumstances of your particular case or the facts at issue. Will an inexperienced lawyer know how the Judge's treat these subtle issues? Hire a Seattle divorce attorney to handle your case tactfully yet forcefully.

I have lost track of the number of uncontested divorces I have processed for a flat fee, quickly, and without a Court appearance, over the last 10 years. However, it is in the hundreds.  I have that process down to a science and I can quickly put an end to a difficult situation if both parties will sign off on the documents I prepare.

A "divorce lawyer" as such handles all matters relating to family law: child support, custody, domestic violence restraining orders, and sometimes I handle DV criminal charges as well when the client has children, property division, alimony, changing child support, paternity and genetic testing, suing the other side if they don't make good on financial obligations etc..  Sometimes I just counsel people, but usually I file motions or go to Court for people.  I also have the process of handling uncontested divorces down to a science and with me you avoid a court hearing.  I like to answer people's initial questions up front, for free.  So please give me a call.  I probably charge one of the lowest sets of fees of any Seattle Divorce Attorney with comparable experience. Normally I charge less for a good deal more experience. I am astounded sometimes at the long drawn out hourly bills that some of my colleagues charge for routine matters that my software system does without thinking. You charge divorce attorney rates of $200 per hour for assembling a file and chatting about those simple matters? Over 11 years, I have seen the bills of many a Seattle Divorce attorney and law firm and normally you will pay far more with others and I wonder sometimes at the amount of time those people spend speaking with their divorce attorney or attorney staff. So you pay lawyer fees and spend your own time dealing with lawyer staff and parking downtown. I won't say another word. But if you've read this far, you want to save $2000 on a $400-500 project. (Lawyers don't have projects by the way: we call them "issues".)

In addition to Seattle I practice washington divorce law in all counties in the greater puget sound area but focus on King, Snohomish, and Pierce counties.

To learn more about me click here.

 
Copyright © 2008 Robert E. Stark, Attorney at Law, All Rights Reserved - Washington Divorce, Washington State Divorce, WA Divorce - Robert E. Stark, Washington Divorce Lawyer
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