10 Ways to Reduce Divorce Attorney Fees

Litigation of any kind may be expensive, and divorces are no exception. There are some things you can do to control costs, including the following:

1. Put it in writing. Instead of calling your attorney with a question, consider providing it to your attorney by mail, fax, or e-mail. This will create an accurate record and it may take less time for your attorney to answer than playing telephone tag.


2. Keep your attorney informed. Your attorney should keep you up to date on the status of your case. You should do the same with your attorney. Advise your lawyer about any significant developments in your life including a change of address, change of employment, change of income, or purchase or sale of property. During your divorce, if your contact information changes, be sure to notify your attorney. Your attorney may need to reach you with information, and reaching you in a timely manner may help avoid more costly fees later.


3. Obtain copies of documents. An important part of divorce discovery includes the collection of documents, such as tax returns, account statements, credit card statements, and medical records. These records may be available at your fingertips. It is far easier and less costly for you to obtain the information than for your attorney to do so.


4. Review your attorney’s website. The answers to commonly asked questions about the divorce process may often be found on your attorney’s website. Check www.vhdlaw.com for valuable divorce information.


5. Get to know the support staff at your lawyer’s office. Although not able to provide legal advice, the receptionist, legal assistant, paralegal, legal secretary, or law clerk may be able to answer your questions regarding the status of your case. All communication with your attorney’s staff is required to be kept strictly confidential.


6. Consider working with an associate attorney. You may find that working with an associate attorney is a good option. Hourly rates for an associate attorney are typically lower than those charged by a more experienced attorney. Frequently, the associate attorney has trained under the more experienced lawyer and has developed good trial skills, legal knowledge, and divorce litigation experience.


7. Leave a detailed message. If your attorney knows in advance why you are calling, your attorney can be prepared to answer your question when he or she talks to you. This not only gets your answer faster, but it also reduces costs.


8. Discuss more than one matter during a call or e-mail. If your question is not urgent, consider waiting to call until you have more than one question. Whenever possible, provide information requested by your lawyer in a timely manner. This avoids the cost of follow up by your lawyer and the additional expense of extending litigation.


9. Carefully review your attorney statements. Scrutinize your billing. If you believe an error has been made, contact your lawyer’s office to discuss your concerns.


10. Remain open to settlement. Trial costs money and can polarize relationships. Although a trial is sometimes inevitable, there are circumstances when a negotiated settlement is in the best interest of all involved.

If you have any questions about divorce, feel free to contact Attorney Linda S. Vanden Heuvel 1-800-805-1976.

www.vhdlaw.com

10 Ways to Reduce Divorce Attorney Fees

What steps should I take after my divorce is completed?

The following is a checklist of items that should be completed after the divorce is final. This checklist is by no means a complete list, but provides you with a guideline of information.  Review these items and implement those that are relevant to your divorce:

• Record any quitclaim deeds. Make sure that the deeds are signed by both parties and notarized or properly authenticated. Check the legal description to make sure it is accurate.


• If there is a division of a pension, 401(k), or other retirement plan, have drafted a qualified domestic relations order signed by the judge in your case, certified and properly approved by the plan administrator. A QDRO is generally drafted by an attorney or a specialist in that area.


• If you are receiving a transfer of funds from an account that does not require a QDRO, open a suitable account to which the funds can be transferred and take all necessary steps to allow the transfer. Talk to your financial advisor.


• Change title to cars, boats, RVs, or other vehicles by properly executing title documents. Be sure to address not only title, but all registration and license plates.


• Open new checking and savings accounts in your individual name, if you haven’t already done so. Cancel any joint accounts, and make sure there are not any outstanding checks or debit cards remaining.


• Cancel any joint credit cards, cell phone accounts, and debit cards, and open new accounts in your individual name. Use these new credit cards at least occasionally, in order to establish credit in your individual name.


• If you have any automatic withdrawals or charges to joint accounts, make sure you contact the appropriate account holder prior to closing the account. Start automatic withdrawals in your new account, if applicable.


• Transfer utilities into your name, as applicable. If you are vacating the residence, make sure your name is removed from bills attached to the residence such as utilities and cable.


• Consider changing the beneficiaries on your life insurance, retirement, and other financial accounts.


• If you are undergoing a name change, get certified copies of the judgment of divorce to change your name on your driver’s license, title, passport, Social Security card, and other documents.


• Put your divorce paperwork in a safe place. Generally, if any future modifications are made to your judgment of divorce, those changes must be based on a substantial change of circumstances. You will need your divorce documents to identify issues and to evaluate whether a change of circumstances has occurred.


• If you are receiving child support, check with the child-support agency to verify that it has the necessary documents, such as an interim disbursement order, to start the child-support process. If you are making or receiving payments through the Wisconsin Support  Collections Trust Fund (WI SCTF), you must notify them of any address or employment changes in the future. WI SCTF’s address is P.O. Box 74200, Milwaukee,  WI 53274-0200.


• Make sure all your personal property has been distributed according to the judgment of divorce. Make necessary arrangements to transfer the property as soon as possible.


• Review all health, home, auto, life, and umbrella insurance policies and make sure the terms and identification is correct on each policy. If life and health insurance is required as a part of your judgment of divorce, periodically request verification of the existence of any insurance policies required to be carried under the terms of any judgment of divorce. In the event of the death of your ex-spouse, immediately notify the life insurance carrier of the existence of any insurance policy in which you or your children have an interest.


• If you are paying or receiving maintenance, identify if your tax withholding should be changed. Go to www. irs.gov/Individuals/IRS-Withholding-Calculator and run the calculator to determine your appropriate withholding. Remember that maintenance payments are
  
  taxable to the recipient and deductible to the payor. The recipient will need to budget money for the payment of federal and state income taxes. Quarterly estimated tax payments may be required.


• You will want to prepare a new will, power of attorney for health care, general durable power of attorney, living will, trust, and/or guardianship documents. What was legal and binding during your marriage may not be legal and binding after divorce.


• Update your mailing address, if applicable, with the post office, credit card companies, banks, DMV, and insurance companies.


• Close joint safe deposit or post office boxes and open new ones, if applicable.


• Obtain a certified copy of your judgment of divorce for future reference.


• Obtain a copy of your credit report. Check it for accuracy and updating.


• Verify your health insurance coverage if you are obtaining COBRA benefits from your spouse’s employer.


• Keep records of payments of maintenance, child support, and variable expenses. If you are the payor, do not pay in cash. Use a check or money order.


• You may need your spouse to sign IRS Form 8332 relative to income tax exemptions. Make sure you have the form available for signature.


• Update your children’s schools and medical and dental professionals with contact information of both you and your former spouse, emergency contacts, and school pick-up/drop-off instructions.


• Keep a copy of your original marriage license if you were married for over ten years. If you were married over ten years and remain unmarried, you will be entitled to a portion of your former spouse’s Social Security.


• You will be required to submit a copy of your marriage license, as well as a copy of the judgment of divorce, to the Social Security Administration.


• Notify your employer of your change in marital status. It may be necessary to change beneficiaries on employment
  
  documents. Review your tax claim information with your employer. Provide updated emergency contact information.


• Notify the Internal Revenue Service and Wisconsin Department of Revenue of any address change during the year of the divorce or the year following the date of divorce.


• If your judgment of divorce assigns any outstanding tax liability to your former spouse, include a copy of the relevant section of your judgment when filing your income tax returns.

This checklist is in no way comprehensive and is not applicable to all divorces. Contact your attorney to verify what

steps you should take now that your divorce is final.  For more information, feel free to contact Attorney Linda S. Vanden Heuvel 1-800-805-1976.

www.vhdlaw.com

What steps should I take after my divorce is completed?

International Women"s Leadership Association

Attorney Linda Vanden Heuvel has been selected as a woman of outstanding leadership by the International Women’s Leadership Association. Linda was selected based on her leadership contributions to the legal profession and to Washington County, Wisconsin. Linda recently authored Divorce in Wisconsin, The Legal Process, Your Rights and What to Expect. Her next community project is Sculpture Feast which supports West Bend Friends of Sculpture which will be held at Regner Park on August 1, 2015.

You can email Linda Vanden Heuvel or contact her at 1-800-805-1976.

www.VHDLAW.com

International Women"s Leadership Association

Are there any rules to follow during my divorce deposition?

Questions in a deposition may cover a broad range of topics including your education, work, income, and family. The attorney is allowed to ask anything that is reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence, even if the answer may ultimately be inadmissible at trial. If you are unsure whether or not to answer a question, look to your attorney for advice.

Your attorney may object to inappropriate questions. If there is an objection, say nothing until the attorneys discuss the objection. You will be directed whether to answer.

Remember the following advice when answering questions during your deposition:

• Never state facts that you do not know. If you do not know an answer to a question, say so.


• Never attempt to explain or justify your answer. You are there to give the facts as you know them. You are not supposed to apologize or attempt to justify those facts.


• Only give the information that you have readily at hand. Do not promise to get information that you don’t have readily at hand, unless your attorney advises it.


• Do not, without your counsel’s request, reach into your pocket for a driver’s license, Social Security card, or other documents. The discovery deposition purpose is to elicit facts that you know. Unless you have been served with a subpoena that directs you to bring certain documents to the deposition, you are not required to bring or produce anything while you are testifying.


• Do not let the opposing attorney get you angry or excited. Under no circumstances should you argue with the opposing attorney.


• If your attorney begins to speak, stop whatever answer you may be giving and allow your attorney to make his or her statement. If your attorney tells you not to answer a question, then you should refuse to do so.


• You may take your time in answering a question. Remember, the deposition does not show the length of time you took to answer a question.


• Do not joke during a deposition. The humor may not be apparent in the transcript.


• Do not volunteer any facts not requested by a question.


• Answer truthfully.


• After the deposition is over, do not chat with your spouse or your spouse’s attorney. Remember, the other attorney does not represent your interests. Do not let a friendly manner cause you to drop your guard.

The bottom line is to be prepared and to follow your attorney’s instructions to the letter. The above guidelines are just that, guidelines. Your attorney knows the specifics of your case, and you should follow his or her direction prior to and during the deposition.

For more information contact Attorney Linda S. Vanden Heuvel 1-800-805-1976, author of Divorce in Wisconsin, The Legal Process, Your Rights, and What to Expect.

www.vhdlaw.com

Are there any rules to follow during my divorce deposition?

If You Are 50 or Older and Considering Divorce, Read This First!

About 25% of the people going through divorce in the United States are over the age of 50. A number of factors explain this phenomenon. Divorce no longer holds the same stigma as it did in the past. Viagra provides more opportunities to men who in the past may have remained in a less than satisfactory marriage. The children are grown and out of the house. Women are more financially independent. People are living longer and are in better health. A regular comment is, “I may live another 5, 10, 20 years, and I do not want to live it married to him/her.” A healthy spouse may be less willing to act as a caretaker to an ill or disabled spouse. Second and third marriages, which make up about half of divorces involving people over the age of 50, have a higher divorce rate than first marriages.

Divorce issues are different for divorcing spouses over the age of 50. Divorce over the age of 50 can reek financial upheaval. Your retirement assets may be gone or divided in half. You will have less time to recoup any such losses. Your high earning years may be a thing of the past. As a result, it is important to consider the following points in any divorce action if you or your spouse are 50 or older:

1. Consider carefully whether you want to be awarded the marital residence. Compare the cost of upkeep, taxes, mortgage payments, repairs, etc., versus the benefit of owning the home.


2. Make sure you know what you actually owe in debts and other obligations. Obtain your credit report and your spouse’s credit report. Wisconsin is a community property state so you will probably be considered jointly liable for any credit card debts or loans. While your Marital Settlement Agreement may allocate debts to one party or another, that Marital Settlement Agreement is only between the spouses and is not binding on the creditor.


3. Show any Marital Settlement Agreement to a tax accountant for review and analysis. Maintenance is income to the recipient and deductible to the payor. Know the impact of removing funds from any retirement account or IRA. Consider whether it is better to rent or own a residence.


4. Remember to take into consideration the cost of health insurance.


5. Make sure any pensions are fairly divided or that an equivalent asset is allocated to the other party. Get the pension valued so you know the present value of a monthly pension payment. You may be able to negotiate survivorship benefits of a pension. Because you are over the age of 50, your chances of building a pension or 401(k) in any other significant manner is substantially lessoned by time.


6. Consider how divorce assets will be divided on death. You may wish to include in any Marital Settlement Agreement provisions for payment of educational expenses of children or grandchildren, allocation of other assets on death, etc. While the Court may not have jurisdiction to take these actions in a divorce, the parties can stipulate to these provisions. Make sure to draw up a will or trust to ensure that assets are correctly distributed to heirs.


7. As soon as able, change beneficiary designations on life insurance policies, pensions, 401(k)s and other assets.


8. Change, if necessary, any medical directives or powers of attorney. In most instances, you will not want your spouse to act in those capacities during the divorce process.


9. If one party is disabled or in a nursing home, it is possible to craft a Marital Settlement Agreement accordingly. While there is a presumption of 50/50 division of marital assets, that presumption is rebuttable given the facts and circumstances of each case. If divestment is an issue in a nursing home case, that can be factored into any asset division by a capable Wisconsin divorce attorney knowledgeable in the area of estate planning and elder care.


10. Consider negotiating provisions which provide ownership of life insurance on the other party. If a spouse is receiving maintenance and the paying spouse dies, the income can be continued through life insurance proceeds.


11. Consider the timing of the divorce. Sometimes a day makes a difference. For example, in Social Security where there is a 10 year eligibility requirement when a former spouse is eligible to receive Social Security. Maintenance of health insurance may be a factor in some medical situations.

Divorce over the age of 50 is a unique circumstance requiring careful consideration and planning. For more information, call 1-800-805-1976 or email Attorney Linda S. Vanden Heuvel.  Also see, Divorce in Wisconsin.

If You Are 50 or Older and Considering Divorce, Read This First!