Colorado Legal Group
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Crum is the President and Managing Attorney of
Colorado Legal Group, a Denver based divorce and family law
rm. He is a graduate of The George Washington Law School
in Washington, D.C., and he has been practicing divorce and
family law since 1996.
He has represented clients throughout the state of Colorado
in a wide range of divorce cases, from uncontested divorces
to complex divorce litigation.
David is a frequent lecturer and author of the book,
Confessions of a Divorce Assassin: What You
Really Need to Know About Your Kids, Your
Case, and Your Lawyer. He is admitted to
practpractice law in Colorado, New Mexico,
and Nebraska.
David Crum, Esq.
EIGHT SECRETS TO HIRING A GREAT DIVORCE LAWYER
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CONTENTS
EIGHT SECRETS TO HIRING A GREAT DIVORCE LAWYER PAGE III
INTRODUCTION
DIVORCE is just a legal term. When you decide to part ways
with your spouse, you still have to be able to communicate with one
another and jointly raise your children into adulthood. Despite the
divorce, there will be soccer games, school events, birthday parties,
graduations, weddings, and many other activities to attend. Your
divorce will set the stage for the dynamics of your new and very
dierent relationship with your spouse, and I believe it should be as
civil and stress-free as possible.
If you are considering divorce, you probably have many questions
about the divorce process, including the division of property,
assets, and debts; child custody, support, and visitation; and
spousal support, also known as alimony. Engaging a well-respected
attorney who specializes in divorce and family law, knows the legal
roadblocks, and patiently guides you through the daunting divorce
process is paramount to getting the results you desire.
In this booklet, I use the terms “divorce” and “family law”
interchangeably because family law statutes encompass everything
involved in your divorce process.
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WHY I WROTE THIS HANDBOOK
WHEN you rst begin considering a divorce, you have many
choices when it comes to hiring an attorney. The purpose of
this booklet is to provide you with an insider’s look at what
you should expect from your divorce attorney. This information
will demystify the process for you and let you know how to be
prepared when you meet with an attorney. Being well prepared
will give you peace of mind and will save you unnecessary
emotional turmoil and legal fees.
There is a wide range of ability among lawyers who claim
to practice in the area of divorce and family law. Hiring a
lawyer who does not have the proper training, experience, and
approach to your case can be extremely costly for you—both
emotionally and nancially.
Divorce can be a fairly straightforward process in Colorado.
A qualied lawyer will review the divorce process with you,
identify your legal issues, and help you select the right
strategy for your case. Early in your case, you should be able
to understand what to expect as an outcome and how you
will need to prepare for your divorce. Making the right choice
in your attorney selection will give you more condence and
peace of mind as you enter negotiations with your spouse
and his or her lawyer.
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Not all lawyers practice or even
understand divorce and family law
A LAWYER does not have to specialize or even practice divorce and
family law on a regular basis to handle your case. And in fact, many
lawyers who will oer to take your case handle only a few divorce
cases as part of their overall practice. The problem with this is that law
school does not prepare a lawyer to practice competently in this specic
area, and it is only through training and experience that these cases can
be handled properly. As the legal profession has matured, divorce and
family law has become much more complex, and smart attorneys have
begun to specialize and ramp up their skills in this specic area.
Family law should compose at least the majority of the practice of the
person you hire to handle your divorce. The ideal situation is for your
lawyer to practice only divorce and family law.
An attorney who invests all of his or her time handling family law
cases is more likely to have the knowledge and experience you need
to succeed and obtain your best possible resolution. An attorney with
that kind of experience will understand your specic legal issues, case
management, and proper handling of cour t proceedings, ensuring a better
outcome for your case.
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Your attorney should have experience in
your jurisdiction, in your courthouse, and
in front of your judge
NOT only should your attorney have experience in divorce and
family law; he or she also needs to have experience in your jurisdiction
(county), in your courthouse, and in front of your judge. Having that
local experience ensures that your attorney knows the decision makers
and how they make rulings on a daily basis.
It is critical, especially with family law cases, for your attorney to know
the judges in town and how they are likely to rule on a certain case.
Judges often have dierent approaches to divorce cases based on their
case loads, their general approach to issue resolution, and how they
interpret the law. These factors will dictate how your attorney presents
your issues to the judge. Sometimes your case may take place in one
of the smaller towns in Colorado, and you would rather hire someone
from outside of your jurisdiction with more training and experience in
divorce and family law. Ask questions about who the attorney knows.
The answers will provide insight about the judge who will be hearing
your case and how the attorney will prepare for that judge.
You also want an attorney who has built credibility and trust in
Colorado with judges and other attorneys in the family law community.
It often helps to run an Internet and social media search using a
potential attorney’s name to determine how he or she is involved in
and perceived by the local community.
Your attorney should explain that you have the right to ask that the rst
judge assigned to your case be excused. While this is not a common
practice, it may be vital if you have issues in front of a judge who is
unlikely to rule in your favor. In such a situation, it is critical for your
attorney to have signicant knowledge about the judge who will be
hearing your case.
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Not all divorce lawyers are qualied for all
possible divorce options
EVEN lawyers who handle a large number of divorce and family law
cases may not have the skills necessary to provide representation as it
relates to all of your divorce options. In particular, divorce and family
law has evolved to include a large number of mediated and collaborative
divorce cases. If the attorney you are considering hiring does not have
experience in these areas, you are greatly limiting your options.
Your attorney should have experience in the following types of divorce
options:
• LITIGATION: This is when your attorney les a petition for
divorce and takes it through the normal procedural steps for
litigation, which may include numerous hearings and possibly a trial.
Eective litigation work is highly specialized and requires a very
specic set of legal skills.
• UNCONTESTED DIVORCE: If you and your spouse are in
general agreement about getting a divorce and dividing up assets
and debts, and if you have a general understanding about how your
case should be resolved, then you may be able to le an uncontested
divorce. This type of divorce takes less time and costs you less
money than if your case were to go through litigation. For this
option, you will need an attorney who is experienced in negotiation
and eective drafting of legal documents.
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• MEDIATED DIVORCE: In a mediated divorce, one
attorney handles the case and acts as a neutral third party. He or
she represents neither spouse and provides no legal advice but
helps both spouses work toward a resolution of their case. The
process is exible and condential, and it keeps you and your
spouse in control of your divorce and out of court. Unfortunately,
very few lawyers have the experience and skills to mediate a
divorce eectively, and many will not even bother to explore this
option with you. If you and your spouse can still communicate
eectively about the issues in your divorce, mediation should
always be explored as a rst option in your case.
• COLLABORATIVE DIVORCE: This is a relatively new
type of divorce that has grown more popular in recent years. In a
collaborative divorce, both spouses and their attorneys take
control of how the divorce process will work. They build a
customized process for getting the case resolved without going to
court, which may include the use of nancial and child-custody
advisers or experts. In a collaborative divorce, the attorneys
do not remain neutral like they do in a mediated divorce;
each attorney provides his or her client with independent
legal advice regarding any proposed agreements. The parties
do not go to court or rely on the court system for rulings.
To practice collaborative divorce eectively, attorneys must
undergo signicant training and participate in continuing legal
education in this area on an annual basis.
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IN your initial consultation, your attorney should talk to you about how
he or she will build a road map to the resolution of your case. Crucial to
this process is an early understanding about the value of your case and
how your assets and debts should be divided in a fair settlement.
I have seen too many lawyers who were unprepared in this area. Often,
it isn’t until they get to the settlement facilitation that they realize what
the settlement will look like for their client. Sometimes they still don’t
know, even at that point! This can often result in the lawyers
requesting a lot of documents and information they don’t actually need,
unnecessarily delaying the case.
Your attorney should have pre-planned checklists to gather the right
information needed to properly evaluate the value of your assets and
debts. Ask the attorney you are considering if he or she has a modiable
assets/liabilities worksheet to use in running multiple settlement
scenarios. Your attorney should be planning what the resolution of
your case should look like from very early in the process. This kind of
planning improves your chances in negotiations, settlement, and at trial
(if that is necessary).
Some lawyers will litigate the majority of your
case without knowing what it’s actually worth
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Even smart lawyers can be terrible
at case management
LAWYERS do not study case management in law school; they study
theoretical law, so that’s what they know when they graduate. Most do
not know how to run a law practice. Most lawyers get out of law school
without any experience in case management, business management, or
relationship management. You need to be aware of this from the moment
you call a lawyer’s oce to schedule your rst appointment. Notice how
organized they are. Ask them how they handle calls and how many sta
members they have.
The number one complaint about lawyers is that they often fail to call
clients back. An organized attorney with sucient support sta will
return your call promptly or have a paralegal or other sta member
do so. If you must speak with the lawyer directly, there should be
procedures in place for scheduling the call and letting the lawyer know
exactly what you need to discuss before the phone call takes place. If
you hire a lawyer who doesn’t have a large enough sta, or doesn’t have
good case management procedures in place, it is unlikely that you will
be happy with your representation.
It is ideal if the attorney representing you provides you with a working
client binder that helps keep you organized and provides instructions
for your case. When you call with simple legal questions or billing
questions, an attorney with a properly staed oce will have you talk to
a legal assistant or paralegal. You should not have to pay attorney-level
fees for these kinds of questions just because the rm is understaed and
hasn’t designed its management system correctly. You want your money
and your attorney focused on the more substantive work that requires his
or her special expertise.
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Your attorney needs your help to resolve your
case successfully
THE more active you are in the preparation of your case, the
better informed you will be. And the more organized you are about
presenting your questions and gathering your paperwork, the less
it will cost you in legal fees. A large part of divorce practice is
good information management.
Your active and thoughtful participation in your own case will
be an important factor in how satised you are with your results.
Before you arrive for your initial consultation with your attorney,
write down a list of questions you want answered. Writing them
down before the meeting will help ensure that you don’t forget any
important questions once you get to your attorney’s oce.
After your initial meeting with your attorney, take some time
to think about what the resolution of your case should look like
and what you really want. This should not be what your parents,
friends, or others are saying you should do, but what you really
need as a resolution to your case. Your realistic needs should
form the road map that your attorney uses to take you through the
family law process.
When your attorney asks you for information, always be as
organized as possible and even summarize information when
necessary. When he or she asks for tax returns, property deeds,
insurance policies, or nancial portfolios, put them in a binder,
organize them, and label them. If additional information is needed
that you have access to, you should obtain it, not your attorney.
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Remember, you are being charged by the hour for the attorney’s and
other sta members’ time. You do not need your attorney or his or her
sta spending hours sifting through unorganized documents or spending
time gathering information that you could easily provide yourself. My
sta, for example, has sorted through many boxes full of completely
disorganized information and documents, so I can tell you from personal
experience that this is not the best use of your attorney’s time.
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Your attorney should help you
choose your battles
YOU can lower your legal fees and expend less emotional energy by
picking your battles and having realistic expectations for your nal
outcome. That would seem to be an obvious conclusion for anyone
involved in this process, yet I see countless lawyers allowing their
clients to argue and spend time and money on issues that the lawyer
should know are pointless in the overall scheme of the case.
Dozens of issues can be contested relating to your divorce, but it’s
important to understand which issues are critical to your case and
which ones aren’t worth the eort. Now, some lawyers may take the
position that it is your case and you should make these decisions. In
my opinion, however, that’s not good counsel. Of course you should
be the one who is primarily directing the course of your case, but
in this position, it is often too easy to let emotions dictate certain
decisions and to take a position that, legally, is just not viable. The
right attorney will provide you with an honest assessment of what
you should ght for and what you should leave uncontested. It is
important to come to a mutual decision before moving forward so
your attorney can achieve the desired outcome for you.
Examples of unrealistic expectations would be as follows:
• A parent who has had very little involvement in raising his or her
child suddenly wanting 50/50 custody when it is time to divorce
• A spouse with signicant income who has been married a long
time to a non-earning spouse wanting to pay no alimony
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Could your attorney argue for these positions nonetheless? Of course,
and it is your right to pursue these things. But your course of action
should always be measured against the nancial cost, the emotional
toll on the relationship, and the likelihood of success. Remember—the
more volatile a divorce and custody case becomes, the more dicult it
becomes for children to adjust afterward and for spouses to cooperate in
a post-divorce relationship.
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You do not need a “pit bull” to handle
your divorce
YOU HAVE probably seen the ads for lawyers who brag about
how aggressive they are in “going after” the spouse in a divorce
case. Many people refer to these lawyers as “pit bulls” and think
this is the type of lawyer they should hire for their case. Overly
aggressive lawyers can sidetrack your case, set the wrong tone
in negotiations, interfere with settlement, and drive up legal fees.
More often than not, lawyers like this make the entire process
uncomfortable for everyone involved.
Condence, competence, and assertiveness are all valuable
characteristics of a divorce lawyer, but you do not need a pit bull to
handle your divorce. You do need someone who can say “no” when
necessary in negotiating a good deal for you, but you do not need
someone who bullies others.
A great attorney will be as aggressive as is necessary in the case.
It is usually a signicant advantage to start o the case in a nice,
civil fashion, oering a road map for a speedy resolution of the case
through settlement. Of course there are times when an aggressive
stance will be necessary from the beginning, but the initial tone of
the case is something the client should be completely involved in
deciding. If a spouse has taken a child out of state or has hidden
assets instead of disclosing them, for example, then by all means,
take a hard stance from the beginning. Otherwise, be nice. You have
everything to gain and nothing to lose with this initial approach.
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If you have consulted with a lawyer and he or she is too
aggressive or seems to be promising too much, you should
probably keep looking. Pay attention to your instincts. It’s a bad
sign when a lawyer promises too much because the reality of
divorce is that there is a bit of give and take on both sides, and
lawyers make the most money when people cannot agree and
continue ghting. If you’re not comfortable with a lawyer during
an initial consultation, do you really want that person representing
you in your divorce case? Look for someone who can strike a
healthy balance between professional, courteous representation
and aggressive pursuit of your positions in the case.
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CONCLUSION
DIVORCE is emotionally and nancially challenging for all
family members involved, even if both spouses agree to get a
divorce and cooperate fully throughout the divorce process. Getting
a divorce is a decision that will aect many aspects of your life
and your children’s lives. Finding a competent, compassionate, and
ethical attorney who focuses his or her practice in family law and
divorce and who will look out for your best interests is critical to
resolving your divorce in the most positive manner possible. On
the other hand, hiring an inexperienced lawyer who does not fully
understand the divorce and family law process can result in a costly
and prolonged divorce.
Your goal should be to go into the process with a full understanding
of the legal and practical aspects of your case. The attorney you
choose should be committed to developing the most positive
outcome for you as possible—and as quickly as possible. The
sooner your divorce is nal, the sooner you can begin your new life.
If you have any questions that remain unanswered as you interview
lawyers, please call our rm, and one of our attorneys will get you
the answers you need to make the best decision possible.
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EIGHT SECRETS TO HIRING A GREAT DIVORCE LAWYER PAGE 14
HOW WE CAN HELP YOU
AT Colorado Legal Group, we handle all major aspects of
family law, including divorce. Whether you want to know
your rights before getting married or what you are entitled to
receive during a divorce, we are here to help you. Our priority
is to make sure you are well informed and that you get the
results you want. The wide range of family law services we
oer includes the following:
• Divorce
• Annulment
• Separation
• Division of marital property
• Child custody
• Child support
• Paternity
• Post-judgment modications
• Domestic partnership agreements
• Prenuptial/antenuptial/postnuptial agreements
• Domestic violence
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CONTACT
Colorado Legal Group
1777 S. Harrison St. Suite 1210
Denver, CO 80210
Phone: 720-594-7360
Fax: 720-594-7357
ColoradoLegalGroup.com
© 2013 by David Crum
All rights reserved
