INFORMATION FOR
FAMILY  LAW  CLIENTS

Divorce, child custody and other family law matters are often complex and time consuming cases. The legislature and the court system have placed upon the parties the burden of generating detailed financial disclosures, child support work sheets, parenting plans, court forms and production of other relevant information. If the case is contested, often there will be discovery request for other information concerning property, income and assets, together with details surrounding the parenting of your children, if appropriate.

Our firm provides top quality legal services in this area to assist and guide you through your case. Our minimum retainer will range from $1,500 to $5,000 to open a domestic file (unless the matter will be by agreement) and will often be larger if custody, significant property issues, or other complex matters are involved. Should we determine following the initial interview that this office cannot represent you, the retainer will be refunded. Once we begin work on your case, the retainer is non-refundable, however, any retainer not applied to time and/or expenses may be used for other non-related legal work. The ultimate fee is based upon the time spent on your file and the expenses incurred in handling your case. In contested cases, there are no short cuts to properly handling your case. While you may find a cheaper lawyer, you may very well get the result for which you paid.

In small communities, good lawyers are often approached by both sides of a dispute for legal advice and representation. However, a lawyer can only receive confidential information from one side of a dispute and to eliminate conflicts, we will not set an appointment to receive this information and/or give advice to prospective family law clients until the domestic law client information package is submitted with the initial retainer that is quoted. If you are interested in securing our firm for your case, you should take immediate steps to insure the completion of these steps as our decision to take your case may be made on a first come basis. When you return the necessary forms with your initial retainer, you will be given an appointment.

David N. Rainwater
J. Mitchell Gibbs