Need advice regarding divorce lawyers.

[Moses]

Not for me, thank goodness.

A patient of mine (a really wonderful young lady, by the way) has been married for 8 years (California). She is pregnant with their third child.

Her husband is wealthy. He decided that he didn't really like being a husband and father much, so he quietly filed for divorce. He left home hours before she was served with divorce papers.

She quickly found out that he has emptied all the bank accounts. She has nothing. She has met with 5 different divorce lawyers, but they all want $10,000 up front to represent her. Again, she has nothing.

Any advice, comments, wisdom would be helpful.

[the]

If he has a lot of money, they have kids issues, community property issues, support issues, etc. he's going to hire a good, aggressive divorce attorney.

She needs to do the same. $10K up front is normal. If she doesn't have it, she'll need to borrow it from someone (maybe some rich Dr. or something).

She needs to get the lawyer hired right away, the $10K will be the best investment she ever made. At the end of the day, her lawyer's fees will be paid by him anyways.

[t951]

I am thinking there is a reason he played his cards the way he did.
I am sure she is a nice person, to her friends, but there is probably another side to the story.
His actions show that he is aware of something.

Not saying who is right or wrong, but there is more to this.

[Dottore]

Yup. Beg, borrow, steal. Get the money.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Considering that he's the one that breached the contract (marriage), he's totally SOL, no matter how hard he tries to hide. Her having kids only makes him more screwed. Normally I'm against such things, but in this case I hope she can come up with the $10k and take him for all he's worth. Hanging a pregnant wife and your two kids out to dry? He's a total POS.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Moses

He left home hours before she was served with divorce papers.

Do they own the home?

Tell her to take an LOC on the house or cash advance on the credit cards if possible.

Did he take all of his paperwork?

Maybe he left the title to an expensive car that he may own.....

[Moses]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Do they own the home?

Did he take all of his paperwork?

He took all the paperwork. He canceled the credit cards.

He's an odd guy. His wife never had access to any bank accounts. Everything was in his name. He gave her a small "allowance" to run the household. His reputation is that he is "pathologically" cheap. No suggestions of infidelity on either side. The third pregnancy was unplanned and the thought of supporting another person was more than he could take.

Why wouldn't a lawyer take the case knowing they would be paid later? I guess it doesn't work that way.

[Danimal16]

Moses,

That is a bad situation. SHe may want to talk with some women's advocacy group about this. She also needs to be careful in selecting her attorney. She is in a bad place now and needs someone, family preferred to keep an eye on the decisions she makes in starting this thing. Divorce sucks and the courts are by no means helpful.

This guy sounds like a piece of work. Has she talked to him?

[nostatic]

CA doesn't look kindly on this. As long as she gets a competent attorney he will be on the hook for a lot of $$$. Plus draining the accounts before filing won't make him any friends. 8 years means community property plus child support. At a minimum.

So he walked away from 3 kids?

[Moses]

Originally Posted by nostatic

So he walked away from 3 kids?

Yeah. Hard to believe. And his wife is wonderful. She's very pretty and a very nice person. I delivered her kids, so I've known her for a long time. She really wanted her marriage to work because she loves being a mom. It's sad really.

[Jim Bremner]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

considering that he's the one that breached the contract (marriage), he's totally sol, no matter how hard he tries to hide. Her having kids only makes him more screwed. Normally i'm against such things, but in this case i hope she can come up with the $10k and take him for all he's worth. Hanging a pregnant wife and your two kids out to dry? He's a total pos.

they might not be his.

[Moses]

Originally Posted by Jim Bremner

they might not be his.

Nah. Not this lady. But it does happen more often than people think.

[vash]

sucky situation.

i wish her the best luck. i hope she ends up hosing him.

(reminds me of that Chris Rock joke)

[Jim Bremner]

Originally Posted by moses

nah. Not this lady. But it does happen more often than people think.

(it's not mine by the way)

[TechnoViking]

Invite her to a local PCA event as your friend. Should find about 10 lawyers there

[the]

Originally Posted by Moses

Why wouldn't a lawyer take the case knowing they would be paid later?

b/c divorce is big business, esp. in Cal., and the really good divorce lawyers have plenty of work from clients who can and will pay the $10K up front.

[911Freak]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

Considering that he's the one that breached the contract (marriage), he's totally SOL, no matter how hard he tries to hide. Her having kids only makes him more screwed. Normally I'm against such things, but in this case I hope she can come up with the $10k and take him for all he's worth. Hanging a pregnant wife and your two kids out to dry? He's a total POS.

Being a single Dad who raised a daughter to the age of 18 by myself, I totally agree with onewhippedpuppy on this one!

Yes I'm sure there is another side of the story,(there always is) but abandoning your expecting wife and children is totally unacceptable in my opinion.

Also considering how swayed the Ca courts are to mothers with children this guy is going to get flamed regardless of his powerful attorneys....

Also the manner in which he made his exit shows a lot about his character or lack there of.

sheeesh

[Dueller]

Originally Posted by the

b/c divorce is big business, esp. in Cal., and the really good divorce lawyers have plenty of work from clients who can and will pay the $10K up front.

Not only that, but you'd be suprised how often the parties reconcile and dismiss the proceedings. So she fires her lawyer and husband's lawyer files the dismissal. Lawyer is left there after substantial work for wife with nothing to do but sue his client. Not the husband in this case but the wife. She has nothing in her name. Husband can't be sued because no privity of contract/standing. And in a case like this lawyer would likely need to hire a forensic accountant during the pendency of the proceedings. He ain't gonna do that outta pocket.

Like I tell my clients: You have two problems here: Your legal problems and my fee. If I don't have to worry about my fee, I can concentrate on your legal problems.


Wife's gotta have some skin in the game.

[gtc]

Hey now... haven't we gotten ahead of ourselves here?

[nostatic]

I think we had a $10K retainer that was burned through pretty quickly. And that was an amicable divorce. We also just used one lawyer between us...not a typical situation.