Choosing a Detroit, Michigan Divorce Attorney

You should take the time to carefully choose a lawyer to represent you in your divorce. While it is very important to get referrals from your friends, remember that your friend might have had different needs in their divorce. Every lawyer is different. It is essential that you are comfortable with your lawyer and that your lawyer understands your goals.

In Divorce for Dummies, Second Edition, the author provides some suggestions for choosing a divorce lawyer:

You need to hire a lawyer experienced in family law. An experienced divorce lawyer can insure that your divorce is handled properly and that no details are overlooked. Randall B. Pitler has more than 13 years experience in family law. Although continuing legal education in not required in Michigan, he has participated in more than 20 hours of continuing legal education in divorce law in each of the past three years, in addition to an average of 15 hours of continuing legal education in divorce mediation and collaborative divorce.

The lawyer you hire should talk to you in plain English, not legalese. We want you to actively participate in your own divorce. Therefore, we take the time to explain the divorce process and to answer all of your questions in plain English.

The lawyer should be someone you trust and feel comfortable with, because you may have to reveal highly personal information about yourself and your marriage. We understand the difficulty of a divorce and of sharing personal information with a stranger. We take steps to make you feel comfortable with every member of our staff because we understand that the more comfortable you feel with us, the better job we will be able to do representing you in your divorce. Our office policies require the staff to hold our client’s information with the strictest confidence.

If you have young children, look for an lawyer who makes it clear that during your divorce you must put your children's needs first and that he or she will not pursue unreasonable demands for child support or help you pursue vindictive child custody and visitation arrangements. We understand that all divorces have a negative impact on children and we work with our clients to minimize that impact. We remind our clients that they need to work with their spouse to co-parent their children and encourage our clients to agree to visitation arrangements that allow the children quality time with both parents.

And last, but certainly not least, your lawyer should be affordable. We do not believe that you should hire the least expensive lawyer, but your lawyer needs to be aware of your financial situation and to be up front about their fees. In an amicable divorce we believe that we can save you money by handling your divorce more efficiently and not taking unnecessary steps.

At Pitler Family Law, our Michigan divorce attorneys handle family law, divorce, child custody, parenting time, visitation, child support and alimony matters throughout the Detroit metropolitan area, including Farmington Hills, Livonia, Bloomfield Hills, Troy, Royal Oak, Birmingham, Rochester, Mt. Clemens, Dearborn, Warren, Southfield, and all of Oakland County, Wayne County, Livingston County, and Macomb County.