Sunday, February 8, 2009

Find a lawyer

By reklicom

A lawyer will assist you reach a property settlement by advising you and your partner's legal entitlements over your joint pool of assets.Firstly, a lawyer will advise you on the nature and amount of contributions made by you and your partner. These can be financial contributions such as wages, or non-financial contributions such as undertaking parental responsibilities.

Can't we just skip the visit to the lawyer and go straight to court? The courts can often assist with more complex disputes, such as how to equitably divide a monetary "gift" which was given to your partner by his or her parents.

I think my partner is hiding assets, how can I investigate?Relationships can bring out the best in people, but occasionally they can also bring out the worst. Asset hiding is quite common in the course of property settlements, especially when one partner adamantly believes that he or she has rightfully earned and thus owns a particular property interest.

Government lawyers on state level work as prosecutors, attorney generals, public defenders for the government, while at federal level; they investigate cases for department of justice and other related agencies. They help in developing programs, drafting and interpreting laws and legislation for the government.

When it does come to choosing qualified lawyers for your legal needs, the first factor that you do want to keep in mind is experience. Perhaps nothing is more important when selecting lawyers in the 21st century than is experience. You simply do not want to hire a lawyer that gets his or her on the job training on your case or project.

The old adage "you get what you pay for" is as true today as it has ever been. Where does someone turn to when they have a non-routine legal matter that requires attention. For many, this may involve contacting the "family solicitor" who has traditionally dealt with the family's basic legal needs, such as for wills and conveyancing.

Those solicitors will not readily refuse to act, even if the legal problem that needs resolving is beyond their area of expertise. This may sometimes have disastrous results for the client as a result of the client having given insufficient thought to retaining a lawyer who has greater expertise in the area of law you have your problem. It would usually be advisable to make some preliminary enquiries of the solicitor you are dealing with as to their experience with your type of matter, or to contact the Law Society by telephone or on the web.

A few good questions to ask of your lawyer are: how many bankruptcy cases have they have tried? How long have they practiced specifically in the field of bankruptcy law? Ask them: how complicated is my case, and how do you plan to go about handling it? Beware of a lawyer who will just tell what you want to hear. If the lawyer doesnt talk about any of the difficulties of the process, they may just be looking to you to sign a contract with them.

What is a property settlement? This is the division of all "property" between married or de facto couples who seek divorce or separation. "Property" is quite widely interpreted in the family law system and includes pretty much everything that is capable of being owned. This can include land, houses, businesses including partnerships, motor vehicles, bank accounts, shares, household goods and furniture, tools of trade or other equipment, trusts and superannuation. The property settlement includes all property belonging to you and your partner, regardless of whose name the property is in.

This applies equally to solicitors and generally speaking the older they are the greater their experience and competence. In these cases professional fees should be viewed as an investment rather than a cost as there is a greater certainty of outcome. Again, the "no-frills" brand in a supermarket never seems to be as good as the dearer branded product. What clients need is competence, quality, skill and experience delivered to them by practicing professionals who are driven by high service standards.

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