Fort Worth Lawyers

How much does a Fort Worth lawyer cost?

The rates and payment structure for legal representation vary depending on the type of case. In criminal defense cases, the lawyer may charge a flat fee if it is a routine case such as DWI or a nonviolent misdemeanor. For more complex cases, the law firm charges by the hour, according to the number of hours of work the lawyers, paralegals, and other employees of the law firm spend on your case. If you go to trial, you will have to pay more since preparing for a trial requires more work from your lawyer than negotiating a plea deal.

In divorce cases, the court often orders the higher-income spouse to pay the attorneys’ fees for both spouses. If the spouses have approximately equal incomes, they may each pay their own attorneys’ fees. Family law attorneys may ask you to pay a certain amount upfront before they begin working on your case, and if the case goes beyond a certain number of hours of work, they may charge additional hourly fees.

What can a Fort Worth lawyer do for your case?

All defendants in criminal cases have the right to representation by a lawyer. If you are charged with a crime, the state will appoint a public defender to represent you if you cannot afford to hire an attorney. Despite this, it is in your interest to hire a criminal defense attorney. When you choose your own attorney, you can find a lawyer who understands you and with whom you feel comfortable communicating about a very stressful matter. You can choose a lawyer who has previously worked on cases similar to yours. By contrast, public defenders must accept every case assigned to them. Despite their best intentions, they can only do so much for each defendant because of their unmanageable workloads. Your drug possession case is the least of a public defender’s concerns if, in half an hour, he has to meet with a client who is fighting murder charges.

In family law cases, hiring a lawyer is optional, but it leads to a better outcome for your case. A family law attorney can help you and your ex agree to a property division scheme or parenting plan during mediation so that you do not have to go to trial.

What can I expect from the initial consultation?

At an initial consultation with a criminal defense lawyer, your lawyer will help you come up with a strategy quickly. The arraignment, where you plead guilty or not guilty, is only a few weeks after your arrest, and sometimes it is even sooner than that. When you describe your case to the lawyer, he or she may find reasons that the state should dismiss the case. If this happens, your lawyer will quickly file a motion to dismiss. Even if you must enter a plea, your lawyer will be attuned to which pieces of evidence may be inadmissible, which could lead to an acquittal or a reduction of your charges.

At an initial consultation for a divorce case, your lawyer will explain the legal processes of divorce, and you will brainstorm with your lawyer about what to request in your divorce petition or your response to your spouse’s divorce petition.

Is 50/50 timesharing realistic?

Each family can decide on a timesharing schedule that works for them. If you and your ex-spouse live near each other, it may be possible for each parent to spend approximately half of the days of the year with each parent. Most families accomplish this by rotating parenting time by partial weeks, such as with the 2-2-3-2-2-3 cycle (two days with Mom, two with Dad, three with Mom, two with Dad, two with Mon, three with Dad, and then the cycle repeats). This arrangement works best for young children or during summer vacation. Moving from one parent’s house to another in the middle of a week is disruptive for school children. Therefore, most families have children spend all school nights with the same parent.

What does the parenting plan address besides parenting time?

Parenting plans are not about money, but they do address several other aspects of parenting besides where the children will be on which days of the year. For example, parenting plans indicate which parent has the final say about children’s education, extracurricular activities, and non-emergency medical treatment. You might indicate that you and your ex must make these decisions jointly; if you choose this option, then in the event of a disagreement, you might have to go back to court. The parenting plan also addresses transportation responsibilities, such as, "Dad must pick up the children from school on Friday afternoon. Mom must pick them up from Dad’s house at 7:00 on Sunday evening."

Can the court punish you by taking away parenting time?

In almost every circumstance, your children’s right to have a relationship with both parents outweighs any parenting mistakes you might make. Most of the things you do that make your ex think you are an unfit parent are perfectly harmless in the eyes of the court. The court does, however, have the right to punish you by reducing your parenting time if you do not pay child support, do not let your ex-spouse exercise his parenting time, or try to harm your children’s relationship with your ex-spouse. The court can order you to have supervised parenting time only if your ex can prove that the children are unsafe when they are alone with you. These allegations are only credible if you leave your children unsupervised for an extended period of time, expose them to violence or illegal drugs, or fail to prevent accidental injuries that are easily and obviously preventable. The occasional curse word or junk food meal does not make you an unfit parent.

Can children choose which parent to live with?

In most cases, the parents decide on a parenting plan during divorce mediation. The judge only sets the parenting plan when the parents cannot reach an agreement between themselves. Judges may consider more than a dozen factors in deciding which parent should be with the children for the majority of days. If the children are old enough to be in high school, the judge may meet with teens and ask them about their preferences for the parenting plan, but the teens’ preferences are only one of many factors for the judge to consider.