OT:Any California divorce lawyers out there

[SamIAm]

No, I'm not getting divorced. I have a great wife and I am keeping her as long as she will have me. :)

But, I have a female friend who lives in California who is going through a divorce and being treated very poorly by her soon to be ex-husband. She is very ill, with 2 children. It is a really bad situation and her "husband" is trying to rush a quick settlement through without lawyers. I think she needs to at least speak to an attorney to understand what her rights are, certainly in regard to a temporary support order.

I am not asking for any pro bono work. I would like to pay for an initial consultation to make sure she can chart the best path forward.

PM me if you can help.

Thanks.

[JMerring]

Can't recommend a ca divorce lawyer, I'm afraid, but she absolutely should have competent counsel to represent her, especially if her husband is being a douche. It sounds like she is setting herself up for him to ride roughshod all over her. Just my $.02

[vqdriver]

I may be wrong but I thought in california legal counsel for each side was required for a divorce. I'm not sure how a judge would allow them to rep themselves.

[SamIAm]

I may be wrong but I thought in california legal counsel for each side was required for a divorce. I'm not sure how a judge would allow them to rep themselves.

You are probably right, but I think they are using a mediator and will need a lawyer to review it anyway. That is the person I am looking for. I strongly believe she is getting bad advice and would like to pay for her to get a second opinion.

[dvs cycles]

Which county in Kalifornia. I know a great one in Riverside.

[SamIAm]

Orange county

[maunahaole]

Attorneys are not required for either side in a CA divorce. In some circumstances, when there is a large disparity between the financial means of the parties, the court will order the wealthy party to pay some or all of the atty fees of the other. This is helpful sometimes as you cant take a dissolution on a contingency basis.

Support numbers are generally based on a guideline, which is a number that is generated by a computer program. It takes income & expense info and spits out a number. It is not flawless and the numbers can be manipulated to skew in a party's favor if someone knows what they are doing. If both parties are not totally honest about what they are putting into the system, once can get screwed pretty bad. Best to have someone who knows how to vet the figures before they get plugged in.

[Uncle Jam's Army]

I am an attorney, though not a family law attorney. I did, however, go through a bitter custody dispute many years ago regarding my oldest child. I have two family law attorneys I can recommend, depending on your friend's financial situation. I have used both Steven Knowles of Trope & Trope, and Dan Rubanowitz, formerly of Trope & Trope. Steven is one of the top 5 family law attorneys in town (both OC and LA) and I highly recommend him. He is well known among the family law bar in Southern California. However, his hourly rate, over 13 years ago, was $650/hour, and must be higher now. I chose to structure my representation such that Steven only appeared on the case for the critical hearings, and I had Dan Rubanowitz, a senior associate at the time at Trope & Trope, do the day to day leg work on my case. Since Dan's billing rate as an associate (around $250/hr back then) was much lower than Steven's, this was the most effective way to handle my case.

Dan has since moved on and opened his practice in the San Fernando Valley, and I have referred many of my clients with family law problems to Dan, and they are all very happy with his work. Dan is not as polished as Steven, but he is good enough to handle most any matter, unless you are talking about high net worth individuals, in which case Steven's hourly rate should not be an issue. So, if you can afford Steven, I say go with him. If not, Dan is very competent and can adequately represent your friend.

If you would like to continue this discussion off line, please feel free to PM me.

Best,

Robert