Questions about attorney fees and costs:

• What are your fees?




• What work do these fees cover?




• Is this an hourly fee or a flat fee for the entire case?




• Is there an additional charge for appearing in court?




• Do you ever charge less for people
  who do not have much money?




• Do you charge a retainer? How much?




• What does it cover?




• Do you refund all or part of the retainer if my case
  ends up being dropped or not taking much time?
  (Attorneys should be willing to refund any part of
  the retainer not spent.)




• Are there other expenses which I may have to pay?




• What are they and how much are they likely to be?




• Will you be the only person working on my case?




• What will other people do?




• How will I be charged for their work?




• Will I be charged for speaking to your secretary?
  Your receptionist?




• Are there ways that I can assist you so as to
  keep down my costs?




• Will you send me a copy of letters, documents,
  and court papers that you file or receive regarding my case?




• Do you charge extra if the case gets more complicated
  or we have to go back to court?




• Will you require that I have paid everything that I owe you
  before you will go to court with me or finish my case?
  (Many attorneys do this. They may also refuse to return
  your original papers or copies of your file, and in
  some states this may be legal. Therefore you should
  insist on getting a copy of any paper filed with the court
  or given or received from another party or otherwise
  relevant to your case. Be sure to keep all of them
  in a safe place, in case you ever need them.)




• Are you willing to work out a payment plan with me?




• Will you put our agreement about fees
  and what work you will perform in writing?

Questions about cases involving domestic violence :

• How much experience have you had with cases involving
  domestic violence?




• Which party did you represent
  (the victim, the abuser, or the children)?




• Do you generally believe women who tell you
  that they have been battered?




• Do you go to court with women wanting to obtain orders
  of protection against their abusers?




• How sympathetic to battered women are the judges
  who will hear my case?




• What are the laws of this state regarding which parent should
  be given custody when one parent has abused the other parent?




• Does the judge(s) who will probably hear my case
  follow these laws?




• What do they usually recommend?




• What do you think about joint custody awards
  in cases involving domestic violence?




• What do you think about mediation in cases where
  there has been domestic violence?




• Do the expert witnesses likely to be involved understand
  the need to protect battered women and children?




• What kind of custody and visitation arrangements do they
  usually recommend in cases involving domestic violence?




• Do the judges usually follow their recommendations?




• Do you have a working relationship with the local
  battered women�s program? With whom have you worked?




• Do you have a working relationship with any batterer
  intervention programs? Which one(s)?




• How helpful is the local prosecutor in handling
  domestic violence cases?

Questions about contested custody cases:

• Do you usually believe mothers who tell you that their
  child(ren)�s father has physically or sexually abused them?




• How do you handle cases where parental alienation syndrome
  is alleged? (This is a popular theory which blames mothers
  for turning their children�s affection against the father,
  most often in cases where the father has abused the mother
  or the children. The American Psychiatric Association
  says there is no scientific basis for this theory.)




• How do the custody evaluators that you work with feel
  about cases where the father has abused the child(ren)?




• Do they usually believe a mother�s statements about the abuse?




• What kind of custody and visitation recommendations
  do they usually make?




• How does the judge(s) who will probably decide my case feel
  about cases where the child�s father has abused the child(ren)?




• Do they believe mothers who have made reports about
  




• the father's physical abuse of the child?




• About the father's sexual abuse of the child?




• Will someone be appointed for the children,
  and how will that person feel about the father's
  physical abuse of the child?




• About the father's sexual abuse of the child?




• Will it matter if the child protective service agency
  has substantiated the abuse? If the father was
  convicted or pled guilty to the abuse in a criminal case?




• What do you do to protect children in cases when
  you know that their father is abusing them?




• Are you willing to stand up for my case,
  even if it angers the judge?




• If none of the abuse allegations have been made public yet,
  what do you recommend about whether to raise them
  and how to keep my children safe?

Reference Material

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