Divorce can become expensive very quickly. What many people do not know is that one of the fastest ways to drive up the price of your divorce is to communicate the wrong way with your lawyer.
Communication is vital at all points, and divorce is no exception. According to Forbes Magazine, you can help manage the cost of your divorce by doing some legwork for your lawyer and communicating correctly during the divorce itself.
What “legwork” should I be doing?
Never let your lawyer do tasks that you can do on your own. It can drive up the cost of a divorce considerably if you leave all of the organizational work to your law firm. For example, if you require an expense statement for whatever reason, make sure that you are the one collecting the statements from your bank and not your lawyer.
Of course, you want your lawyer to take care of anything law-specialized, like drafting motions. But remember that lawyers charge using billable hours most of the time, and doing some work yourself can save a lot of money.
How can I communicate correctly?
Strategic communication is key. Do not call your lawyer every single time that you have a question if you can send an email. Of course, there are some things that are better discussed over the phone and you do not want to avoid the phone entirely.
However, in most circumstances it is probably faster for your lawyer to answer your questions over email. Again, this lowers the number of billable hours your lawyer will spend on your divorce.