What Is Unbundled Family Law Services?
You may have heard about the ‘unbundling’ of legal services, which is becoming more common. Unbundling of services refers to the provision of legal services in a more piecemeal fashion than the traditional process, whereby you will hire a lawyer to handle every aspect of your case. Instead, unbundling allows you to essentially contract out certain services to a lawyer, who will perform a piece of the project on your behalf. For example, while you may not wish to have a lawyer attend with you at your family law Case Conference, perhaps you would like assistance in preparing your Case Conference Brief.
While it is always recommended that a client have legal counsel for the duration of their family law proceeding, it is not always possible for clients to afford a lawyer’s retainer. Unbundling allows clients and lawyers to decide which tasks are performed by the client and which are performed by the lawyer. This ultimately makes legal services more accessible to individuals who might not otherwise be able to afford them.
Our Unbundled Family Law Services
Our unbundled legal services include but are not limited to the following:
Legal Opinions and/or Legal Research
Our lawyers have the expertise needed to conduct legal research for you quickly and efficiently. If you want to know what your best course of action is or what your chances of success are if you take a certain position, let us help you. We can provide you with the relevant case law and the legal test that you need to meet to prove your case. You can then decide if you wish to do the bulk of the rest of the work on your own or if you would like additional assistance along the way.
Drafting of Court Materials
Drafting of Court materials including:
- Application
- Answer
- Reply
- Case Conference Brief
- Settlement Conference Brief
- Motion Materials
- Application for Motion to Change
- Response to Motion to Change
- Affidavits
- Offers to Settle
- Financial Statements
- Parenting Agreements
There are a significant number of forms required for family law proceedings and each form must be filled out properly, or you run the risk of having your materials rejected by the courthouse. While you likely know your case more intimately than any lawyer does, lawyers have the expertise and experience to assist you with completing the relevant forms correctly, which will save you time and headache down the road. The above is a list of just some of the forms that we can assist you with. Even if you are not in court, but are in the process of negotiating a Separation Agreement, for example, it is still imperative that you complete a Financial Statement properly. This can be daunting to do on your own and is a very important document in most family law proceedings. As such, you are strongly encouraged to reach out for legal assistance.
Acting as Agent in Court
Hiring a lawyer to act as your agent in court means that the lawyer will appear in court for you on the day in question and will argue your motion or explain your position on your behalf. This means that the lawyer would not go on record for you, but would only be representing you for the purposes of that appearance. This is beneficial if you are comfortable with certain steps in the proceeding yourself, but you want the additional assistance of a lawyer when presenting your case before a judge.