What You can Expect in Your Family Law Case with O’Flaherty Law - Your Path, Our Process
After speaking with one of our Client Intake Specialists, you’ll be scheduled for a consultation with our legal team most appropriate for your case. Our consultations typically take place over the phone, but can be in-person or online upon request.
The attorney’s goal during the consultation is to determine the best way to move your legal matter forward. This often requires covering any related documents, discussing the specific elements of your legal matter, and determining if you have legal grounds for the action you want to take.
If you proceed as a client with us, the attorney will take the information gathered during the consultation and create a personalized legal plan.
Depending on the complexity of your case, your legal team may need to gather further information in the form of questions, document requests, speaking with any relevant parties, etc. From this information, we’ll work closely with you to set clear goals. With family law cases, we’re often working on any number of goals, including:
Once your case gets going, we reach out if we need additional information or documents, a court appointment is required, or whenever there’s been a significant change.
Your family law case type determines the petitions or documents that need to be drafted and filed. For something less complex like an uncontested divorce (a divorce where both parties agree on everything) your case may require:
For something like a child custody amendment, documents we may need include:
We’ll be sure to let you know what documents are needed and review the drafts with you before anything is filed. We want you to feel in control and informed each step of the way.
If your family law legal matter can’t be negotiated and settled early on, it will move to a pretrial conference where the judge learns the specifics of your case and can prepare everything needed to finalize the case at the trial
There is still time to settle your legal matter between the pretrial conference and the actual trial. There may be a reason one or both parties want the case to go to trial, but a trial takes the final decisions out of the parties’ hands and gives all control to the judge.
If final negotiations can yield an agreement between the two parties, then trial can be avoided. If not, we go to court. The judge will preside over the trial and hear/review evidence from both parties. After that, the judge typically hands down the final order at the conclusion of the trial date
Often, family law cases are not without disagreement from one or both parties. We try to pursue peaceful resolutions whenever through negotiation or mediation, but when those avenues fail, we are fully prepared to represent you in court. Going to court can feel intimidating, and it’s normal to feel like everything hinges on that one court appearance. We coach you on what to expect, how to present yourself and what the other party may do.
During this step, we also follow-up on any orders filed, such as temporary custody or support orders. These orders should be in place until the final custody order is issued.
Before the trial, pre-trial proceedings and negotiations are ongoing. If both parties reach an agreement before the trial, further legal proceedings may be avoided.
The two parties become legally bound by the final orders handed down by the judge. The orders may go into effect immediately or at a future date communicated by the judge. We ensure the final items are taken care of and can continue to assist you should modification be necessary.
If you have funds remaining in your trust account (retainer) those will be returned, and we’ll close out your file. Customer service is very important to us, and we appreciate any and all feedback from our post client survey. We’ll continue to stay in touch should any future legal needs arise.