[louiscaz]

Someone told me that divorce lawyers are the highest paid lawyers next to malpractice lawyers. I know there are a lot of divorces, but how can there be so many that a lawyer "does" divorces for a living?

[Perna]

Fifty percent of marriges end in divorce.

Look at this: http://www.costhelper.com/cost/finance/divorce.html

Says a divorce can cost $20,000. Do only 1 a week and that would be $1,000,000 a year?

By the way, louiscaz, welcome to PsychCentral :-)

[dorkers]

Being a laywer -- like most professionals -- is being a business. Some lawyers make a lot of money, some don't. It depends on their MARKETING ABILITY, and ability to create a reputation that allows them to charge a lot of money. A lawyer's fee really has almost NOTHING to do with the lawyer's skill or competence, because clients really have no way of knowing if the lawyer is doing a good job or not. There are so many reasons for winning or losing other than the attorney's skill that the client really cannot know for certain.

So whether a lawyer makes a lot of money really depends upon their MARKETING skill (not legal skill) and their ability to persuade people that they are worth a lot of money.

This really has nothing to do with what KIND of lawyer one is. divorce lawyers can make a lot of money, or can be almost broke. It really depends on whether they attract clients that have money and are wiling to spend it.
divorce lowyers

[sunrise]

I don't agree that divorce/family law lawyers make more than most kinds of lawyers. I'm going through a divorce and both my lawyer and my H's make less than $300/hour. That is still a lot, but other lawyers of different specialties make even more. My sister is a tax attorney and she makes more. In her office there are a number of lawyers who charge well above that. I know she said one guy, who does a lot of government work, gets $600/hour, and I would expect good criminal defense attorneys to make more. I think around my area, $250-$300/hr for a family law attorney is standard. It's the whole profession of law that charges high rates, not just those in family law.

[eskielover]

The reason Dirovce lawyers end up making so much it the arguing between the 2 that are getting divorced.

We talked to a lawyer that told us, when both parties are agreeable to the terms, all they have to do is get the paperwork drawn up & file it in the courts, costing only about $600 for the whole process. It's when the disagreements his & the fighting comes that they make all the money.......when the separation/divorce is agreed upon, there is nothing to argue about..there isn't that much money in it.

With that, I'm thinking that the people who are getting divorced in a fighting situation are the ones giving the lawyers all the money.
I'll take the smiple way out thank you....I don't need to give what little money I have to a lawyer....I 'm the one that needs all the money I can get....not them.

Debbie

[sunrise]

Originally Posted by eskielover

when both parties are agreeable to the terms, all they have to do is get the paperwork drawn up & file it in the courts, costing only about $600 for the whole process.

That may be true for some but certainly not all. My H and I are getting divorced, are agreeable on just about everything, and are not fighting. Our divorce is still costing a lot. It takes legal and financial experts to disentangle the assets of a couple who've been together a long time and have a number of assets of different types. For example, we have stock options and they are very complicated to value and divide. It takes time, and the lawyers bill for their time. So yes, being agreeable does get you a long way, but it is not the whole story. Our divorce will probably cost at least $20K before we are all done, including fees to both lawyers, financial expert, and CPA. It probably would have cost twice that much if we were fighting. There are also issues with the kids--not disagreements or fights--and we had to spend a couple of sessions with a child specialist working things out so that the parenting plan is good. It's not simple getting divorced after so long! If I prorate the cost over the years we were together (21 marriage plus 3 before that), it comes to less than $1000 a year. I guess if we'd been thinking ahead, we would have started a fund for this the day we got married.

My advice: don't underestimate the value of a good family law attorney. And if possible, don't litigate. That is really what ends up costing so much, not just in cash but in your future relationship with your ex-spouse (yes, if you have children to raise, you will be co-parents and need to be able to get along). Litigation will make enemies of you. Alternatives to litigated divorces include mediation and collaborative divorce.

[meander]

As a lawyer-in-training about to go into practice next year - it depends on the lawyer, but yep they can make heaps. However probably the most lucrative line of lawyering is corporate work or tax when you're dealing with huuge amounts of money (or in New Zealand, Treaty of Waitangi issues).

The other thing is that family law is an area where you can really have multiple cases at once which would help...

[(JD)]

Well, for one area, bankruptcy, the average lawyer charges $3000-7000, when the paperwork costs only $299. to file. That's quite lucrative, too.