Special Information for International Divorce Clients
The Good News
Because my presence is so pervasive and
focused on the Internet, it won't surprise you that I provide services
frequently for people who are living in other countries,
using the telephone and
the Internet.
It's not particularly difficult, and it
doesn't cost you any more than it does people who walk in my office door. With
the benefit of the tools I use, if you have high-speed Internet, you'll be able
to see the documents for your divorce take shape as I'm working on them just as
you would if you were sitting in my office.
If your spouse is in yet another country and
wants to participate, that's fine too. And if your spouse has high-speed
Internet, your spouse can see the documents while I'm working on them just like
you can.
The Bad News
So far, so good. Now here's the rub. Please
don't call and leave me an overseas number to use to call you back. I've learned
from experience that there are just too many things that can go wrong, and I
won't run up international calling charges on someone who might decide not to
use me. And I strongly suggest you don't keep calling me from overseas hoping to
catch me in. That's a good way to get you frustrated, because when I'm in my
office, I'm usually meeting with people or talking on the phone.
At the other end of the spectrum, I've also
learned from experience that it also does not work for you to try to send me all
the information you think I need by e-mail, have me prepare the documents, and
then return them to you by e-mail. There are always questions I need to ask you
that require a give-and-take oral conversation. We need to talk, friend.
Lee's Suggestion
If you're interested in having me prepare the
documents for your uncontested divorce,
send me an e-mail.
We can set a specific time by e-mail, and then when you call my office at the
appointed time, you'll know I will be ready to answer your call and work on your
case. I'll give you a special number to use so that, at the appointed time, I
will be looking for a call coming in on that number.
If you have already sent me the information on
the Info Template, it will save us a little time
at the front end and improve the probability of accuracy with names, addresses,
etc. The conversation rarely takes more than an hour. When it does, it's usually
because of negotiations between you and your spouse or extra time for you to
make decisions.
When our conversation is over, I'll e-mail you
a PDF file containing all the documents for your divorce. I will provide
you instructions about where and how each of you should sign and my mailing
address so you can return the documents to me after you and your spouse have
signed them. Your divorce should be effective within about seven weeks after I
receive the signed documents.
And One More Suggestion
You may think it's a good idea to take the
e-mail I send you, print off the documents, sign them, and then send them to
your spouse (perhaps living much closer to me) and ask your spouse to send them
directly to me. That may work, but only if you and your spouse have a really
good relationship. What happens too often is that you send them to your spouse,
you think surely by now I have received them, and you start checking in with me.
"Did you get them?" "Did you get them today?" They should be there by now." And
each time you contact me, that's another $20 you owe me. It's not fun for me,
and it's surely not fun for you to pay me that way.
Even though it means a little extra transit
time, I prefer that you e-mail the documents to your spouse, have your spouse
sign and send them to you, and then you send them to me once you know everything
is correct. If you absolutely can't bring yourself to do that and want your
spouse to send the documents directly to me, just get in the habit of checking
at
clients.divorceinfo.com (I'll tell how to check when we prepare your
papers). It's free, and it will be up to date within a day or so.
Alabama Family Law Center is a
private law firm. It is neither a public legal aid agency nor a section or
subcommittee of the Alabama State Bar. No representation is made that the
quality of the legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of
legal services performed by other lawyers.
