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Preparing Your Uncontested Divorce Documents at Alabama Family Law Center

No Retainers

I just don't believe in retainers. I never ask for one. I think they rob divorcing people of the control they need to get through their divorce effectively.

Flat Rates

I offer flat rates for uncontested divorce. The vast majority of people who use me for uncontested divorce pay the flat rate and nothing more. Click here to find out more about how my fees work.

Just need straight answers for your questions about divorce? Click here to read about coaching on issues of divorce in Alabama.

Keeping it Simple

Most people are surprised when they come to my office at how small it is - just room enough for me and a bunch of machines. I have no partners and no staff. This means several things, of course. It means my overhead stays low, which allows me to keep my prices affordable. It also means that your private business stays private.

Staying Human

The divorce system has a frustrating and disturbing tendency to drive divorcing couples apart. I work actively to keep this from happening. I try to provide as much information as possible for free, so you can use me only for what only I can do. The more information both of you have, the less it matters which of you is my client.

The answer will vary depending on how complex the issues are between you, the level of trust in your relationship, and the level of conflict you're experiencing. The best way I know to answer this is to take the Uncontested Divorce Quiz. It's pretty accurate.

How do I get to your office?

There are complete directions to my office on this site. Click here to read them. You can opt to prepare your papers without coming to my office if you prefer. Click here to read how this works

Information Lee will need

I will need the home address for each of you and whether it is within city limits. I will need the social security number and date of birth for each of you. I will need to know a number where I can leave you a secure voicemail message. I will need to know how many times each of you has been married, if any, before this current marriage and how each of your most recent marriages ended (death, annulment, divorce, etc.).

I will need to know the city and county in which you married your current spouse and the date on which you married. I will need a separation date that must have already occurred by the time I file the divorce documents with the court.  I'll need to know how far each of you got in school.

If you have children younger than 19, I'll need (a) the full name, address, and social security of each child; (b) the address and phone number where each parent lives and where each parent works; (c) the name of the employer for each parent; (d) the income of each parent (including bonus, commission, overtime, and shift differential pay); (e) the cost of work-related child care; and (f) the cost of health insurance, if any, for the children.

Just need straight answers for your questions about divorce? Click here to read about coaching on issues of divorce in Alabama.

If you own a house together, and if one of you is going to sign it over to the other, you may want to bring a copy of your deed. This will give me the information I need to create a quitclaim deed or statutory warranty deed so you can handle that at the same time. The rest of the information I need to know you will probably bring with you in your head.

If you and your spouse have children together, there's something else I encourage you to do before you come: please read and ask your spouse to read the required language on relocation that I will need to insert in the Final Judgment of Divorce. It's kind of hairy, so it will save time (and money) if both of you are familiar with it when you come. And no, there's not a thing you can do about it if one of you objects. The law requires that it be there, and the judge won't sign the divorce decree without it.

Does everything need to be decided before we come?

No. Ideally, you will come to the session with a broad understanding of what you're trying to accomplish. I may spot issues that neither of you have thought about. If you come with a rigid understanding that "this is the deal and we're not changing it," you may be frustrated when I point out something about it that costs you money or leaves you at risk unnecessarily. On the other hand, if you come in an open spirit with a clear idea of what you're trying to accomplish but some flexibility about how to accomplish it, experience indicates you'll both be more pleased long-term with the results.

Should both spouses come?

That's up to you. If you're both able to sit in the same room and work through the issues you face, you'll generally spend less time if you both come, because you'll both see how the documents take shape, you'll both hear the descriptions of the issues, and you'll both have a chance to respond to the issues in real time.

On the other hand, if one of you doesn't want to come, or physically cannot come because you're in another state, that's okay. I'll work with the spouse who comes and put together the documents. You can sign them in my office and then take them to your spouse for signing, then return them to me for filing.

Remember this: one of you will be my client and one of you will not. I am charged as a lawyer with the ethical obligation to be an advocate for my client. That means I will protect my client's interests, and it also means I can provide legal advice only to my client. I cannot answer judgment questions or provide legal advice for the spouse who is not my client. If you're trying to decide which of you should be my client, there are some questions here on the site you should answer. Click here to read them.

Can I prepare the papers without coming to your office at all?

Yes. More and more of my clients are opting to prepare and file their divorce documents this way, even those who live close to my office. Click here to read how it works.

Just need straight answers for your questions about divorce? Click here to read about coaching on issues of divorce in Alabama.

What if neither of us has anything to do with Alabama?

I am licensed to practice law in the State of Alabama and in no other state. In order for me to file an uncontested divorce, at least one of the parties needs to have resided in the State of Alabama for at least the last six months, or both parties need to reside in Alabama now. If this doesn't apply to you, I appreciate your being here, but I'm afraid I've been wasting your time. I'm sorry.

How should I dress?

I don't give a rip. Some of my clients dress to the nines, and I've had clients who came straight from manual labor. My request is that you be reasonably clean and that if you have mud on your shoes you take them off at the door. Beyond that, it's up to you.

What does it cost?

Click here to read about my flat rates for uncontested divorce and about what might cause the cost to go up.

Can I bring my child or children?

Please don't. I like children, but children and divorce don't mix. First, your children have no business hearing about the issues of your divorce, even if they're so tiny you think it doesn't matter. Second, my office is not a good place for children. They tend to wander around messing things up, which makes you nervous and makes me nervous, and then I spend time after you've gone cleaning up their mess.

Third, you may think your child will be a little darling and won't be disruptive, but you're wrong. Children sense when their parents are under stress, and they will demand your attention constantly. It's their way of coping with the strain they feel when they know you're hurting. Because they demand your attention constantly, our session will move much more slowly, as you and I struggle against the distraction to get through the issues of your divorce. Because I charge by the hour, you will end up paying me more money. At my hourly rates, it will cost you much less to hire a sitter than to try to bring your children to my office.

What will happen in the session?

I work on a laptop computer with an LCD projector in my office. I will first gather information about the two of you and build a database record. I will then use a spreadsheet that pulls information from the database record to calculate your child support and show you how the guidelines work. Then I will use a word processor that pulls information from the database record to create all the documents needed for your uncontested divorce and show you how they fit together. With most couples, I spend the bulk of the time on the Agreement between the two of you, which is where the rubber hits the road on the issues of your divorce. It's here that you will set out your parenting plan, how you're going to divide your property and debts, and who is going to provide what support to whom. All my forms are pre-drafted, with multiple alternative clauses to deal with each issue, so there's a minimum of drafting to finish your documents. You will see them take shape on a big screen in my office and will be able to make changes on them in real time as we prepare them.

When your documents are finished, I will print them for you. If you want to, you can sign them that day, but there's no requirement that you do that. One or both of you may want to take them with you for more careful review before you sign them, and that's fine. If you later agree to make changes to them, everything is on computer; changes are usually quick and inexpensive.

A note about pace. I've spent thousands of hours, and a great deal of money, to be able to assemble the documents for your divorce really quickly. I pride myself on the speed with which I'm able to build the documents for a divorce, even a divorce involving several million dollars in assets and tricky tax issues. The reason I have done this, though, is so neither spouse feels rushed. I think it's important that both spouses have a sense of complete control over the pace at which their divorce moves. A few years ago McDonald's ran an advertising campaign based on "We serve it fast so you can eat nice and slow." That's the way I feel about divorce.

How long will it take after the session?

I file most uncontested divorce documents in Talladega County, even if neither spouse lives there. That's because it's less expensive for my clients and because your divorce will be effective more quickly. Click here if you want to know more about why I file in Talladega County. In Talladega County, unless there's some kind of problem, plan for your divorce to be effective within about six weeks after I file the complaint with the court. Neither of you will need to go to court in person.

Disclaimer

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.