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Divorce From Your Home or Work

I have what the geeks call a "virtual office," meaning I don't maintain an office in the traditional sense with the furniture and the hushed atmosphere that something important must be happening here. Instead, I do most of my work on breaks from my work as a subsistence farmer. For my clients, it means they meet with me online to prepare their divorce documents from the comfort of their home or office. Click here to read about the cost. Here's how the process works:

To use GoToMeeting, your computer needs these things:

If you lack one of the requirements listed above, or if you just don't want to mess with the online meeting, no problem. We can prepare the documents simply with a phone call if you prefer. There's some special information here on Divorceinfo.com for people who live in other countries.

There's a little downloading that will need to happen when we start the meeting. First, I'll ask you to go to www.joingotomeeting.com, where you'll see a screen that looks something like this:

I'll then give you a 9-digit Meeting ID to enter in the box.

Many of my clients want to send me information ahead of time. This certainly isn't required, but it may help me with the spelling of difficult names, addresses, etc., particularly if there's a chance you won't be able to participate on GoToMeeting while I'm preparing the papers. If you'd like to do that, you can use the Information Template.

I will talk with you and prepare the documents while you and I are talking. You're welcome (but not required) to invite your spouse to participate as well. I can set up a conference call (at no extra charge) so all three of us can hear each other, and your spouse can also participate using GoToMeeting.

How Will I Pay You?

Ah, now you've arrived at a subject that is near and dear to every lawyer's heart, including mine. Never fear, friend; we'll find a way. Here are my flat rates for uncontested divorce. The easiest way to pay me is to provide me your Visa or MasterCard information over the phone at the beginning of our session; no need to provide it to me ahead of time.

If for any reason this doesn't work for you, you can read about the other options for payment here. If you're going to pay me some other way besides Visa or MasterCard, I will need to have the payment in hand at the time we start our session, so you'll want to get it to me before the session begins.

If One of Us is in Alabama and the Other Far Away . . .

People sometimes ask whether I will be necessarily be working more closely with the person who is in Alabama than with the person who is in another state or another country. No. I will work with the one who is my client to prepare the documents, and it's just as easy to do that with the one who's in Lagos, Nigeria or Seoul, Korea as with the one in my town. We just need a good phone connection.

What will happen in the session?

It will take a few minutes for us to ensure that everyone can see well using GoToMeeting.com. Once we're underway, 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. You'll see all this take shape on your computer screen as we work 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. As with the documents we talked about above, you will see them take shape on your computer screen as we work together, and we will be able to make changes to them in real time as we prepare them.

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.

What happens after the session?

Unless there's some information missing that delays us, I will e-mail you your documents within about 20 minutes after we finish our session together, using PDF (universally readable) format. You and your spouse can print them and review them. If they're ready to sign, you can sign them and send them to me for filing; I'll send you my address in the e-mail. When I receive your documents in the mail, I will update the database that appears here on Divorceinfo.com, so you can confirm that I have received them and that they are ready to file. I file my cases electronically, usually within a day or so after receiving them. As soon as they're filed, I'll send you the filing receipt and all the key documents for your divorce by e-mail.

If you need to make changes to the documents before you sign them, everything is on computer; so changes are usually quick and relatively inexpensive. We can usually handle this with a phone call. If it seems appropriate, we can convene another online meeting so you can see the changes as I make them.

I file most uncontested divorce documents in Elmore County, even if neither spouse lives there. That's because it's simpler and 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 Elmore County.

In Elmore 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 or to my office 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.