Spring Clean Your Bad Habits

Hillary Torchin, VP of Relationship Marketing, writes for Las Vegas Woman magazine. You can view her latest article here :

Spring Clean Your Bad Habits

It’s hard to believe that Valentine’s Day 2012 is already over.  Did you get engaged to be married?  It’s estimated that almost 4 million Americans got engaged this year on Valentine’s Day.

So now that you’re engaged, let’s talk about finances and prenuptial agreements. Taking care of your financial responsibilities helps make sure that your assets go where you want them to should your marriage eventually end in either death or divorce.  In Nevada, a community property state, this is especially true since all income earned during the marriage is split 50-50 upon divorce.

To be certain that a prenup is valid in court, make sure that:

1. Both of you have plenty of time to review the prenuptial agreement;
2. Both of you are honest about your finances;
3. Both of you retain separate attorneys to review prenuptial agreement.

Prenups are becoming popular because many couples are choosing to marry in their late 20’s and 30’s.  At this age,  many have established careers, perhaps a home or other investments.  A prenup allows you to have control over how your assets should be divided, rather than leaving these decisions up to a judge.

Prenuptial agreements are favored highly in second marriages. If you have children from previous relationship, it is vital to make sure that you provide for them in the case of divorce or death.

For more information on prenuptial agreements or any family law matter, please call us at Steinberg Law Group (702) 384-9664 or fill out the email contact form to make an appointment today.

Some new clients have expressed concern about how much their divorce or family law matter is going to cost.  In a prior post, I noted that divorce mediation is much less expensive than litigation and often has better results.  However, there are still many instances where a client has no choice but litigation.  Ten (10) ways to reduce your fees for divorce litigation and other family law matters are : (1) make copies of paperwork for your attorney associated with the parties’ home, vehicles, businesses, brokerage accounts, retirement accounts, all insurance policies (car, health, disability, etc.), bank accounts, credit card account statements, mortgage and equity line statements, statements pertaining to all other debt, make a list of collectibles (take pictures if possible), and make a list of all home furnishings; (2) put the above items into a binder or binders and tab each item; (3) work with the paralegal or legal assistant as much as possible because they usually bill at a much lower rate than the attorney; (4) when delivering paperwork to your attorney make all the necessary copies yourself; (5) be open to settlement upon reasonable terms and see if your attorney can get the case settled with the other attorney or party or have the case referred to a settlement judge or a good mediator; (6) get an attorney who bills in six minute increments, rather than fifteen; (7) have your attorney set your case for trial as soon as possible (time is money); (8) settle all issues possible prior to trial to minimize the number of issues for the judge to resolve; (9) do not use the divorce for revenge purposes as this usually does not work and it often can dramatically increase the cost of the litigation; and (10) do not do anything that is likely to cause problems in your divorce case and if you are not sure ask your attorney first before doing it.

Please give us a call to schedule an appointment today!

LAS VEGAS – Steinberg Law Group is pleased to announce the selection of Jack W. Fleeman as Associate Attorney. He is admitted to practice in Nevada.

As a native Las Vegan, Mr. Fleeman has lifelong ties to our local community. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree from the UNLV Honors College, Mr. Fleeman worked for several years at a local ambulance company as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and as an American Heart Association certified CPR and First Aid Instructor. While working as an EMT, Mr. Fleeman attended the William S. Boyd School of Law where he earned several academic awards and graduated in the top 10% of his class. He is a member of the Nevada State Bar Family Law Section, and has counseled clients through hundreds of divorce, child custody, and support hearings in front of our local judges.

“We are all thrilled to welcome Jack to our team,” said Brian Steinberg, president of Steinberg Law Group. “His ability and success will enable us to increase our clientele, while strengthening the personal services we provide to assist our clients.”

Steinberg Law Group, a Family Law firm established in 1996, specializes in issues such as divorce, divorce mediation, child custody, child support, adoption, pre-nuptial agreements, same-sex partnerships, guardianship and post-judgment modifications.

In these troubled times, many people are avoiding divorce. Alternatively, they might attempt to litigate or resolve their divorce and child custody issues themselves. Over the past fifteen years I have practiced as a family law attorney, I have seen many serious problems with divorce and/or child custody cases that were done without an attorney or with pleadings drafted solely by a paralegal. Yet, the issues in a divorce and/or child custody case are of vital importance since they involve children, assets, and debts. Getting the divorce done “right” can make all the difference in the world in terms of successfully moving on with one’s life.

I often hear that hiring an attorney to litigate is too expensive, but there is another way to fairly and safely get your divorce and custody case done without going to Court. It’s called mediation and some of the benefits are listed below.

Benefits of Mediation vs. Litigation

(1) Mediation is less expensive than litigation. We’ve all heard of divorces costing over 6 figures – most litigated divorces cost upwards of $20,000 per person. A mediated divorce or child custody action is much, much less expensive.

(2) Mediation often produces better results since the parties agree on the resolution. In divorce or custody litigation, a judge who does not know the parties or their children makes decisions for them that may not be agreeable to one or both parties.

(3) Mediation takes one to two months, whereas litigation takes four months to over one year… or longer!

(4) The parties have much more flexibility to agree upon child support and alimony based upon need and ability to pay. The Court does not have much flexibility with regard to child support since this is set by statute.

(5) In mediation, the parties can be taught how to avoid going to Court in the future.

(6) Mediation can be therapeutic in many ways, whereas litigation is an adversarial process that often hurts the parties’ ability to work together for the sake of their children.

Requirements for Mediation

I usually restrict mediation to parties who are likely to succeed in this process. The parties will need to be able to be in the same room with each other and interact in a civilized manner. Each party will need to be up front and honest in a divorce regarding assets and debts as the resolution of these issues impacts the future and any children. Custody also requires honesty about each party’s work hours, and salary. Basically, the parties must strongly desire to resolve custody issues for the benefit of their children.

Conclusion

Many of the mediations that I have done over the years involved people such as teachers, nurses, doctors, business owners, military and other professionals. I believe that mediation is a smart alternative to litigation. In mediation, my goal is to educate people so that each person can make an informed, intelligent, and educated decision pertaining to the resolution of all custody and divorce matters out of Court. However, I find that my knowing how to litigate is important to successful divorce and child custody mediation. My litigation experience allows me to know and understand how things will likely be resolved in Court by a good judge and this knowledge is useful for the parties to consider.

My belief is that litigation is contrary to successful co-parenting. For the sake of children, parties should not be allowed to litigate their custody and/or divorce dispute in Court until after they have attempted to resolve all their issues in mediation with a qualified and experienced mediator. In other words, if both parties want to avoid going to Court, then divorce and custody mediation wins hands down.

Over the fifteen years that I have been a Family Law Attorney in Las Vegas, Nevada, I have realized that clients do not always understand how to choose an attorney to handle their divorce, child custody, child support or other family law matter. Many potential clients think that the best attorney for them is the one that is the least expensive. However, this is often not the case.

If I was choosing a family law attorney for myself, then these are the important questions that I would consider:
(1) Do I like the attorney?
(2) Do I feel that I can trust this attorney with my divorce or custody situation based on his demeanor and experience?
(3) Does the attorney’s office answer the phone?
(4) Does the attorney or staff return calls quickly?
(5) Do all staff members seem to care about the client as much as the attorney does?
(6) Does the attorney and staff appear competent about the law?
(7) Does the attorney and staff appear competent in preparing necessary documents?
(8) Does the attorney and staff seem ready and able to handle your particular problem and other problems as they come up?
(9) Does the attorney and staff have time for your case?
(10) Does the attorney really take the time to listen to you and know your case so he or she will be ready to fight for you when it comes time to go to Court?

If you can generally answer these questions with a resounding “yes”, then there is a good chance you have found the right family law attorney.

Back in 2002 when I sought a divorce, I had no idea that there was a way to get divorced that didn’t include trashing my future ex-husband’s name through the mud, fighting lawyers, loads of money going to those fighting lawyers, turmoil for my kids and bad feelings all around. From everything I had seen on TV and from discussions with my friends, that’s how people got divorced. I was upset at my ex, of course, that’s part of the reason we were in this situation, but I realized that he was always going to be the father of my children and spending time and money to prove I was “right” about everything wasn’t going to solve any problems. Luckily, we had a consultation with an attorney who mentioned that since the divorce was uncontested, we might want to consider divorce mediation first.

We found a mediator who specialized in family law matters and over the process of a few weeks, we were able to decide on issues such as child support, custody, and division of assets and debts. We managed to remain on good terms and through the years, have celebrated our children’s achievements together, comfortably, and have co-parented with ease.

Fast forward to 2011. Unfortunately, we have recently realized that the mediator we used didn’t touch on all of the financial issues that should have been discussed and decided back in 2002. That’s where having a mediator who is also a family law attorney would have benefited us. Brian Steinberg is an attorney and mediator. His mediation model covers all of the issues my ex and I discussed, plus issues we never thought of at the time, because Brian has so much experience with divorce mediation over the years. He’s mediated hundreds of divorce actions and in 15 years, a Judge has never set-aside any of his divorce mediation cases.

If you’re thinking about divorce mediation, I suggest you take Steinberg Law Group up on the free consultation offer. You will spend thousands less than if you hire opposing lawyers and go to court. You’ll also save yourself time and heartache. Talk to Brian about divorce mediation… you’ll be glad you did.

Tune Out to Tune In

Vice President of Relationship Marketing, Hillary Torchin, writes for the ‘Family First’ section of Las Vegas Woman Magazine.  Check out her August article, “Tune Out to Tune In” right here.