How to Get Money for a Divorce and Child Custody Attorneys
Page Contents
- 1 How to Get Money for a Divorce and Child Custody Attorneys
- 1.1 Financial Steps for Divorce, and Child Custody Lawyer Loans
- 1.2 Where to get money for divorce attorneys and legal fees?
- 1.3 Be Upfront with Your Attorney Candidates
- 1.4 One Fast, Easy Way to Get Money For Your Divorce Fee Is With A Loan
- 1.5 Simple Benefits of car refinance Loans For Legal Fees
- 1.6 Tips To Get The Best APR for Divorce Loans
- 1.7 Choosing A Divorce Attorney, Financial Tips to Prepare for Divorce
- 1.8 Things to know before a child custody suit
- 1.9 Recommended For You
Planning and taking steps towards a divorce or a divorce with child custody is extremely stressful.
Cases involving abusive behavior force those involved to take drastic measures and need the situation to be resolved as quickly as possible.
Many people find themselves dealing with separation and divorce without being financially prepared for the legal costs.
The majority of people seeking child custody attorneys do not qualify for services that provide “free lawyers” or “legal aid lawyers” because they make too much money. At the same time, these are the people who cannot afford to pay out of pocket or have not panned for those kinds of unexpected loans for legal fees.
If you need money for a divorce attorney, we want to help you find necessary legal counsel, create a plan to pay for any “child custody lawyers” and “divorce lawyer retainer fees” with the associated legal fees. With money to pay for legal fees, making sound decisions concerning the custody of any children involved is less stressful.
Financial Steps for Divorce, and Child Custody Lawyer Loans
We offer informative tips to help you make the best decisions heading into your separation and divorce. These Tips on Separation, Divorce Loans, and Child Custody are set up so you can move forward with a financial plan and take the necessary steps to keep from going broke getting divorce funding. We will cover:
- How to pay for a divorce and child custody lawyers- including attorney retainer fees, legal fees, and personal moving expenses if necessary.
- Choosing an attorney/ prepare for divorce- Learn some essential tips for the correct loans to pay for attorney fees, selecting and negotiating with your attorney and taking smart steps to gaining the financial advantage in divorce and child custody cases.
- Things to know before a child custody battle- Battle is an ugly word but sometimes that is exactly what it comes down to. Here are several things to consider to win and keep from going broke. Financial planning if you do not qualify for legal aid divorce organizations.
Where to get money for divorce attorneys and legal fees?
Separation, divorce and child custody is a life altering struggle that drains your emotional energy and sometimes prevents clear thinking.
People who have been there can look back and confidently list all the things they would have done differently.
One of the first challenges people encounter when faced with divorce and separation is the lack of money to pay for the required retainer and attorney fees. “Pro Bono Lawyers“ are a nice idea but in reality, are hard to come by. You may not qualify for legal aid divorce lawyers or “free Lawyers” so what can you do?
In a case of abuse, a person finds themselves doing things quickly and making unexpected purchases for necessities such as moving expenses, safe housing, and child care. They did not plan for these expenses and act out of desperation. Few people take the necessary steps ahead of time to prepare financially for divorce suit and child custody fees.
How do you get money to pay for a divorce lawyer or child custody lawyers?
If you have asked yourself this, you are probably thinking of an option similar to one of these;
- Use your savings- This is good if you have several thousands of dollars sitting around that you are not planning to use. Most people do not and that is why you are here.
- Borrow money from a family member- Paying for a divorce is certainly not cheap. Owing money to a relative can and has destroyed many relationships. This is an area to tread cautiously to avoid long term bondage and guilt over this financial Burden.
- Apply for a loan- Taking out a loan and applying for divorce loans is the fastest way to get the amount of money you will need for a child custody attorney retainer fee and other legal fees. However, which is the best type of loan to get quickly? Loans for legal fees charge some of the highest interest fees of personal loans.
- Refinance your car loan- Refinancing your car loan to take the equity out as cash will give you a lower APR than personal loans and you could get a lower monthly payment without adding another loan payment to your budget.
- Make the divorce/child custody suit pay your legal expenses- How much of the legal fees you will be responsible for will depend on several factors of the divorce. Your lawyer is the only one that can help you estimate how much of the fees you will be responsible for. Regardless of the outcome, you will need to commit to a retainer fee before an attorney agrees to help you.
- Find legal representation for low income- Legal aid lawyers and free lawyers from legal aid programs to people that qualify for Pro Bono lawyers and other free lawyer programs. These programs provide money free services to those who qualify.You will need to prove a low-income status to qualify for Legal Aid Lawyers and Pro Bono Lawyers.
Be Upfront with Your Attorney Candidates
The amount of money you have available to you when you choose a divorce or custody lawyer will limit your choices of legal action and quality of legal representation.
The illusion of making your ex pay the legal fees would only apply to special circumstances, and most people find their custody lawyers cannot guarantee these results.
When you search for potential divorce attorneys to represent you, explain the details of your financial condition. Many times they can offer helpful suggestions from experience.
Ask for a total estimated cost to file your divorce and child custody case. Include attorney retainer fees, filing fees and other court fees that your lawyer may foresee. Then let them explain what options they can offer you. Sometimes attorneys will let you make payments if you pay the retainer fee up front.
Ask the divorce Lawyer if their law firm offers:
- A Flat Rate fee for uncontested divorce- An uncontested divorce is relatively simple and you may be able to find a lawyer willing to work on a flat rate fee. With this type of agreement, your services may be limited and unexpected circumstances will cause additional fees. Find out exactly what services will be included and what you may still need to pay for.
- Work out a payment plan and budget- In this case your lawyer will tell you what services they will offer and what part you can do yourself, like filing some of the paperwork yourself with their guidance or dropping some unnecessary steps in a child custody dispute.
- Request that your x pays the bulk of you fees- In some cases where the other party earns the money and has significant resources or cases of criminal acts, the judge can rule for that person to pay your legal fees in part or in full. Divorce and child custody lawyers will probably still make you pay all the legal fees up front but you will be able to pay back any divorce loans you had to take out.
Separation, divorce and child custody is easier accomplished without worrying about the lack of money for divorce financing and limited resources. Let’s look at a few quick ways to get the money you need for divorce and custody lawyers.
One Fast, Easy Way to Get Money For Your Divorce Fee Is With A Loan
Personal Loans from Your Bank or Credit Union or Divorce Loans
One of the fastest ways to get divorce funding is with a loan. Remember there are good loans and there are bad loans. The type of loan you choose will set the course for your financial future for the next several years.
Let’s look at the two most commonly used avenues for acquiring money for custody lawyers and divorce legal fees.
Taking out a “Personal Loan” is easy to do if you have good credit and a history of good credit usage. Most personal loans will not require any collateral if your credit is good and you own a home or a late model car. (That shows the lender you are responsible with loan payments.)
“Divorce Loans” or “Attorney Finance Loans” for legal fees are commonly used every day, but do these loans have your best interests in mind? These loans carry some of the highest interest rates available. To get one of these loans unsecured, you will have to have a prime credit rating.
Many young people that find themselves trying to find divorce funding are already paying on an auto loan. Adding another loan payment each month would break their budget.
The biggest drawback to getting a personal loan is the interest rate. Personal loans carry the highest interest rates (APR) of most types of standard loans. They are designed to be unsecured and short term.
If you set up a divorce finance loan with long terms to get lower payments, you will be paying the highest interest fee for the money you are borrowing.
Auto Refinance Loans
If you own a late model car that you have paid off or are currently paying a car loan on, you have probably built up some equity in that car.
“An Auto Refinance Loan” is a good choice for many people seeking divorce loans because you are not limited by your credit score, and they can carry a lower APR.
Even people with bad credit can qualify for a car refinance because the loan is secured by the car.
The new refinance loan converts the equity from your car to cash and allows you to use the money for whatever you need it for including paying for divorce and child custody lawyers.
Small personal loans should only be used as a last resort. If you do not have enough equity in your car loan to cover the amount you need you may want to consider refinancing first and then use a personal loan for the remainder. This loan will be smaller and easier to fay off first.
Simple Benefits of car refinance Loans For Legal Fees
- The borrower has only one monthly payment and one loan that pays for their vehicle and divorce fees.
- Even people with bad credit can qualify for low monthly payments.
- The refinance loan is secured by the car, so you qualify for a lower APR
- Refinance loans are easier to get than personal loans or divorce funding loans.
- In many cases, refinancing can lower the monthly payment you had by extending your loan terms.
This is a fast way to get the money for paying a retainer for your lawyer and the legal fees or your divorce and child custody suit.
This simple example shows you how it works- Let’s say you own a car that is four years old and is worth $15,000. You owe $8,000 to pay it off. If you refinance the car, you can refinance for the full $15,000 and use the equity of $7,000 for your divorce legal fees.
Your car payments may increase slightly to compensate for the new loan, but you still have a lower APR than you can get with an unsecured personal loan.
Best of all you still only have one loan and one loan payment!
Many people have lower monthly payments and a lower APR by extending their loan term by a couple of years. You will also be paying far less per month, than taking out a personal loan and adding it to the car payment you have now.
In most cases, you can extend the loan term and repair your credit at the same time. Your payments can be lower than they are now while putting money in your hand for other uses.
I would always advise a car refinance loan over a personal loan especially if you have a low credit score. This real life story will help you understand why.
A woman was recently going through a separation and moved out, taking her child with her. She needed money to pay for her attorney retainer and legal fees associated with child custody cases.
She had good credit but very little savings. Without considering refinancing her car and without seeking advice she took out a personal loan for $10,000 with an 8.99% APR.
Later she found out that she could have done much better if she had refinanced her car instead. Her combined car loan and personal loan payments came to $486.00 a month, and as a single mom, she was finding it difficult to pay this amount.
She took immediate steps to correct her bad choice.
She refinanced her car loan, paid down her personal loan, lowered her monthly payments to $353.03 and had $11,000 to pay her lawyer and her legal fees.
This is how it looks on paper.
Loans | Value of Car | Loan / Amount Owed | APR% | Monthly Payment |
---|---|---|---|---|
Original Car Loan | $17,000 | $9,000 | 2.78 % | $278.39 |
Personal Loan | $10,000 | 8.99 % | $207.89 | |
Total | $486.28 | |||
Auto Refinance Loan | $17,000 | $17,000 | 2.99 % | $254.77 |
Remainder of Personal Loan | Paid $7,000 | $3,000 | 10.16 % | $98.26 |
Combined Payments for loans | Total | $353.03 |
Savings of $133.25 per month and $11,000 cash in pocket.
This is an example of how an auto refinance saved a bad loan choice for her divorce and custody lawyers fee. You can see that if she had refinanced her loan first, she would have monthly payments of only $254.77. Those payments are actually been lower than her original monthly loan payment of $278.39 and would have given her $8,000 cash in pocket.
This example shows two financial facts about loans for divorce:
- Personal loans carry a higher interest rate than other loans for the same credit status.
- A car refinance loan can get your equity out of your car and give you an affordable payment. (One!)
If you like the idea of refinancing your car, here are a few tips to get the best loan APR and the most money back for divorce funding
Tips To Get The Best APR for Divorce Loans
Most young people have never asked for their credit limit to be raised on their cards. This is an easy process that only requires you to call the credit card company and request a higher credit limit on that card.
Once you get a higher limit on your cards, you will see that your credit score has just automatically gone up. This is because you are no longer close to you maximum credit allowance of the credit you have established.
Just remember why you increased your credit limit and do not add more credit charges to those cards until you pay them down some.
Kelley Blue Book is a good place to start. Just remember to use the “resale value” and not the “trade-in value.” The trade in value is only used if you are trading in the car to a car dealer. It always represents the lowest value of your car.
Most Credit Unions offer the lower interest rates than standard lenders. However, you need excellent credit to qualify for those low rates.
Car refinance loans offered by “subprime credit lenders“ supply some of the lowest rates for those with slow or bad credit. These nationwide lenders are easily found online and will respond back to you that same day.
Your application should be filled out completely and accurately to prevent any delays in financing your loan.
We will search lenders to refinance your car loan for you!
Valley Auto Loans is an auto loan broker that reviews your application with many select auto loan refinancing companies. This process gives you the advantage of finding the best refinance company for your new loan in the shortest amount of time.
Good credit or bad, with one application we can do the looking for you. Then all you have to do is review the offers and choose the one you like. You can select 0 down payment and get the maximum equity back.
There is no obligation to choose any loan offer, and our application service is free. It does not get any easier than that.
Choosing A Divorce Attorney, Financial Tips to Prepare for Divorce
Divorce funding takes planning. Costs for a divorce or child custody attorneys are surprising. Here are several tips that will answer your questions about child custody attorneys, choosing divorce attorneys and help you keep from making financial mistakes in the process.
- (Myth) I will not need much money up front because my X will be responsible for my legal fee- This is a myth that you will soon find is false. You will need to pay a retainer fee and be responsible for all the other legal fees until the settlement is decided.
- Lawyer retainer fees are only down payments- The attorney retainer fee allows your lawyer to begin the divorce and or child custody process. It is not a flat rate and not a fixed amount. As your case progresses, other fees will be added to your overall charges. This is why it is important for you to get a qualified estimate first and make sure your lawyer sticks to the discussed budget.
- Don’t hock the ring, “Sell” the ring- If you need money for a divorce attorney, sell the ring. Let’s face it; your ring was probably expensive. Many people just hock the ring at a pawn shop for fast cash. This will probably get you less than half of what it is worth. Putting your ring on “craigslist” or “eBay” will get you closer to the actual selling price.
- Monthly payment plans- When considering law firm, when interviewing potential lawyers, ask if their firm sets up monthly payment plans to cover the legal fees. Some have this option.
- Use joint funds for necessities- before you separate from your spouse, you should think about the things you will need for you and your children that your X will not be willing to provide during the divorce process. Necessities such as clothes, car repairs, dental repairs, things the children will need like school supplies and so on. Get the money or services now before you lose access to it.
- Plan before you separate- Take measures to cancel any joint credit accounts, credit cards and lines of credit you share jointly. Your credit card and credit lenders will not distinguish between who is responsible for the payments. The court may rule that you are not responsible for credit charges after the trial, but your credit will still take the hit until you are removed from the card.
- Send your mail to a PO Box- Get a convenient post office box so you will have a pace to send confidential mail. This is a necessity when relocating your residence.
- Establish your credit- Apply for your own credit cards and credit line. If you have credit cards that are near their credit limit and need to improve your credit score, try to get your credit card companies to raise your credit limit on those cards. If they will, your credit score will automatically go up because you will no longer be at you credit limit.
- Open your own savings account- It is wise to prepare now for your financial stability. Start by saving money for the weeks to come. Don’t expect financial help from your X.
- Collect all financial and important records- You will need to prove ownership of your personal property. Make copies of all important paperwork like tax records, purchase receipts, bank information, children’s birth certificates, property deeds, insurance records, car titles and so on. Remember that you may not have access to these after you leave.
- Educate yourself about divorce procedure- Collect information and read How-to books on divorce and child custody suits. Know in advance what to expect when you get into the divorce attorney’s office. Knowing the terms the lawyer will be discussing will help you make better decisions.
- Ask for references- Check your lawyer’s track record for winning cases like yours. Ask for references and compare your attorney options. If you are using a law firm, make sure the lawyer you start with will be the one that represents you.
- Will your budget allow you to keep the house?- Before you make any decision about the house, add up the total cost and decide if it is going to break your budget. Keep in mind things like the home maintenance you are paying out now plus homeowner’s association fees, home repairs and your mortgage. If it exceeds your budget, it may be prudent to sell and divide the assets.
Things to know before a child custody suit
The number one goal of any parent is to provide what is best for their children emotionally and physically. This statement is just as true for a divorce and child custody situations.
Decisions made for child custody should be formed around the child’s needs and have their best interests in mind. There are more free or low pay options available for child custody cases compared to divorce only cases involving no children.
- If your finances are limited you may be eligible for help- Most states offer free legal aid through the family court system. Qualifying for this assistance will be determined by your income status.
- Fees paid by other parties- State Laws determine the factors in which a judge can rule for one party to be responsible for the other parties attorney’s legal fees. The judge will first decide if the parties are both acting in good faith. Then he will make a judgment to decide if either party has a legitimate need to have their legal counsel paid for in part or completely by the other party.
- Complex child cases- If you are completing a difficult child custody case you may need to seek a child custody attorney. They are more qualified to prepare you for your case and are more familiar with child custody proceedings.
- Ask for alimony in a payoff amount- Alimony can be requested in a single payoff amount if you think that your x will not pay the regular payments. The payoff amount is usually about 50% of what you would have received through regular payments, but you will have that for sure. You also have the right to request your x pays child support through the court.
- Choose Mediation or arbitration if given the chance- Mediation is a less expensive and more private way to settle the divorce and child custody. Arbitration is similar to mediation except a judge is used to help decide difficult issues to reach an agreement.
- Child Support state guidelines- State guidelines for child support and custody arrangements are usually based on both parties income levels. Your Attorney should be able to give you an idea of what you are entitled too based on guidelines drawn up by you individual state.
Have a plan for moving out- It is wise to remove all of your personal items as part of your separation process. You can request a police officer be present if you fear violent actions from your X as you collect your personal items and your children’s things. After you leave, you will not have easy access to anything left behind. This includes the children! Gaining custody of children left behind during separation is difficult.
Valley Auto Loans has helped countless divorcees receive the money needed through Auto Refinance loans to cover their divorce and child custody lawyers. The qualification process is fast and easy. Having the money you need for legal representation for your divorce and child custody lawyers will take a huge burden off of the stress of separation.
If you need money for a divorce attorney, Valley Auto Loans is happy to offer this loan service to you free of charge. we also offer other financial advice and free tools to help you plan your financial future.