Tuesday, November 3, 2020

Do you have a Difficult, Challenging, or Near Impossible Case?!

Cases which fall into this category can be very difficult because no attorney may want to work that hard, the fees charged would be way too high, or the client realizes not everything can actually be resolved. Attorney realizes however, that every case comes with different issues and parameters and many cases that seem quite daunting might be able to be broken down into sections first.

Then it might be, that if one issue is not related to other issues, the lesser issue might be overcome and start paving the way for various changes which can slowly at first, not be so obvious.Attorney says this because attorney is always finding issues within cases that have been ignored, glossed over, or handled improperly. This means usually, that there is hope for the case!

When document preparers handle for example, monetary issues within a case, there might not appear to be a big problem at first, so they put that into a category of no action. BUT if that preparer failed to realize there was a time-related or time-barred problem, a lot of issues might arise that could cause the case to go very differently? Possibly, very badly?
Because clients usually don't know the law or even some of their own rights, it stands to reason that clients may stand to lose more than they bargained for, especially when the other party controlled the finances. Or when one party, say the husband, earned quite a bit during his work tenure and the wife earned less than half the amount but has a mediocre job, should the wife give up spousal because husband doesn't earn as much now?

In family law it is true there are a few rules that may appear to favor certain parties, but for the most part, most litigation is often centered on custody of kids, support to be paid or not (spousal),physical or mental issues, drugs, move-aways (with or without permission), abduction, schooling, and domestic violence. If bankruptcy arises, this can make the case more difficult depending on what issues are involved--and it's very unlikely that even if a case is not heavily disputed--the fact that spouses may have separate or joint debt may be a huge issue and bankruptcy can more adversely affect one spouse in some cases?

Some litigants believe they can file bankruptcy and get rid of spousal support, for the most part, that is not highly likely and if properties are being sold, traded or hidden; if assets have been hidden, or other investments, if tax returns may be audited (and one party was filing non-kosher returns) there can be some very ugly problems ahead. Secured debt may create issues, outstanding debt owed to the couple may cause .issues, lawsuits may cause problems, separately owned property if commingled with community funds can be an issue, secret winnings (gambling, lottos, etc.) owned rentals and owned anything else (like planes, businesses, huge income on undeclared properties, and etc.) may all come up when one least expects it.

Because of these possibilities, many clients with higher incomes can then hire attorneys. But for those without higher incomes, one party may get drastically taken advantage of because he or she has no funds for an attorney; but that spouse may have equity in undivided assets. Therefore, it would be likely that one still might find an attorney to help out, even if the client cannot put up much money for the retainer. If you believe you are in this boat, call attorney. You never know what can happen.