Legal Question in Family Law in Michigan
Qualifying Relations Domestic Order
I was divorced 5 years ago. I had a very bad experience with my attorney in that he just didn't do his job. Because of his not being prepared in looking out for my interests, the judge allowed the property settlement of the divorce decree to be re-opened; I let my original attorney go, hired a new attorney, and was able to recover a small amount of what was lost. I recently realized that another area that wasn't handled was the division of retirement pensions. My decree states that I am to receive half of my ex-hsuband's retirement, and he mine. I recently hired another attorney to begin that process. My question is: This attorney had me put up a $1,500.00 retainer fee to begin the work of submitting the paper work to hammer out this domestic order (he charges $100.00 an hour). This seems like a lot of money to me, for a matter that seems to be simply numbers that cannot be changed. I mean the retirement pension is pretty well set in stone, is it not?
I appreciate any advice you could give me on this matter.
Thank you.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Qualifying Relations Domestic Order
Greetings; I think you are fortunate to find an attorney willing to begin work for $1,500 retainer. Mop up operations are always difficult. A task that originally would be easy and routine for a qualified attorney, once done improperly (by your previous atty), now becomes much more difficult and expensive. So, I think you are viewing this situaiton unfairly. If your new attorney is qualified and honest, your bill will be also. I believe this answers your concern. Many thanks, Atty. Trichler; www.trichler.com
Re: Qualifying Relations Domestic Order
If you contact the company (for example Chrysler Corp or Ford Motor) and get ahold of their retirement department, they have forms that they actually demand be filled out their way. Then you take the amount of years owed pursuant to the judgment of divorce, (for example, a 10 year marriage and the worker works 30 years), the typical distribution would be 1/3 divided by 2 or one-sixth of the pension. You plug in the numbers, the judge signs the QUADRO and you are done. Whether that is worth $1,500 is up to you.In the divorce world, there is no relationship between what people pay and the service they receive. There are some very good, inexpensive attorneys and some very expensive attorneys that are over rated. There are inexpensive lawyers who also do a poor job. There are expensive lawyers who are excellent. However, unfortunately, what I have found, due to human nature, is that if people find a lawyer who charges them a fair fee, many times they feel that he or she did a poor job. They would rather pay too much. It is the Cadillac syndrome. Drive a Buick. Then drive a Cadillac. What drives better? However, only one has the hood ornament. As long as you have paid the lawyer already, you may as well let the lawyer do the job. It doesn't sound outlandishly expensive. Bill Stern
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