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Using Lee for Uncontested Divorce in Alabama

No Retainers

I just don't believe in retainers. I never ask for one. I think they rob divorcing people of the control they need to get through their divorce effectively.

Flat Rates

I offer flat rates for uncontested divorce. The vast majority of people who use me for uncontested divorce pay the flat rate and nothing more. Click here to find out more about how my fees work.

Just need straight answers for your questions about divorce? Click here to read about coaching on issues of divorce in Alabama.

Keeping it Simple

Most people are surprised when they find out that I don't normally meet with clients in my office - isn't that what lawyers do? Most of my clients don't need to travel to handle their divorce with me. That saves me the expense of maintaining a fancy office (imagine the savings I can pass on to you from mahogany and marble alone!), and it also means an extra measure of convenience for my clients.  Because I don't normally meet with clients in my office, the area where I work is quite small - just room enough for me and a bunch of machines. I have no partners and no staff. This means my overhead stays low, which allows me to keep my prices affordable. It also means that your private business stays private.

No Appointment Needed

My clients normally never come to my office at all. Instead, they simply call when they have the information and their Visa or Mastercard ready, and as soon as they and I are able to make connection, we prepare the divorce papers. I use a service that allows you to see the documents on your computer in real time as I'm preparing them. Because you don't need to come to my office, you don't need to make an appointment either. Just call me when you're ready, and as soon as we get together we can prepare the documents.

There's some special information here for people who live in other countries.

Staying Human

The divorce system has a frustrating and disturbing tendency to drive divorcing couples apart. I work actively to keep this from happening. I try to provide as much information as possible for free, so you can use me only for what only I can do. The more information both of you have, the less it matters which of you is my client.

After doing this for several years, I've learned some things about how uncontested divorce works, at least when you do it with me. You can read about them here so you won't be surprised when you get to my office.

No Rejection

The answer will vary depending on how complex the issues are between you, the level of trust in your relationship, and the level of conflict you're experiencing. The best way I know to answer this is to take the Uncontested Divorce Quiz. It's pretty accurate. If you're still not sure, check out Are We Ready To Get Started with Lee?

Information Lee will need

I will need the home address for each of you and whether it is within city limits. I will need the social security number and date of birth for each of you. I will need to know a number where I can leave you a secure voicemail message. I will need to know how many times each of you has been married, if any, before this current marriage and how each of your most recent marriages ended (death, annulment, divorce, etc.).

I will need to know the city and county in which you married your current spouse and the date on which you married. I will need a separation date that must have already occurred by the time I file the divorce documents with the court.  I'll need to know how far each of you got in school.

If you have children younger than 19, I'll need (a) the full name, address, and social security of each child; (b) the address and phone number where each parent lives and where each parent works; (c) the name of the employer for each parent; (d) the income of each parent (including bonus, commission, overtime, and shift differential pay); (e) the cost of work-related child care; and (f) the cost of health insurance, if any, for the children.

Just need straight answers for your questions about divorce? Click here to read about coaching on issues of divorce in Alabama.

If you own a house together, and if one of you is going to sign it over to the other, you may want to have a copy of your deed handy, preferably already scanned in so you can email it to me. This will give me the information I need to create a quitclaim deed or statutory warranty deed so you can handle that at the same time. The rest of the information I need to know you will probably have in your head when we talk.

If you and your spouse have children together, there's something else I encourage you to do before you call me: please read and ask your spouse to read the required language on relocation that I will need to insert in the Final Judgment of Divorce. It's kind of hairy, so it will save time (and money) if both of you are familiar with it before we get started. And no, there's not a thing you can do about it if one of you objects. The law requires that it be there, and the judge won't sign the divorce decree without it. If you'd like, you can read the statute that requires it.

Now that's the information that I need. If you and your spouse are unsure about what to do with an asset, or what an asset is worth, or how best to approach a debt, by all means have available the information related to it so you will be able to refer to it as necessary. Just use your best judgment, and err on the side of having it handy rather than leaving it stored somewhere. I can still hear my Daddy's advice ringing in my head, so I'll bounce it over to you: "Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it."

And one final thought: what I need is the information, not the documents proving it. You'll need to bring documents if your spouse wants to see them (and you're welcome to bring them on general principle), but I will trust you, so you don't need to send me any documents to prove things to me.

For a comprehensive listing of the information I will need for your uncontested divorce, take a look at the Info Template.

Does everything need to be decided before our session?

No. Ideally, you and your spouse will share a broad understanding of what you're trying to accomplish. I may spot issues that neither of you have thought about. If you begin with a rigid understanding that "this is the deal and we're not changing it," you may be frustrated when I point out something about it that costs you money or leaves you at risk unnecessarily. On the other hand, if you begin our session with a clear idea of what you're trying to accomplish but some flexibility about how to accomplish it, experience indicates you'll both be more pleased long-term with the results.

Should both spouses participate?

That's up to you. If you're both able to participate together and work through the issues you face, you'll generally spend less time if you both participate in our session, because you'll both see how the documents take shape, you'll both hear the descriptions of the issues, and you'll both have a chance to respond to the issues in real time.

On the other hand, if one of you doesn't want to be part of the session, or physically cannot participate because you're separated by distance and don't have a suitable Internet connection, that's okay. I'll work with the spouse who participates and put together the documents. You can both sign them and then return them to me for filing.

Remember this: one of you will be my client and one of you will not. I am charged as a lawyer with the ethical obligation to be an advocate for my client. That means I will protect my client's interests, and it also means I can provide legal advice only to my client. I cannot answer judgment questions or provide legal advice for the spouse who is not my client. If you're trying to decide which of you should be my client, there are some questions here on the site you should answer. Click here to read them.

And another thing: please don't ask me to call your spouse for you. It doesn't make sense, and I won't do it.

What if I can't find my spouse?

Then you can get a divorce, but I don't call it an uncontested divorce. You will need to get service of process on your spouse by publication (a process that takes publication for four consecutive weeks in your local newspaper), then wait 30 days, then have the court declare your spouse in default and schedule a hearing, then give oral testimony before the court. I don't do this work, but almost any other attorney who handles divorces will be glad to help you with it.

What if neither of us lives near Birmingham?

No problem. I file all my uncontested divorces in Talladega County, and I am accustomed to filing uncontested divorces for people who are staying all over the world (as long as one or both the spouses has maintained residence in the State of Alabama for six months or more). We can meet online using GoToMeeting.com, and then I can e-mail the documents to you (and your spouse, if you like) for review. Then when you and your spouse are comfortable that they're right, you can sign them and return them to me for filing. Barring something unusual, neither of you would need to go to any court or stand before any judge.

Just need straight answers for your questions about divorce? Click here to read about coaching on issues of divorce in Alabama.

What if neither of us has anything to do with Alabama?

I am licensed to practice law in the State of Alabama and in no other state. In order for me to file an uncontested divorce, at least one of the parties needs to have resided in the State of Alabama for at least the last six months, or both parties need to reside in Alabama now. If this doesn't apply to you, I appreciate your being here, but I'm afraid I've been wasting your time. I'm sorry.

What does it cost?

Click here to read about my flat rates for uncontested divorce and about what might cause the cost to go up.

Can I Have My Child or Children With Me?

Please don't.

I like children, but children and divorce don't mix. First, your children have no business hearing about the issues of your divorce, even if they're so tiny you think it doesn't matter. Second, you may think your child will be a little darling and won't be disruptive, but you're wrong. Children sense when their parents are under stress, and they will demand your attention constantly. It's their way of coping with the strain they feel when they know you're hurting. Because they demand your attention constantly, our session will move much more slowly, as you and I struggle against the distraction to get through the issues of your divorce. Because I charge by the hour, you will end up paying me more money. At my hourly rates, you’ll save money if you hire a babysitter.

What will happen in the session?

I work on a laptop computer with an LCD projector in my office. 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. 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. You will see them take shape on a big screen in my office and will be able to make changes on them in real time as we prepare them.

When your documents are finished, I will print them for you. If you want to, you can sign them that day, but there's no requirement that you do that. One or both of you may want to take them with you for more careful review before you sign them, and that's fine. If you later agree to make changes to them, everything is on computer; changes are usually quick and inexpensive.

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.

How long will it take after the session?

As part of my razor-sharp focus on keeping divorce costs low for cooperative couples, I never file documents until both spouses have signed all the documents needed. I file most uncontested divorce documents in Talladega County, even if neither spouse lives there. Click here if you want to know more about why I file in Talladega County. In Talladega 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 in person.

The court will mail both copies of the divorce decree to me (one for you, one for your spouse). When I receive them, I'll copy one for my records and send them to each of you using the addresses you have given me most recently. This means that (a) it will be seven weeks or so after the filing date before you get word your divorce is effective and (b) by the time you get the news, you will have been divorced for several days. I don't keep an original of your divorce decree, so if you lose the copy I send you and need another, you'll need to call the court clerk at 256-761-2102.

When can I make an appointment?

I'm usually in the office Monday through Thursday (Friday is farm day), and I make appointments at 8:30 (when it's not a Wednesday), 9:30, 10:30, 1:30, 2:30, and 3:30. Here's how a typical work week shapes up:

I do not make appointments over lunch time, in the evenings, or on weekends. I'm sorry.

Is there a deadline after you prepare the documents for my spouse to sign?

No, not as such. If I haven’t heard from you in about a month, I’ll send you a letter or e-mail asking you about it. If I don’t hear from you within another month, I’ll close your file and stop worrying you about it. I have no problem pulling your file and using the same documents later if they’re still acceptable to the court.

However, there is a chance, over time, either that your circumstances will change or that the court’s procedures and requirements will change. And eventually, your documents will become so stale that we'll have to redo them anyway. Obviously, the sooner you and your spouse sign the papers and deliver them to me for filing, the lower the likelihood of either of these problems.

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.