How To Find A Divorce Attorney

By Megan Breckenridge, Staff Writer
SULLO & SULLO, LLP

HOUSTON—With the national divorce rate estimated at about 50 percent, it’s likely that every American will, either directly or indirectly, experience the dissolution of a marriage at some point in their lives. Dealing with divorce is a difficult process, both emotionally and financially, and decisions made during the process can have long-term effects on many areas of your life. For this reason, selecting the right lawyer may be the most important decision that you make.

Choosing a lawyer to represent you in your divorce is an intricate process. It means establishing a close and sensitive relationship with someone that will continue for months and perhaps even years. It is important to find and hire someone whose philosophy of the proceedings aligns with yours, and as such, you must be prepared to ask questions that reflect your specific concerns.

The first step in selecting a divorce lawyer is to gather names of potential counsel in your area:

1. From other professionals: Lawyers, accountants, members of the clergy and other professionals meet and work with divorce lawyers in the course of their work and are often good sources of referrals. Ask them for the names of family law specialists with good credentials and reputations and whose qualifications are most appropriate to your case.

2. From organizations: Your state bar may be able to provide a recommendation for certified family law specialists in your area. To be certified in the field of family law usually requires a certain proven level of experience, study and interest, and specialists must pass an examination in this area of the law.

3. From your employer: The Employee Assistance (EAP) program provided by your employer may be able to provide confidential referrals to attorneys, and often affords a discount on the services performed. Your employer may also offer access to sponsored legal services, either by subsidizing all or a portion of your legal fees if you use specified legal providers, or by providing the opportunity to join a legal services program in which you pay a set premium in order to receive a certain level of legal services throughout the year.

4. From friends or relatives: You may know someone personally who has gone through a divorce. They can be a good source of information about lawyers, with two qualifications: First, every client and every case is different, so it is difficult to evaluate the performance of a lawyer in someone else’s case. And second, the lawyer-client relationship is highly personal. So while the impressions of a former client about a lawyer are useful, you should meet the lawyer and make your own judgment. 

High-Profile Divorces

By Megan Breckenridge, Staff Writer
SULLO & SULLO, LLP

HOUSTON—We’ve all heard the sobering statistics about divorce rates in the United States, where the cost of dissolving a marriage is relatively low and the process simple. But for high-profile couples with piles of cash and material assets, parting ways can be a costly and complicated affair.

Anyone with cable or Internet access knows the sordid details of Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren’s split, which is rumored will soon be settled for a staggering $100 million. Amazingly, theirs will not be the most expensive A-list divorce to date. Here is a look some of the costliest celebrity divorces:

1. Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall.Estimated settlement: $15 to 25 million.

The Rolling Stones’ front man and sexy supermodel met in 1977 and had two children together before tying the knot in a traditional Hindi wedding ceremony in Bali, Indonesia in 1990. Hall filed for divorce in 1999 after learning that Jagger had fathered a child with another woman. Jagger, worth an estimated $325 million at the time, successfully challenged the legality of the Balinese wedding and was granted an annulment. Hall walked away with only a fraction of his estate.

2. Michael and Diandra Douglas.Estimated settlement: $45 million.

The couple met in 1977 at a Jimmy Carter inauguration party and wed six weeks later. During the course of their marriage, Michael became one of Hollywood’s top earning actors, starring in box office hits like Fatal Attraction, Wall Street and Basic Instinct. Amid rumors of the actor’s infidelities and alcohol abuse, the couple separated in 1998. Diandra was awarded an estimated $45 million in 2000, plus homes in Beverly Hills and Majorca.

In June 2010, the couple returned to court to dispute Diandra’s claim to a portion of the proceeds from Michael’s upcoming Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. If the film is ruled to be a spin-off of the original Wall Street, which Michael filmed while they were together, Diandra will be entitled to a share of his earnings per their divorce settlement.

3. James Cameron and Linda Hamilton.Estimated settlement: $50 million.

The famed director wed the star of his first two Terminator movies in July 1997. Though their marriage lasted a mere 18 months, they conceived a daughter together during that time. Their divorce settled shortly after Titanic was released, and Cameron was forced to give Hamilton more than half of the film’s revenues.

4. Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills.Estimated settlement: $50 million.

The Beatles rocker married the former model and charity campaigner in 2002, with McCartney reportedly shunning Mills’ offer of a prenuptial agreement. In 2006, the pair began bitter divorce proceedings, which garnered a great deal of press and were not resolved until March of 2008. They have a daughter together who, in addition to Mills’ nearly $50 million settlement, will receive over $44,000 per year until her 18th birthday.