Montgomery Divorce Lawyer

If you and your spouse have already reached an agreement concerning all of your marital issues, then our Montgomery divorce lawyer should be able to get you a quick and easy uncontested divorce. If you are not in agreement with your spouse then our divorce attorney in Montgomery can fight for you in a contested divorce, but the divorce proceedings will be much more expensive. 

At The Harris Law Firm PLLC, our Montgomery divorce attorneys are committed to providing top-tier legal representation. With a focus on helping our clients find cost effective, amicable solutions whenever possible, we handle both contested and uncontested divorce cases. Contact us at our Montgomery law office today for a confidential consultation with an Alabama divorce lawyer.

If you are getting ready for a divorce in Montgomery, it is crucial that you are fully prepared for the process. A proactive approach can put you in the best position to navigate Alabama’s divorce laws. Here are three of the key things to understand about the process for divorce in our state:

• You Must Be a Resident to Get a Divorce (Six Months): The first thing to know is that you cannot just move to Alabama and immediately get a divorce. Although you can get divorced in Alabama no matter where you originally tied the knot, you or your spouse must have lived in the state for at least six months to meet the residency requirement. 
• Most People Get Divorced on No-Fault Grounds: In Alabama, most divorces are “no-fault,” meaning you don’t have to blame your spouse for the divorce. Instead, you can simply state that you have a marriage that is irretrievably broken—meaning it cannot reasonably be fixed. There are also fault-based grounds for divorce in Alabama, including adultery, cruelty or abuse, abandonment, and serious substance abuse problems.
• A Couple Must Wait At Least 30 Days After Filing for Divorce: How long does it take to get a divorce in Montgomery? The answer depends on many different case-specific factors. That being said, no matter the situation, there is a mandatory waiting period of at least 30 days before the divorce can be finalized.

If you are in agreement with your spouse, then we are currently offering discounted flat fees to help you obtain a divorce or handle other family law matters in and around Montgomery County.

If you and your spouse are not in agreement about child custody, child support, spousal support or other areas of the divorce process, then you will have to file a contested divorce. This is more expensive, but if you call us our Montgomery divorce attorney can give you a quick consultation over the phone and quote you a retainer today. Like most family law firms, our Montgomery divorce attorney requires a retainer up front to begin work on these cases.

However, if both of you are in agreement regarding the divorce process, then you can get an uncontested divorce prepared and filed for you for a low, flat attorney’s fee.

The uncontested divorce may require additional fees if there are substantial property or tax considerations involved, business interests, paternity issues, retirement issues, child custody, child support, spousal support, or any other complex issues that would require more time from the attorney. There is also a filing fee that Montgomery county charges when a divorce is filed. This filing fee varies from county to county but our family law attorney can help get things sorted out.

When you are ready to start the Montgomery County uncontested divorce process just fill out the divorce questionnaire online. Then our lawyer will go over the information with you and prepare your documents for you and your spouse to sign, execute, and return to us to file. Once our Montgomery office receives your signed documents then we file it electronically and you should get your divorce decree in a month or two with no court or in person appointments in most cases.

Give our Montgomery divorce lawyer a call today for more information about the filing fee in Montgomery county. If you have additional questions about the divorce process, then give us a call and speak with our skilled divorce attorney today.

Going through a divorce can, at times, be a lengthy, bitter, and exhausting process. Many spouses worry about having their life put on hold while they wait for a court date. In addition to the time, there is also the expense of paying their skilled divorce lawyer thousands of dollars in retainer fees. Filing for divorce can be extremely cumbersome, depending on how it is done. If an agreement can be reached in the beginning, it can save a lot of hassle, time, and money.

If you cannot reach an agreement, then you will need to consult with one of our Montgomery divorce lawyer on the phone or in person. During the initial consult, if you need a contested divorce then we will quote you a retainer fee to get started on your case. 

Once this is paid, we will file the divorce and serve your spouse to begin the divorce proceedings. This can get quite expensive if there are child custody disputes and time consuming, but if no agreement can be reached then it is sometimes necessary. The attorney will bill at an hourly rate for your legal issues, including child custody, marital property, or other divorce disputes, and take the earned fees out of the retainer as the work is performed. Once the retainer is gone, you will have to refill it for the Montgomery divorce lawyer to continue working on your complex divorce cases. Therefore the longer the case goes on and the more your divorce lawyer has to do, the more expensive it can get.

No matter which type of divorce you file, it is important to retain a skilled divorce lawyer that practices regularly in your jurisdiction. This is because each county, including Montgomery County, has its own local requirements that only a local divorce lawyer will be aware of. For example, there are also certain document requirements that are particular to this county.

Our Montgomery divorce attorneys are familiar with all such local rules regarding child custody disputes and will ensure that you get your decree as quickly and easily as possible.  In some cases, when a national document preparation company is retained to type up your documents they are not familiar with such local rules and this can cause your paperwork to be incomplete, resulting in a dismissal of your divorce.  Our Montgomery County divorce lawyers know these rules and will work with you to ensure that they are followed in a Montgomery uncontested divorce.

There are usually two ways to file for divorce in Central Alabama, uncontested and contested. Our divorce attorney in Montgomery can file a simple uncontested divorce if you and your spouse have reached an agreement as to all of your marital issues. If such an agreement has not been reached and does not seem possible, then a contested divorce will need to be filed. Some common reasons an agreement isn’t met deal with child custody, child support, spousal support, marital assets, and other family law issues. Our Montgomery divorce lawyers can help you with this, but the attorneys fees are much more than in an uncontested divorce. 

To begin the contested divorce process, we will file a document called a Complaint for you and have your spouse served with this filing.

Once he or she is served, then they will have a certain number of days to file an appropriate response. If they do, then a hearing will be set and we will speak with the spouse’s attorney to determine whether an agreement to the divorce can be reached.

When an agreement is still not possible, then a trial before the judge in Montgomery County will usually be necessary. If the spouse does not file an Answer, then you may be able to obtain a default divorce and get your divorce decree without having to go to Court. When you call our office, one of our Montgomery divorce lawyers will talk to you and can usually answer all of your questions regarding child support, child custody or any other family law matter over the phone the same day. If you are considering an uncontested divorce, a phone consultation may be all that is necessary. However, if you are filing a contested divorce we will be happy to meet you in our Montgomery office.

For a contested divorce, our Montgomery divorce lawyers require a retainer for such legal representation, as do many other attorneys, and the lawyer assigned to your case will bill hourly from it depending on the amount of work performed. This means that depending on how long it takes to resolve your marital issues in the divorce, the Montgomery divorce lawyer can spend a lot of time on your case. To give our clients a ballpark amount, retainers for contested divorces are generally thousands of dollars, but exactly how much depends on how complex the issues involved are and how contested they will probably get. Some complex issues include but are not limited to, child support, child custody, or marital assets.

In Montgomery County, there is a filing fee that must be paid to the Court when the divorce is filed. How much this filing fee is depends on where you file, with the filing fee in Montgomery County being over $200 (which includes a small convenience fee for filing your divorce electronically). This filing fee must be paid before our Montgomery divorce attorney will file your divorce for you. 

This filing fee is usually the same, whether you are filing an uncontested or contested divorce.

If you reside in Pike Road, Hope Hull, or Mount Meigs, then our Montgomery divorce lawyer will most likely be filing your divorce for you in the Family Court of Montgomery County.  Montgomery is the capital city of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. The county courthouse is located in downtown Montgomery.  If you live in the surrounding areas of Prattville, Selma, Millbrook, Auburn, or Dothan then you will likely be filing your divorce in the Elmore County, Autauga County, Dallas County, Lee County, or Houston County Courts. For more information on getting a divorce in Lee County, go to our Auburn uncontested divorce page.

Our Montgomery divorce lawyer regularly files divorces in all of these courts. They are a member of the local Montgomery County Bar Association, the Montgomery Chamber of Commerce, and the Central Alabama Better Business Bureau. No matter what type of divorce you are seeking, we can help. If you have any questions about family law or divorce issues like child custody, child support, spousal support, or marital property, then give our Montgomery divorce attorneys a call today.

When you are going through a divorce, you are not just filing a bunch of legal paperwork and you are not just ending a relationship. You must untangle the life that you and your spouse built together. There are a wide range of family law issues that may need to be addressed and resolved. Our Montgomery, AL divorce lawyers provide comprehensive representation. We help clients with:

• Property Division: Alabama is an equitable distribution state. We can help you navigate complex property/debt division matters in Montgomery. 
• Spousal Support: Spousal support (alimony) is money that one spouse pays to the other to maintain a standard of living similar to that during the marriage. While not every divorce in Montgomery includes spousal support, there is a possibility that yours might. 
• Child Custody: If you have children, deciding who they will live with and how decisions about their lives will be made is probably your top concern. Alabama is a best interests of the child state. It favors some form of shared custody after a divorce. Our lawyers can help.
• Child Support: For parents, child support may also be an issue in their divorce. We can help you navigate Alabama’s child support guidelines, with a focus on protecting your financial interests.

Ending a marriage is one of the difficult things that a person can do. There are many legal, logistical, and emotional challenges. At The Harris Law Firm, PLLC, we are committed to helping clients find the absolute best solution for their specific situation. When you contact us at our Montgomery law office, you will connect with an Alabama divorce lawyer who can: 

• Listen to what you have to say, review your case, and answer divorce process questions; 
• Investigate things—helping you gather and prepare all of the supporting documentation; 
• Advocate for your best interests in any divorce settlement negotiations; and
• Craft a personalized strategy to get you the best outcome in your divorce case.

Call The Harris Firm, a family law firm and speak to our contested divorce lawyers who will discuss the retainer we would require up front to begin our legal assistance working on your case. You will usually need to have a quick phone consultation with our divorce lawyer in Montgomery before we can quote you a fee, especially if there are minor children or other potentially complex such as child custody, child support disputes, spousal support, or other issues involved. This is the reason an uncontested divorce is almost always cheaper and easier than a contested one.