Are you looking for the best child support attorney in Arizona? No attorney is allowed to call themselves the best.

Some attorneys point to awards they have received, like the Best Choice Award. But many of these awards are purchased by attorneys, which we feel is dishonest and misleading.

Instead, we have put together a list of things to look for when you look for the best child support attorney.

If you want to learn more about child support, you can reach our article on how it works.

If you want to book a meeting with an attorney in Arizona, contact us.

Understanding Arizona’s Child Support Laws

There are many different places to look for an attorney’s review, but below are some of our favourites.

• Our website on our homepage
• Google Maps
• Facebook

Other websites such as Yellow Pages or Yelp are not really used for law firms. While it might be hard to find an attorney to meet with you, don’t rush into the first engagement letter you are presented with.

Take the time to think about it and research the attorney online.

Be careful asking an attorney you know about that lawyer, as many attorneys hate each other. Keep in mind attorneys often go up against each other in court and might have done aggressive things in order to win a case for their client.

While the opposing attorney might not like those tactics, the client might have won because of it.

Meet With The Attorney

Keep in mind that this meeting does not have to happen face-to-face. With new technologies such as Zoom or Skype, it is possible to get a better experience from an online attorney than an attorney in person. Scheduling to meet a lawyer in person can be difficult.

This is because attorneys often must travel to various courts, and also need time to meet new clients and do existing work under deadlines.

But for those that have waited a week to hear back from law firms, it’s a game-changer.

The average person has no idea how complicated a law can be. Almost every caller thinks their legal matter will be quickly and easily resolved. They are looking for the lowest price to quickly complete their issue.

The fact that there is an opposing party. Just because you want to resolve the issue quickly, doesn’t mean the opposing party will. Even if they want to resolve the issue, it doesn’t mean they will agree to all your demands.

How Does The Attorney Treat You?

While looking for the best child support attorney, make sure you are clear about what you are looking for. Do you want:

• The cheapest lawyer
• The attorney that has the most experience
• An attorney that is amazing at communication
• An attorney that knows technology very well

Most attorneys might only have one or two of these. If an attorney has a lot of experience and is excellent, it is likely that they are not cheap.

The attorney will know that there is a massive demand for their services, and they might increase their rates.

Best Child Support Attorney In Arizona- Hourly Rates

Attorneys’ hourly rates in Arizona depend on how much experience the lawyer has. It also depends on how much work they have. Some lawyers are so in demand they have a three-month waiting list.

We don’t want to hire an attorney unless they commit to excellent customer service.

Does The Attorney Care About Your Case?

You want an attorney that cares about your case. While the attorney might have seen this type of thing countless times, it is important they want to win. If you need to present something to the court, the lawyer will need to put forward a strong case.

They will likely not be able to do that if they don’t care about what happens.

Even if litigation is not needed, and the task is to negotiate a separation agreement, there still needs to be passion.

You want an attorney in Arizona that cares about your case. While the lawyer might have seen this type of thing countless times, it is important they want to win. If you need to present something to the court, the attorney will need to put forward a strong case.

They will likely not be able to do that if they don’t care about what happens.

Even if litigation is not needed, and the task is to negotiate a separation agreement, there still needs to be passion.

Unethical Billing

In our opinion, this is the most important thing to look for when looking for the best child support attorney. The problem is that you don’t know if the attorney is ethical with their billing until after you hire them.

Some law firms do things called premium billing, which means that if you agree to hire a lawyer at $250/hour, and they feel they have done a good job, they can charge you whatever they want. This is extremely common and unbelievably unethical in our opinion.

Instead, look for law firms that can offer flat fees whenever possible. If the firm is honest and upfront with its billing, it’s a good sign that they are against unethical billing practices. Not every area of family law can be a flat fee.

Why They Can’t Flat Fee Sometimes

Because most family law disputes have nothing to do with the lawyer.

What are some non-flat fee situations?

A common example of someone calling our law firm is that they want a separation agreement created. The first question they often ask is how much is it?

We can say we can draft the agreement for $1000, but anything, in addition, is at the lawyer’s hourly rate.

They are curious about how many extra hours it will take, but it’s not up to us. Sometimes the clients want to make changes to the separation agreement.

Once the agreement is ready, we send it to the other side.

The other side wants to make a lot of changes. Then our client wants to make changes based on their changes.

You can see why it is hard for law firms to offer flat fees for anything beyond drafting.

The Role of a Child Support Attorney in Arizona

The problem with people that need child support is that they are often the ones that have a hard time affording a family lawyer.

An example might be that they are taking care of two children, don’t earn much income, and want to go after child support.

If the other spouse earns $100,000 per year, and they don’t earn much, they might be entitled to child support.

When deciding to hire a lawyer at between $250-500/hour, it’s important to find out how much child support you might be entitled to.

If over the period of 10 years, you might be able to get $100,000 in support, and you must pay a family lawyer $2000, it’s probably worth it.

The best first step is to set up a meeting with a family lawyer to find out if you qualify for child support.

Either way, both parents have legal duties to their children, and the children must be taken care of. It is not something that can be ignored.

Why Should You Hire An Attorney?

1. Top lawyers want you to know what’s going on. They focus on communication and keeping you up to date.
2. They don’t talk down to you. Just because you don’t know family law, it doesn’t mean it can’t be explained to you.
3. You tell the lawyer what you want to happen, and they will do their best to make it happen.
4. To treat you with respect.
5. Transparent costs. The lawyer will either give you a flat fee or a very accurate estimate.

Best Child Support Attorney In Arizona

If you are looking for the best child support attorney in Arizona, please do some research into Google ratings, online reviews, and the law firms’ websites.

Perhaps you want to pick three law firms and then cross them off one by one if they do not fit with what you are looking for. Eventually, you should find the right attorney for you.