This web site was designed to help people with divorce and family law problems find answers to questions and resources that are available.

We have provided some basic information on many issues we think will be helpful. Our goal is to become a resource center and we hope our users will visit our Feed Back page and tell us what they would like to see in the future.

We believe legal services should be available to everyone at reasonable prices and much of it should be free.

Divorce Legal Services is a full service law firm providing representation for clients in all family law matters throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.

Divorce Legal Services is available for all your divorce service needs including representation, documentation preparation, answers to divorce related questions, or referrals for other services.

We offer document preparation services for those who do not need to hire an attorney but need help preparing the documents necessary for a divorce.

Our document preparation services are available to anyone in the State of California. If you live in the Bay Area and need legal assistance you can call us any time and we will do our best to help you find the information you need.

If you need an attorney to represent you in your divorce or family law problem we are available to help you. Our attorneys are sensitive to your needs and understand the crisis you may be facing.

Our firm uses a team approach to handling work which reduces the cost to you and contributes to a rapid and quality result for our clients.

We use senior attorneys to supervise each case and each of the supervising attorneys has more than 20 years of Family Law experience. Our team of attorneys will do their best to reduce costs, keep you informed, and get your case finished.

Costs And Retainers.

There are several components that will determine the cost of hiring an attorney. Some of the factors are the length of the marriage, if there are children involved, the income of the parties, the assets involved, the debts involved, and the complexity of other issues involved in the case.

These factors will be considered by an attorney in arriving at a retainer amount. The retainer is the contract between the client and the firm that will establish the relationship and the costs of the services. The retainer funds are held in trust by the firm for payment of hourly fees and paid to the firm as they are earned.

All of the work is billed on an hourly basis. The rates for hourly fees depends on the particular person working on your case. The rates for these various people will be included in the retainer agreement.

If your case is resolved before the balance of the retainer is depleted you will be refunded the amount that was unused. If your retainer was not enough to cover the necessary expenses you will be notified in advance more funds are necessary.

The retainer is only an estimate and is no guarantee as much of what can happen in a divorce proceeding is unpredictable.

Also, included in the retainer is an amount for costs anticipated in the case. These costs will include filing fees with the court, process serving, copies, mail, faxes, and use of other service providers. Filing fees are usually in the $200 range.

The typical portion for costs in the retainer agreement is $500. The total amount of our average retainer is $2500 to $3000. Yours may be different and one of our attorneys will discuss this matter with you when they know more about your case.