How to Find Hidden Assets -- Part 3

This is part 3 of an excellent article written by Warren R. Shiell in the Los Angeles Divorce and Family Law Blog with tips about how to find hidden assets. Tax returns were listed with some supporting schedules in the 2nd part of this post. The list below includes a variety of other items that may contain the "smoking gun" proving assets have been hidden.

"10. Safe Deposit Box Activity - Banks maintains safe deposit box records indicating when and who accessed the safe deposit box. These records will not indicate contents of a box or what, if anything, has been removed. If the first spouse was aware of the contents at the point when the records indicate the second spouse opened the box and something is now missing, he or she has a pretty good idea of who took it. This information can be subpoenaed.

"11. Cash Transactions and In Kind Compensation - One spouse may be a physician or a shopkeeper, or in some other work where cash is paid, or he or she may receive in-kind compensation, where something of value – other than cash – is given in exchange for services. Such cash payments or non-cash items are rarely reported on the income-tax return, but if you know of such income in the past and can subpoena current information, it will help in proving available income in excess of that shown on the income-tax returns. If one spouse buys things of substantial value with cash, there is probably a source of cash income somewhere. Most people do not retain cash in a non-interest bearing form unless they are hiding the source of the cash.

"12. Children’s Bank Accounts - Frequently, a spouse who wishes to hide money will open a custodial account in the name of a child. Deposits and withdrawals are made without any intent that the child has use of the account except in case of the spouse’s death. The interest from these accounts is not shown on income-tax returns, nor are returns filed for the children.

"13. Personal Knowledge of Spouse’s Habits - One of the most useful discovery tools is personal knowledge of the spouse’s habits with money. People who are attempting to hide money very seldom do so without making some form of written note so they can have a personal account of what they have done. When things are going well in a marriage, the spouse may tell the other spouse about such records, but you can be sure they will disappear in a case of divorce. The more secretive a person is, the more detailed such notes are likely to be. If a spouse has neglected to declare income to the IRS, the knowledge of hidden income or assets may prove to be a powerful leverage factor in reaching a satisfactory settlement. Be careful you cannot threaten to turn someone in or threaten any legal process to negotiate a better financial settlement that would be a criminal act – extortion.

"14. Phone Income Tax Returns - When the divorce has been filed, some spouses are inclined to alter the copies of their previously filed income tax returns to hide or adjust pertinent financial information. It is always a good idea to ask for copies of jointly filed returns directly from the Internal Revenue Service on Form 4506-T.

"15. Phony Loans or Debts - To keep cash from being divided, a spouse may sometimes attempt to bury the money with a phony loan to a cooperative friend or relative. The loan may be tied up with a long-term note or with a claimed likelihood of not being collectible so as to remove this money from consideration at settlement time. The other spouse, who was never aware of the debt, of course did not sign the note, because it probably came into existence after the divorce proceedings commenced. Sudden payment of debts to out-of-state creditors who are not available for deposition is usually a sign that the debt is a phony.

"16. 'Friends' or Other Phonies on the Payroll - If one spouse is in a position to control the payroll of a sole proprietorship, partnership, or closely held corporation, he or she may be paying salaries to a friend or relative who is not actually providing services commensurate with the compensation. The friend on the payroll may be stashing the money away or they may both be enjoying it. In either case, the profit of the enterprise will be reduced accordingly and your spouse may be drawing a lesser salary. The same ploy can be used for payment to phony independent contractors.

"17. Retirement Plan Abuse - If one spouse has established a pension or profit-sharing plan in connection with a closely held corporation, the plan should be carefully reviewed to determine whether monies that have been contributed to the account are being invested in accordance with the plan requirements. Very often, deductions will be taken for contributions to such plans, and then the money is used for personal living expenses or taken out as loans, which are never repaid.

"18. Defined Benefit Pension Plans - Defined-benefit pension plans are distinguished from defined-contribution plans by the fact that the benefits payable at retirement age are specified within the plan itself rather than by some contribution formula. The amount of the benefits then must be actuarially calculated, based on the age of the intended beneficiary and the point at which benefits are to be paid. A great deal of income can be buried by substantial payments into such a plan during the years preceding or during divorce litigation. The required payments could be a substantial part of the employee-spouse’s income, if that is what is required to achieve the defined goal at retirement. This, of course, leaves little money available for support or division as marital property. Once the divorce is completed, the defined-benefit plan can be discarded, even though a substantial tax loss may result.

"19. Estate, Gift and Inheritance Tax Returns - Much useful information is available from inheritance, estate, or gift-tax returns of relatives you believe have been generous to the spouse. If these returns show that there were substantial gifts or bequests that have not been accounted for in the settlement negotiations, you are alerted that other assets could also be hidden. A tracing will have to be made from the estate’s distribution to see what has happened to the assets."

Obviously, there may be clues to misconduct in a wide variety of contexts. Using the list here, and the prior lists and sources, you can have a good chance of proving that assets are hidden or missing. That should improve your chances of receiving an appropriate share of the assets and you may have the opportunity to shine the spotlight on your spouse's bad behavior. Most judges will get really upset if/when they become convinced someone has been dishonest to them and to the court system.

How to Find Hidden Assets -- Part 2

This is part 2 of an excellent article written by Warren R. Shiell in the Los Angeles Divorce and Family Law Blog with tips about how to find hidden assets. As mentioned before, it is not unusual to suspect (often correctly) that some assets are not being disclosed. Sometimes, there are clues that an attorney or other layman can find, but other times, it is necessary to bring in an expert forensic accountant to uncover various assets. The following section of the original post by Warren R. Shiell has suggestions about some of the types of financial records that can produce evidence or clues about undisclosed assets.

"The following checklist of research items may assist in determining the whereabouts of hidden assets or if, in fact, they exist at all:

"1. Financial Statements – Any loans from lending institutions require sworn financial statements to be filled out. In most cases, the borrower is trying to impress the lending institution with the extent of assets and may exaggerate these. Looking back five years or so at these statements may put you on the trail of assets which are now unaccounted for, or which show valuations substantially greater than what is now claimed.

"2. Personal Income Tax Returns – A review of personal Federal and State income tax returns and attached schedules filed during the past five years may indicate sources of interest or dividends. The returns may also reveal unknown sources of income or loss from trusts, partnerships, or real estate holdings. You should also review W2’s, 1099’s, 1098’s and K1’s.

"3. Corporate Income Tax Returns – If one spouse is the principal owner of a closely held corporation the corporate tax returns should be reviewed for the following: a. He or she may be manipulating his or her salary by taking less pay and then taking loans from the corporation to make up the shortage. He or she may be charging personal expenses to corporate accounts, which will later be reimbursed or charged to the officer’s loan account.c. Corporate returns should also be reviewed for excessive or unnecessary retained earnings (undistributed profits). These may be disguise available profit distributions or an artificially low salary level.d. Reimbursement of prior capital contributions or repayments of loans to the corporation may also provide hidden cash flow to your spouse.

"4. Partnership Income Tax Returns - Reviewing several years of partnership income tax returns (IRS Form 1065) may reveal sudden changes in the partnership interest or distributions. Such changes often occur at the time of a divorce and then compensating adjustments are made after the divorce is completed.

"5. Canceled Checks and Check Registers from Personal, Partnership, and Corporate Accounts - While time-consuming, it is always revealing to go over all the canceled checks and bank statements from personal accounts for the past few years, and post the expenditures to different columns under utilities, entertainment, loan payments, and so on. You will learn the amount of total expenditures per year, which sometimes exceeds income, and you will have a better feeling for cost of living and where budget cuts should be made. In terms of hidden assets, you may come across canceled checks for the purchase of property, which you never knew, existed. It is important to check off the canceled checks against the appropriate bank statement to make sure that you have all of the canceled checks. It is possible that certain checks were removed before they were delivered to you. For larger amounts deposits and withdrawals you should review the back and the front of the checks.

"6. Savings Account Passbooks - Acquire the passbooks for any savings accounts open during the past five years or more. Look for any deposits or withdrawals that are unusual in amount, or in pattern. A monthly withdrawal or deposit of money in the same odd amount may reflect mortgage payments or income receipts from sources that you are not aware of.

"7. Security or Commodity Account Statements - If one spouse has been buying and selling stocks or bonds or dealing in commodities, the broker with whom he or she trades furnishes monthly or quarterly statements indicating all transactions. A review of these statements going back a few years could reveal the existence of securities of which there was no knowledge or could raise questions as to the disposition of the sale proceeds. Cross checking securities transactions and bank accounts by date and amount will usually verify the source or disposition of the monies involved. If the securities are sold and the proceeds are unaccounted for, you can be sure the money is out there somewhere.

"8. Expense Accounts - Very often, a corporate employer will allow employees a great deal of leeway in their expense account reporting. A spouse may take advantage of this by exaggerating or even falsifying business expenditures. The employer maintains records as to expense account disbursements to the employee over the year with monthly detail. A check of these records will indicate the extent to which the employee is able to “live off” the expense account.

"9. Deferred Salary Increase, Uncollected Bonus, or Commissions - You should always determine whether a salary increase is overdue, when it will be forthcoming, and how much it is. Employers are sometimes sympathetic to their divorcing employees and willing to bend the rules slightly to defer salary increases, bonuses, or commissions in order to suppress apparent income. Ultimately, these increases, bonuses, or commissions must be paid to keep the corporate books straight, and the employer will rarely lie when put under oath or forced to make a written statement on the subject. Sympathy goes just so far."

By carefully looking at the above sources, you may be able to uncover substantial assets that the other party may be trying to hide. Sometimes, things are just accidentally overlooked, such as a bank account that is inactive. Most of the time, however, during a divorce, it is very unlikely that an unrevealed asset was accidentally overlooked. Follow your intuition and you may find your pot of gold.

How to Find Hidden Assets -- Part 1

This is the first part of an excellent, extended post in the Los Angeles Divorce and Family Law Blog by Warren T. Shiell, from July 5, 2009. He wrote a thorough review of how assets are hidden and how they may be found. His post gives very practical tips for effectively searching for hidden assets. I have broken his long post into three parts for the reader's convenience. Here's the first section of his post.

"The divorce process is a time of distrust for each spouse, and right or wrong, each may accuse the other of hiding assets.

"Assets are traditionally hidden in one of four ways:

• The person denies the existence of an asset.


• Assets are transferred to a third party.


• The person claims the asset was lost or dissipated.


• Creation of false debt.

"Tax returns are the first place to look to discover hidden assets. It is a good idea to look at tax returns for the past five years. By reviewing the tax returns you may discover assets that you had no knowledge of or that were not disclosed by your spouse. The first two pages of a tax return can serve as a 'table of contents,' because they list the forms and schedules that are attached to the return.Important forms to review include:

"Schedule A – Itemized Deductions. May help identify unlisted assets or sources of income. For example property taxes may reveal real property or a boat that one spouse does not know exists; and gambling losses would reveal that there are gambling winnings.

"Schedule B – Interest and Ordinary Dividends. This identifies the assets and investments generating interest and dividends. However some interest generating accounts may be non-taxable and may not be listed.

"Schedule C – Profit of Loss From Business. This form may be a place to hide assets or income. For example, depreciation for real estate is generally not a cash outflow and it is added back to net income to determine the actual income. The depreciation schedule may also reveal additional assets in the business.

"Schedule D – Capital Gains and Losses. This form is used to reports gains and losses from stocks, bonds, and real estate.

"Schedule E – Supplemental Income and Loss. This form is used to report income from rental properties, royalties and partnership and s-corporation income. Depreciation should be examined to determine whether this is an expense that should be added back to income.

"Form 1065 is used to report partnership income

"Form 1120 and 1120S are used to report corporate income

"Form 2441 claims child-care expenses. Both federal and state income tax returns, 1099s and W2s, as well as amended returns need to be reviewed.In the course of discovery (sharing documents and financial information with the opposing side), most spouses believe that their counterpart has somehow hidden or failed to disclose the existence of certain assets."

It's an unfortunate fact of life that people are sometimes dishonest as they go through a divorce. (How's that for an understatement?) The list above gives you some paperwork to gather to examine so you or your expert can try to find any missing assets. Fortunately, there is often a paper trail, if you can recognize it. Using an expert to examine the records is usually an excellent investment. If you are able to establish that your spouse is cheating and hiding money, you will be in a much stronger position to get a better settlement or a better decision after a trial.

The next two sections of the post to help you find hidden assets will follow shortly.

Divorce and Social Networking - New Rules

A couple of months ago, Daniel Clement posted a nice article with suggestions about how to stay out of trouble during a divorce when you participate in social networking. Here's what he had to say:

"Remember the YouTube spectacle of Tricia Walsh Smith who publicly humiliated her husband and, ultimately, herself. In the age of social networking, new rules of apply to couples going through divorce. The rules, as compiled by Time, can succinctly be boiled to one- 'Discretion is the better of valor.'

[Here are the rules.]

"1. Don’t brag.
Your claims of poverty will ring hollow if you brag on Facebook about your purchases of expensive items or post photographs of lavish vacations.

"2. Keep the party off-line
Sure you may want to let off some steam, but if you are engaged in a custody fight, the pictures of you holding a bong in one hand and a half empty bottle of “Jack” in the other are not going to win you points with the judge. They probably are not going to be too helpful when lecturing your kids about sobriety or on your next job interview.

"3. Guilt by association.You are who you hang out with. See Rule No 2.

"4. Keep the details of the divorce private.
Don’t fuel the fire with comments and criticisms on the internet. No one likes their spouse’s divorce attorney or the judge after an unfavorable ruling. But remember, the judge is going to make many rulings in the course of a case- some you will win, others you will lose. Do you really want the judge to rule on your case after you publicly criticized him or her?

"5. Don’t Defriend.
As Time points out, unless it is high conflict, 'Don't "defriend" in-laws or your ex's friends right away. People need time to adjust.'"

This should be a good reminder to everyone enjoying social networking while they go through a divorce. As I discussed in a previous post on July 2, 2009, social media are becoming more common-place and are also become a major source of information for interested people. Pictures, statements, profile details and other information that appear in media, such as Facebook, can show up in court and can be very embarrassing, or worse.

And, it's not just your site that you need to be concerned about. If you have friends who take your picture and then post it on a page, or who write about what you and s/he did or what s/he saw, you may have some "splainin" to do. And it may turn into testimony in court. Following the above rules should help everyone to be more careful about their involvement in social media.

When is the Best Time to File?

Some people say, "It's all in the timing." (Others may say that it's all in the location -- but that's really a different topic!) Timing can make a huge difference in a lot of things in life. One of the most obvious is in financial matters. Investing or selling at the right time can put you in a solid financial position. For example, if I had bought American Airlines stock a few years ago when it was under a $1.00 a share because there was a very real possibility of filing for bankruptcy, and I kept it, even now there would be a nice profit. Likewise, getting out of the market at the right time can ensure a much better position compared to the person who held on to the stock just a day too long.

Apparently, some people have brought the timing issue into the divorce arena. According to the Miami Herald, some attorneys are advising their male clients to file for divorce now while their net worth is low. The idea is that they will have to give their wife less assets now than they would otherwise if the market were up. I understand the logic in that, but I still have some problems with that thinking.

1. The proportions are the same, even if the amounts are different. While it is true that the total amount paid to the spouse in settlement may be less than it would be if the economy were better, the property division should still be in a very similar proportion between the parties as it would be in better economic times. Is a $600,000 -- $400,000 split really a lot better than a $900,000 -- $600,000 since they are both 60-40 splits? Both parties would end up with less than they might in a better economy.

2. It is usually pretty easy to stall and delay in a divorce. The courts are often backed up, which means it will probably take a long time to get to court unless there's an agreement. Faced with a long wait to get to court, many of the wealthier spouses will sweeten the pot to get an earlier deal done. Or, the delay may be long enough for the economy to start to recover.

3. Other financial circumstances could also change that would affect the property division. If one or both parties lose their jobs, or if a company goes broke, that could completely change the situation. If one spouse has been a stay-at-home parent and now has to look for a job, but the economy is failing, that may create the need for lengthy spousal support (alimony).

4. Sometimes, it is the wife who has the more significant investments. She might make the same assumptions and conclusions, and then her husband could be the one losing out.

The bottom line: My suggestion is that if someone wants or needs to be divorced, they shouldn't wait around for the stock market to hit bottom or to reach the top, and they shouldn't rush into a divorce just to save on the pay out. The finances are always an issue, but other personal issues should be primary. Don't let the property division dominate your thinking to the point that you ignore or downplay the other personal issues in the marriage.

Thanks to Tim Evans of the Hattiesburg Divorce Lawyer blog who had a recent post about this topic which had the reference to the Miami Herald article (I don't normally keep up with Miami news). Tim's blog is well worth regular reading.

What if the Other Parent is Irresponsible?

I recently saw a report in the American Bar Journal online about a Georgia court case where the issue was whether a father could allow his children to be around his gay and lesbian friends. Apparently, the divorce trial court had issued a ruling preventing the father from letting gay and lesbian friends be around his kids. Apparently, there was no evidence introduced in court that the friends had acted inappropriately in front of the children.

I am not aware of a similar case arising in Texas, but I would assume that the Texas courts would probably reach a similar result. Regardless of whether the issue was about different sexual orientation, race, age, religion or some other factor, it should normally come down to whether there is evidence that something improper has occurred. If there is just a potential for problems, it is not likely that a judge would impose restrictions about who can be around children. If something happened, but no one was injured by some event or activity, there's probably not sufficient evidence to support restrictions.

It can be very frustrating when the other parent seems to be irresponsible or potentially endangering children, but that is not sufficient to support restrictions on the other parent. As bad as it sounds, the courts almost require someone to be hurt before they will intervene. If you have a situation that creates concerns about your children's health or safety, you should discuss them with your attorney. You may not be able to directly impose restrictions at that point, no matter how concerned you are or how reasonable and logical your fears are, but there may be some things you can do to help. Here are some ideas:

1. Discuss the situation with your ex. Don't overlook the obvious, direct solution. But, since you may not have any real leverage, you need to work on being diplomatic and conciliatory, no matter how hard that may be for you. It is certainly cheaper, faster and more effective if you can do something by agreement. There is also less chance of drawing the children into the middle of the dispute. Of course, you will probably be dealing with an emotional issue, so that will make it harder to be "nice". You can get some ideas from your attorney or a counselor to help you plan your approaches for the discussion.

2. Request that you and your ex meet with a counselor to discuss the issues. Hopefully, a few sessions will make it possible to come to an agreement in a safe atmosphere.

3. Here, in Tarrant County, Texas, you can contact Family Court Services at the courthouse and set up a meeting with an Access Facilitator. A Facilitator is a specially trained social worker who helps the parties meet and work out differences in how to raise children and share time with their children. Good News -- they are not only qualified, experienced social workers, but they are FREE!

4. Go to a mediator. This can be done with or without attorneys. You and your ex can split the mediator's fee. If one side uses an attorney, the other party should also bring an attorney to equalize the negotiations. Mediators have a very high success rate, so they are an excellent option.

5. Hire an attorney and go to court. This is the most expensive choice, but could be necessary if your ex is uncooperative.

6. Try using Collaborative Law. Both sides would have to agree to use the process, if it is to be used. Your ex might agree to it to keep the matter private, to get expert help or to be able to deal with the issue on his/her own schedule, instead of a court's schedule. The main point to keep in mind is that both parties would need to utilize attorneys trained in Collaborative Law, so you should ask about that when you are hiring an attorney. Using the process may minimize the damage to the relationships between the parties, which is important for the children.

There are obviously many different ways to approach an issue about the children. What you should not do is just get angry, start accusing your ex of misbehavior and being making demands. You will almost never be in position to solely determine the outcome, and such an approach will almost guarantee an expensive, ugly and protracted battle. Why do that when you have other effective options?

(I want to give credit and thanks to Nancy Van Tine of the Massachusetts Divorce Law Monitor blog for referencing the ABA story. She also has an excellent blog that is worth regular viewing.)

Why Does it Take So Long?

For at least half of the parties, and often for both, one of the biggest annoyances of the divorce experience is how long it takes. Going through the process, the parties often become very frustrated. Divorces are rarely smooth, completely agreeable transactions. In virtually every case, even when both parties want the divorce and both parties are mature, respectful and cooperative, there will be stages when progress seems non-existent. Why, you may ask, is that the case? There are many reasons for delay, not even including the common supposition that an attorney is neglecting the case. While that sometimes occurs, delay is more often the result of one of the following factors:

1. Local rules. In Tarrant County (and most other counties in Texas and elsewhere), divorce and family law attorneys must follow local court rules in court cases. The rules may require certain steps to be followed and certain amounts of time for notice. They may permit cases to be postponed if short notice has been provided. There are delays for notice that are built in to the process so that everyone can have an adequate amount of time to prepare. For example, it is very common in Tarrant County for a first setting temporary hearing to be postponed if the Respondent has not had time to hire an attorney or if Respondent's attorney did not have time to prepare for court. Rules of evidence that affect whether certain information can be introduced into court sometimes provide for set periods of delay for notice to the other party to give them an opportunity to object to the evidence.

2. There is often a scheduling order which must be followed. Fairly early in a case's journey in the court system, it will likely be the subject of a scheduling order under the direction of the court. It will set up deadlines for all the actions needed to get the case ready for trial. Even though few cases ever go to trial, most cases proceed under a scheduling order. The parties generally schedule their actions according to the scheduling order and that may appear to slow down the case, from the perspective of the litigants. From the attorneys' perspective, they stay right on schedule and they do not consider themselves slow or behind schedule when they are following the scheduling order.

3. A difficult other side. This can be a serious problem that affects timing. If the other side chooses to be slow, that is hard to overcome. If the other side chooses to do as many things as possible, to "punish" or wear down the other side, they can often get away with it. I have seen an attorney create delays by fighting over everything while complaining that the other side is delaying. Simply a lack of cooperation by one side can cause significant delays.

4. Sometimes, a case gets postponed by the court and it's neither side's fault. Court often schedule more than one case at the same time. If one of the cases starts a hearing and takes a long time, that may bump the other cases to a later time. It's also true that a trial or hearing will carry over from a previous day and cause a chain reaction of delays with subsequent cases.

5. Some delays come when the parties are waiting for a ruling after a court hearing. Many courts routinely take several hours or days to issue decisions. A few courts may sit on a decision for months. It's frustrating, but there's not much that can be done to get the court to move faster. An attorney doesn't want to push too much for fear of getting the judge mad and then having the judge take out the anger on the client.

6. Occasionally, there may be scheduling conflicts with one or both of the attorneys in the case. Attorneys usually try to avoid such situations, but sometimes they occur.

What can be done? The best thing to do is to talk with your attorney. Make sure the attorney knows if there are any special circumstance that require a speedy conclusion. If you think there has been too much delay, discuss that with your attorney and find out if s/he agrees with you. Your attorney may be able to give you a valuable perspective that can relieve some of the stress you are feeling. Or the attorney may be able to help you devise a settlement strategy that will end the divorce sooner. The main thing is to act. Don't just sit around and stew about the situation. Divorces are stressful enough without adding unnecessary or unsolvable issues to your burden. Don't keep it in -- let it out to your attorney, before it overwhelms you!

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Why Is There No Free Consultation?

One of the first questions we often hear when a prospective client calls us is, "Do you have a free consultation?" It's a fair question and an important one. Some potential clients assume that they will be paying a fee for their initial visit with an attorney, but others think they should not begin to pay until they have actually hired an attorney. On the other side of the room, some attorneys believe in charging for every conference with a client or potential client, while other attorneys want to encourage people to come see them, so they provide free initial conferences.

Some attorneys choose a middle ground and charge a reduced fee for the initial meeting. Many of them believe charging even a small fee will weed out the non-serious potential clients who are looking for feedback, ideas or affirmation that they are right, without having incurred any cost for the information or support.

For potential clients who have trouble understanding why they should be charged for the initial time they visit with an attorney, here are some explanations some attorneys use.

• For the attorneys who charge by the hour, time is money. They keep their business open by charging for the time they spend working in some fashion on the client's problems. Real information is provided in real time to the client. For the attorney, the service provided is essentially the same type of service they will be providing once they are hired: listen, ask questions, determine needs or goals, gather information, analyze, strategize and create plans.

• Other professionals routinely charge for their time and services at an initial assessment. This includes doctors, mechanics and electricians (just to name a few). The time and skills of the professionals are being applied to the problems at hand.

• For the attorneys who practice what is called value pricing, or use flat fees, they focus on the valuable information, forms and other paperwork they may provide the client. They also add value by listening and counseling with the client. Here is an example on the higher end of service and a corresponding higher fee: There is an attorney in Calgary, Canada who has developed an excellent product for the initial conference. He spends as long as the client wants, usually 2 to 3 hours, records the session and provides a copy of the recording, and produces a customized approach to the client's issues. Other attorneys provide a less robust experience, but nevertheless provide excellent value to the client just by doing the same things some attorneys do as they charge by the hour.

• In addition, when an attorney meets with a prospective client, the attorney becomes immediately disqualified from representing the spouse. That can result in a loss of income for the attorney.

• Another consideration is that the attorney is unable to work on other clients' business when they are attending an initial meeting with a potential new client. That means less income for the attorney and no progress on the other client's issues. Even if it only delays the work, the delay can become a problem for the client and then the attorney. Most clients prefer not to be put on the back burner. They want their matter resolved NOW!

Although we are often told that other Fort Worth or Tarrant County divorce and family law attorneys provide a free initial consultation, we choose not to do so. If the client prefers a free initial meeting, then we encourage them to visit one of the free ones. There's no hard feelings on our end. For a beneficial attorney-client relationship to exist, there must be good chemistry and at least some shared values. If there is disagreement between attorney and client on the fee issue from the outset, then the relationship is not going to work out. It is best for the client to find an attorney whose approach to the case is as consistent as possible with the client's approach.

In addition, busier attorneys will charge for the consultation. To not charge for the consultation would subject the attorneys to spending a lot of uncompensated time with the new client. Again, that prevents the attorney from being able to do significant work on other cases.

Conclusion: The fact that an attorney chooses to charge for all initial consultations does not mean that a client is "wrong" for wanting a free consultation. The attorney isn't "wrong" either. There are other attorneys who will provide a free initial consult. The solution is to match up the clients who want a free interview with the attorneys who want to provide them. The way to do that is for the potential client to raise the issue when the initial consultation is being set up. Just speak up and discuss the issue up front.

The Increasing Role of Social Media in Family Law Cases

One of my favorite blogs is the Georgia Family Law Blog by Stephen Worrall. He has just posted a very timely article that is based on a post in the DaniWeb blog. It is about the increasing role of social media in family law cases. In case you aren't exactly sure what "social media" is, it is a term that includes an ever increasing group of web sites and programs that can be joined. It is a way of communicating freely and easily with member of a group who has signed up. Some sites limit access in various ways and others don't. Social media includes such things as My Space, FaceBook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Twitter, Classmates and others. They can be easily found and accessed on the Internet. Here is Stephen's post:

"It's been known for a while that current and potential future employers look at people's profiles on social networking sites such as FaceBook. And it's also been known that people are using social networking sites to announce the status of their relationship -- or lack of one. Now the two uses are getting together, with divorce attorneys mining social networking sites for evidence supporting their clients.

"'Lawyers, however, love these sites, which can be evidentiary gold mines,' said a recent article in Time. 'Did your husband's new girlfriend Twitter about getting a piece of jewelry? The court might regard that as marital assets being disbursed to a third party. Did your wife tell the court she's incapable of getting a job? Then your lawyer should ask why she's pursuing job interviews through LinkedIn.' One attorney quoted in the article said such research is 'routine.'

"In addition, exes are posting information about their formers -- such as an estranged wife emailing 'friends' of the spouse the additional information that he was married with children, which he had neglected to include in his FaceBook profile. Such messages on a social-networking site can even be part of a harassment campaign that led to the court's issuing a civil order of protection, one attorney said."

There are many different uses for the social media in a family law case. Fort Worth/Tarrant County divorce lawyers may be looking into someone's relationships in various ways through social media. In addition, witnesses can be researched the same way to find out who they associate with and to capture statements and pictures they have published. This is a tool that is really not very difficult or technical to use, which can lead to some very damaging or beneficial information. Everyone should be very careful about what they permit to be written or pictured, especially if there is any litigation threatened or in progress.

Note: As always, think and be cautious about anything you put in writing, including in emails or text messages. All communications are potential evidence in court.