It's important to remember that the job of a divorce lawyer is to help you achieve your goals for dividing property, child custody and support obligations. Lawyers can't heal the emotional wounds you've suffered, and are much more expensive than psychologists and support groups. That's why it's important to focus your efforts on finding the best divorce lawyer in Dallas to help you move forward with your life as quickly and inexpensively as possible.

Start With Recommendations and Research

Asking people you know for recommendations can be part of the process, but it's important to be aware that their circumstances may be very different than yours:

• Greater, less or very different assets that must be divided;
• More, less or no children and
• Different income and employment situations that might impact spousal support requirements.

So, before you hire your friend's Dallas divorce attorney, you should look at websites and reviews to assess how the lawyer compares with other options. For example, if you've only been married for a short time, both spouses have similar incomes and you don't have any children, you might do best with an attorney that can help you quickly agree on a settlement. On the other hand, if you've given up your career to raise children and have a limited income, you'll probably need an aggressive attorney to help you collect what you're entitled to under the law. Websites and reviews can help assess which attorneys are a good fit, so that you can create a short list of attorneys to contact for consultations.

Don't Hire The First Dallas Divorce Attorney You Speak To

At your first consultation with an experienced Dallas divorce attorney, you'll get a sense of what you're entitled to under current Texas law. If you thought you'd be eligible for alimony for life, you might get a rude awakening. On the other hand, father's concerned about losing their relationship with their children might be thrilled to learn that joint parenting has become the norm. Ask the attorney what he or she believes you're entitled to and how they plan to achieve this for you. At your second and third consultations, you should ask the same questions and note how the responses differ. Use your intuition to determine which attorney you feel most comfortable with, and whose plan seems the most sincere and realistic. The biggest mistake you can make is hiring the attorney that makes false promises that he or she is unlikely to be able to keep.