Getting Started with Suleman Family Law, How Do I Begin?
We want to make it as easy as possible for you to begin with us. Here are the steps we follow for all of our new clients getting started with Suleman Family Law:
- We run a conflict check
To complete this step, you need to give us the parties’ full legal names, i.e. your full legal name and the full legal name of your partner. This step is required to make sure that we do not have a conflict of interest. We need to do this before we discuss the details of your situation. If there is no conflict, we go on to step 2.
- We have a short telephone intake process to discuss your family law matter
Our paralegal Marcie McRae will conduct the intake with you to obtain some preliminary information regarding your circumstances. Questions in our intake include such things as date of marriage, cohabitation, separation, number of children if any, nature of legal issues you need addressed, pending court matters, urgent matters (e.g. safety concerns), summary of financial disclosure obtained to date or pending, your contact information and information about the other party, including whether they have a lawyer, etc. We will then discuss how best to proceed with your family law matter.
- A consultation time is then booked for you with Zara Suleman
After the conflict check and intake process are complete we will arrange a consultation time with Zara Suleman for you. The consultation can be conducted at either our North Vancouver or Vancouver office. At the consultation we will listen to you about the status of your legal matter and issues you are concerned about. Zara will then provide information and legal advice to you regarding family law and your legal rights and entitlements as they pertain to your legal matters.
The consultation process is your time to assess if you are comfortable and feel confident in moving forward with Suleman Family Law and specifically with Zara Suleman as your lawyer. At the end of the consultation you may choose to do the following:
- Consider the legal advice provided and consider retaining the legal services of Zara Suleman; or
- Consider the legal advice provided and seek the assistance of another family law lawyer. We recognize we might not be the best “fit” for you or your legal issue, and that is okay. If we think another lawyer or law firm would be better suited for you, we are glad to let you know this and refer you on to one of our valued family law colleagues. Our main concern is that you select a family law lawyer that you feel would best address your needs.
Consultations are generally one hour and payment for your consultation occurs at the end of the session.
- Sometimes we send you a retainer agreement in advance or provide you one in your consultation
The retainer agreement is a contract between you and Suleman Family Law that lays out the details of what legal services we have agreed to provide and the fee or rate you have agreed to pay. Depending on what we are helping you with, this may be a flat fee or it may be an hourly fee. The only services we provide on flat rate are uncontested divorces. The “retainer” is the amount of money you will initially pay us to retain our services. The retainer funds will be put into a trust account where they are held for your legal matter and we will bill you and withdraw money from that trust account as we complete work on your file.
- You sign the retainer agreement and pay the retainer funds
Once you have thoroughly read and fully understand the retainer agreement, you will sign it and return it to us. Remember, we are here to answer your questions; if something doesn’t make sense, just ask us! You will pay the agreed-upon retainer funds by credit card, cash or cheque. We will then open your family law file.
- We start working on your file
The rest of the process will vary, according to the service we are providing for you. Regardless of the service, we will be asking you for a variety of information. Your prompt and full disclosure of all information will help keep the process running smoothly.
We look forward to working with you!
Please contact Suleman Family Law for more information or to schedule an appointment.
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