Winslow, NJ Divorce Law Firms & Lawyers

In Washington state, if your husband has been served with the initial pleadings, and has failed to respond, you can obtain a final Decree of Dissolution from the court by default 60 days following the service of pleadings on him.

Too much depends on your initial agreement with your lawyer. If he was to be paid on contingency, you should have to pay only if, as and when you collect. If your agreement was for a flat or pre-determined fee, you're stuck with the bill. But if you're overwhelmed with medical debt as well, you might consider consulting a bankruptcy lawyer. A bankruptcy could wipe out the unpaid attorney fee as well. Good luck.

Make absolutely certain that each and every element of your agreement is accurately reflected in the final written pleadings - the (1) Findings of Fact/Conclusions of Law, (2) the Decree of Dissolution of Marriage, (3) the Order of Child Support, (4) the Child Support Worksheets and (5) the Parenting Plan. Then both of you sign each of these pleadings, and make copies. Then make absolutely certain that those same signed pleadings (1) to (5) are presented to the judge at the appropriate time and have been signed by the judge. That is the only way to assure (a) no changes have been made to the agreements (b) the judge does want to make changes and (c) you are actually divorced. (There are thousands of examples of one spouse simply relying on the other spouse to finalize the divorce on the terms they "think" they agreed to - only to discover years later that their spouse had changed the documents before presenting them to the judge, or failed to even finalize the divorce.)