If your marriage is headed for divorce, should you bother with the services of a free divorce lawyer or should you resign yourself to paying the high fees of a divorce lawyer who charges by the hour?

Unfortunately, divorce is rarely something that comes to a conclusion quickly. Divorce is often a long and expensive process, usually lasting for months and sometimes even for years in particularly complicated or contentious relationships. Using attorneys that charge by the hour will usually lead to huge legal bills and potentially serious financial pressure on the couple getting the divorce. It is therefore beneficial to determine whether a free divorce lawyer is available for your situation.

So how do you find a free divorce lawyer and is a free divorce attorney going to give you the same quality of legal advice that you would get from an attorney who charges you money for his time and expertise? Your options include getting legal assistance from local community organizations that specialize in providing access to free pro-bono legal work from local law firms. These community organizations are usually non-profit and have lawyers and attorneys on staff to take on the legal cases of the people in their communities. In addition, many reputable law firms, both small and large, donate a lot of their time and services pro bono, including free divorce lawyers and attorneys.

Maybe you can’t afford to pay an attorney and there is no community organization located near where you live that can offer you a low cost or free divorce attorney. If you have the time, you can do your own research by reading books that can assist you with self-directed divorce. You can also get general divorce advice from talkshows on the radio that specialize in legal advice. Because of the talk show format however, the advice may not be specific enough for your situation and you would be well advised to confirm any advice with an attorney before acting on it.

Another alternative you may want to investigate is the pro se divorce. This means that you will be representing yourself without an attorney during the divorce. Understand that you will be responsible for filling out and filing all the same court documents and forms that a lawyer would fill out and you must have an understanding of the requirements of the divorce laws in your state. Furthermore, you should only consider a pro se divorce if your divorce is uncontested, you have no children to fight over and there are no marital assets to divide. Unless your divorce situation is going to be that simple, it is highly recommended that you get professional legal advice, whether or not you can find a free divorce lawyer in your area.

Is there a difference in the quality of legal advice that you can expect from a lawyer who charges hourly for his legal services and the legal advice that you can get from a free divorce lawyer? You may think that attorneys that charge for their advice may give better advice, but remember that all divorce attorneys have to pass their state’s bar exam in order to practice law and the fee charged does not necessarily correlate to the quality of advice given. Perhaps more important is the motivation of the lawyer assisting you. The lawyer charging you money may not even care whether a divorce proceeding drags out for a long time because he may end up making more money this way. A free divorce lawyer may be a better choice for you because he or she is probably motivated by a sincere desire to help you resolve a difficult issue and move forward in your life