Our Services – Austin Divorce Attorney

Client Coaching

Our Client Coaching service is designed for people who want to negotiate their own settlement with their spouse, but don’t know where to start…

We educate you about the issues that need to be addressed in your case, help you think through your options, and give you tips for successfully coming to an agreement in an emotionally-charged situation. After you and your spouse have found common ground on all issues relating to your case, you can proceed with drafting your own documents, or we can assist you with that task. Generally, clients who choose this service also choose to “pay as they go,” so that they pay for their time with the lawyer at the time services are rendered. This eliminates the need for a retainer or other large financial commitment.

Document Drafting

Sometimes, clients and their spouses come to us after they have already done the hard work associated with reaching an agreement that is acceptable to both parties. They need someone to put their settlement terms in proper legal form…

and draft the documents that are necessary to give effect to their understanding. While do-it-yourself divorces might work for some people who have no children or real estate, they are not adequate for most people. Our lawyers and staff will assure that your legal documents are written correctly and filed with or sent to the appropriate place. We’ll accompany you to court to get a judge’s signature if you want, or you can do that part yourself. Fees for document drafting will vary depending on the complexity of your case and the number of documents that you need.

Agreement Review

Most mediators, ourselves included, will encourage each party to an agreement to consult a separate lawyer who will review the terms of their settlement, if the clients do not have individual lawyers who are present for the mediation. We offer…

this service to clients who have reached agreements with the assistance of other mediators, and we are careful to respect the client’s and his or her spouse’s right to make agreements that are out of the ordinary. Just because you have entered into an understanding that does not fit into an arbitrary “standard” or the legislative guidelines, does not mean that the agreement is not beneficial to you. We believe that informed clients are empowered clients, so we will offer you the benefit of our training and experience, but we will not encourage you to change your deal unless you want to, or unless you did not fully understand the consequences of your agreement. We will give you our opinion, if asked, about how we feel your agreement compares to what might be available to you in court, but we will also do our best to help you maintain the integrity of your agreement. Clients requesting Agreement Review services are generally one-meeting clients who pay for our services at the time they are rendered.

Mediation for Clients with Individual Lawyers

Mediation is as settlement model in which a neutral third party helps clients reach agreements. The mediation process often allows clients to reach an agreement that they might not otherwise have come to for several reasons:

1) Mediators bring a fresh, different perspective to situations in which the parties and their attorneys may have stopped making progress in their negotiations because of small disputes or emotional roadblocks; 2) Since they are not advocating for either party’s position, mediators can often communicate more frankly with clients than their lawyer can without causing the client to lost confidence in his or her lawyer; and, 3) Mediators are trained to help clients think creatively and find common ground when none has been found before. Jennifer Tull is a trained mediator who has successfully helped hundreds of clients and their attorneys settle family law cases. If you have a lawyer and are considering mediation, please ask your attorney to consider scheduling mediation with us. To help you find dates on which everyone is available, please see our mediation calendar to see what dates are available before you call. Rates for mediation are on a full-day or half-day basis. Please call our office for more details.

Integrated Mediation™ for Clients without Individual Lawyers

Some clients prefer not to hire separate attorneys to represent each of them. either because they want to keep the costs of their divorce down, or because they feel that attorneys can make the conflict between the parties worse. For those clients, we…

offer Integrated Mediation™ – a process that:

gives the clients the benefits of the mediator’s legal expertise
guides them through the information-gathering process
provides facilitated negotiation services for the clients

without the cost to each party of having a separate lawyer.

The entire Integrated Mediation™ process usually occurs over several two- to three-hour sessions where both parties meet with the mediator. Fees for Integrated Mediation™ services will be estimated based on the complexity of your situation. Please call our office for more details.

Collaborative Law

Collaborative Law is a structured settlement model in which both parties are represented by attorneys who have been trained as Collaborative lawyers. As part of this process, the parties agree that no one will take any contested issue to court…

so that the parties can turn all their attention to reaching an agreement that is acceptable to both of them.

Since there are no court hearings, those participating in the Collaborative Law process to settle their differences avoid the part of litigation that includes a rehashing of past events. Rather than focusing on who is to blame for the divorce, the parties are encouraged to put their energy into solving the problem at hand in a way that will be best for everyone concerned. Information-gathering is handled in a stream-lined manner, and the parties’ respective “interests” – the motivation behind what they say they want – guide the direction of the negotiations.

Collaborative Law is known as a “client-driven process.” The parties determine how much information they need in order to make an informed decision; they and their lawyers meet at agreed-upon times that accommodate everyone’s schedule; and, with guidance from their lawyers and other members of the Collaborative team, they generate customized settlement options that could not be achieved in court. Often, clients leave the Collaborative Law process with enhanced communication skills that will provide long-term benefits to their restructured family.

The Collaborative Law model also offers the parties the option of including financial professionals and mental health professionals on their Collaborative “team” to further expedite and enhance their decision-making process.

Although the charges for completing a divorce using the Collaborative Law model of dispute resolution will vary depending on the complexity of the case and the amount of assistance the parties need to complete their negotiations, nationwide statistics indicate that settling a divorce using this process will cost substantially less than the cost to take the case to trial. Please call our office to learn more about Collaborative Law.

Pre-Marital and Post-Marital Agreements

Texas law allows married couples and engaged couples to enter into agreements that dictate and customize how marital property laws apply to assets and liabilities accumulated during their marriage…

Couples choose to enter into pre-marital and post-marital agreements for a variety of reasons. Some people want to provide for their children from previous marriages; some want to avoid messy fights if the marriage ends in divorce; still others just want to set up a system of accounting that will allow them to keep track of property they owned before marriage.

Many couples find that financial issues can be difficult to address, especially for couples who are not yet married. If the attorneys representing the parties do not carefully navigate the parties’ heightened emotions, they can do more harm than good to the relationship.

The lawyers and staff at The Law Offices of Jennifer Tull have helped clients successfully negotiate hundreds of pre-marital and post-marital agreements. Often, the Collaborative Law dispute resolution process provides a structure that eases the tensions that surround discussions about money and property, since it provides a forum for clients to express their true interests and explore options that will be acceptable to both parties.

Costs relating to negotiating, drafting and/or reviewing pre-marital and post-marital agreements will vary according to the complexity of the agreement and the difficulty of the negotiations. Please call our office to learn more about pre-marital and post-marital agreements.

Services for Gay and Lesbian Couples

We welcome members of the LGBTQ community as clients. The lawyers and staff at The Law Offices of Jennifer Tull will help gay and lesbian partners create agreements customized to meet their needs in their specific circumstances.

Agreements Relating to Parent-Child Relationships

Of the difficulties faced by gay and lesbian couples, finding a way to co-parent children raised by same-sex couples after the parents split up can be the most heartbreaking. Texas courts may not recognize the rights of “non-biological” parents unless steps to protect the child’s relationship with both partners have been taken before the partners split up. At Tull Lambert, we can help you create legal relationships with children of your partnership while the family bonds are strong, so that in the event of a break-up, the children are given the best chance to maintain important parental ties.

We can also draft gestational agreements to protect the parents’ rights when children are born to same-sex partners.

Ending Gay and Lesbian Relationships

Same-sex partners who have not protected their parental and property rights legally may find themselves at a legal disadvantage when they are ending their relationships, but that does not mean that the relationships have to end badly. Often, the process partners choose to wind up their relationship can make the difference between whether they part with hard feelings and ill-will, or with the ability to wish each other well. Dispute-resolution models like Collaborative Law, mediation, and arbitration can allow couples to create customized solutions that avoid the result of strictly applying Texas law and work better for their restructured families.[/read_more]