FAQ
Rhode Island Divorce Coaching
Frequently Asked Questions
by
Attorney Christopher Pearsall
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Rhode Island Divorce Coaching is the process of receiving legal advice that educates you regarding any aspect of the Rhode Island Divorce Process from a licensed Rhode Island attorney. Preferrably it should be a licensed Rhoded Island lawyer who is experienced and practices Rhode Island divorce and family law on a weekly basis.
No. Coaching requires educating you by providing you with legal advice regarding Rhode Island divorce procedure, Rhode Island divorce law and/or any number of Rhode Island legal issues and alternatives. Since coaching requires providing legal advice, a Rhode Island Divorce Coach MUST be an attorney licensed to practice law in the State of Rhode Island.
No. Your divorce coach educates you on the various procedures, law and issues you want to know about by providing you with legal advice regarding those aspects of your divorce matter. The education via legal advice depends upon what you specifically engage the coach to educate you about.
It is important to realize that there are many types of attorneys who educate their clients about legal procedures, laws, legal rights, alternatives and other issues yet they do not go into court. Rhode Island Divorce Coaching is a new innovation undertaken and pioneered by Attorney Christopher Pearsall in the area of divorce and family law, an area of law not typically know to provide such services without the "in court representation."
Generally speaking, yes. You are still a client of Attorney Pearsall (the Rhode Island Divorce Coach) and therefore the benefits of an attorney/client relationship still apply.
When you seek the education and corresponding advice of the Rhode Island Divorce Coach you are just like any other person who goes to an attorney and discloses information for the purpose of obtaining legal advice.
When a person goes to an attorney and discloses information for the purpose of seeking legal advice, an attorney/client relationship is formed. This attorney/client relationship protects the communications between you and your coach (your attorney) so your communications with your lawyer are protected as "privileged" and thus are confidential.
Your communications with any lawyer with whom you have established an attorney/client relationship are considered "privileged" unless extenuating circumstances exist which may require those communications to be disclosed by law.
There is no single cut and dry answer. However, if you disclose any portion of your conversations with your Rhode Island Divorce Coach to a third-party, you may break that privileged bond established by the attorney/client relationship and a court judge may deem that you have waived the privilege.
Though it is rare, if a court judge were to deem that you have waived the attorney/client privilege, your communications may no longer be considered confidential.
Your Rhode Island Divorce Coach will provide you with specific legal advice that educates you about the specific divorce situation and issues you are facing.
Each client's case is different. Some coaching clients want to be educated only about the procedure to file for divorce or to answer a divorce complaint. Other clients simply want to be educated about their legal rights regarding marital assets and debts so their coaching is limited to that aspect of divorce. Other coaching clients want to be educated about what Rhode Island law says on a particular legal issue during a divorce such as "dating" during a divorce proceeding.
Rather than going into court, your Rhode Island Divorce Coach will educate and advise you regarding whatever aspects of the divorce process you engage your Coach to assist you with. Each client's needs are different. In the end, you may choose to engage Attorney Pearsall to be your Rhode Island Divorce Coach and educate you through your entire Rhode Island Divorce or you may engage him to educate and advise you regarding only one specific aspect of your divorce.
All of it? No.
The Rhode Island Family Courts will certainly provide you with the divorce forms. More recently they even provide a checklist to go with the divorce filing forms, a few rudimentary instructions about the filing fee and even some general questions to ask at your Nominal Divorce Hearing.
Beyond that, you are on your own. There is quite a bit more to even the simplest divorce. What the court provides for you regarding a divorce is very basic. Yet what the court provides you today is far advanced from what was provided even as little as five (5) years ago.
Don't expect to ask the court clerks questions about your divorce, the procedure, the law or your rights. Why? The signs posted at each family court make it clear that the clerks are prohibited from providing you with legal advice, including how to fill out the divorce forms.
Why? This makes no sense, right?
Actually, it makes perfect sense. Legal procedures, filling in divorce documents, and answering questions relating to legal rights all involve providing legal advice. Rhode Island law requires that a person who provides legal advice to another person must be a licensed Rhode Island lawyer. The vast majority of clerks and assistant clerks in the family courts are not licensed attorneys and therefore they are prohibited from answering your questions by law.
8. Why should I engage a Rhode Island Divorce Coach instead of retaining an attorney to represent me in court?
Frankly, if you can afford an experienced Rhode Island Divorce Lawyer, then you should engage one.
Rhode Island Divorce Coaching is NOT a substitute for courtroom representation and experience. Rhode Island Divorce Coach is simply a new alternative that is most beneficial to either (1) people who do not have enough financial resources to engage an attorney to represent them throughout their divorce, including courtroom representation, or (2) people who are divorcing amicably and are prepared to work out their own agreement, do not have children and substantial assets and merely need legal assistance to get through the divorce process correctly.
There is no retainer. As a Rhode Island Divorce Coach, Attorney Pearsall works on a session by session basis. The minimum session time on any given day is one (1) hour. The cost for that one hour session is $125.00. If the session exceeds one hour, the fee is $62.50 for any portion of the next 30 minutes that is used up and the same fee of $62.50 applies for each portion of the next 30 minutes thereafter until your coaching session for that day is completed. Payment must be made at the end of each session for the amount of time expended.
A) Engaging Attorney Pearsall as your Rhode Island Divorce Coach eliminates the substantial retainer typically required by experienced Rhode Island Divorce Lawyers who undertake your case for court representation.
B) Receiving Rhode Island Divorce Coaching provides you with access to dependable legal advice from an experienced Rhode Island Divorce Lawyer for a fraction of what it would cost you to engage the same lawyer to represent you in family court and provide you with the same legal advice.
C) You receive high quality advice from an experienced Rhode Island Divorce and Family Law Professional at an affordable price.
D) You are not locked into any type of representation contract.
E) You are in control of the number of coaching sessions you choose to attend and how much advice you choose to receive.
F) You eliminate surprising invoices from divorce lawyers engaged to represent you in court since they have the discretion to take additional sets to protect your interests in the court proceedings and may increase your overall legal costs.
G) Engaging a Rhode Island Divorce Coach allows you to control your legal costs.
H) You can always cease using the services of a Rhode Island Divorce Coach and engage a Rhode Island Divorce lawyer to represent you in your court proceedings.
Attorney Pearsall accepts personal checks, Mastercard, Visa, Discover, Postal Money Orders and cash as necessary to accommodate his clients.
Technically, any practicing lawyer in good standing in the State of Rhode Island could be a Rhode Island Divorce Coach. There are no standards for being a Rhode Island Divorce Coach.
Rhode Island Divorce Coaching is a concept that Attorney Christopher Pearsall began developing in February of 2008 and formalized as a method of practice in March of 2009. Though there are no formal standards established to qualify anyone as a Rhode Island Divorce Coach, coaching has been pioneered by Attorney Christopher A. Pearsall in Rhode Island. It is not an extremely profitable method of practice for attorneys and therefore an offering similar to Attorney Pearsall's is not known to exist with other practitioners in Rhode Island at this time.
Attorney Pearsall has plans to develop coaching standards and establish a training program for lawyers who would like to implement an effective divorce training program.
At this time, Attorney Pearsall is the only experienced Rhode Island Divorce Lawyer offering Coaching services to those people addressing divorce proceedings before the Rhode Island family courts.
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