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What would you do if you were facing divorce?
No one likes talking about divorce. It’s ugly, painful, and expensive.
But what if there were a better way to deal with divorce? One attorney in our area has reimagined the divorce process to add clarity, reduce uncertainty, and prioritize common sense.
Find out what Good Life Legal is doing that is so different from the rest.
Changing careers isn’t easy – but Matt Ausley, the founder of Good Life Legal, isn’t afraid of difficulty and challenges. In the Great Recession of 2008, Matt was a mortgage broker. The fallout from the financial crisis meant his job disappeared.
He started over. He decided to pursue a career perfect for him – Law. “One of my personality traits is that I have a deep desire to challenge people,” Ausley said, “I have a need to take the alternate perspective, just for the sake of having a conversation. I just enjoy talking about things and figuring them out.” He went to Law School, passed the bar and started as an attorney in Northwest Florida. Several years later – he started over again. He struck out on his own to create goodlife.legal – a firm entirely dedicated to representing clients experiencing a divorce.
It was then that he realized hourly billing was a bad idea. Instead of leaving clients with uncertainty – and not knowing whether they’d be able to afford their divorce – he pioneered Fixed Rate Divorces in Niceville, Crestview and across Okaloosa County. The idea came to Ausley after dealing with his own clients and their struggles. “I remember my clients being frustrated with the uncertainty of monthly billing,” he said, “that system doesn’t work very well – because people don’t know if they can afford something if they don’t know what it costs. Fixed prices also help us move more quickly because it is in the firm’s interests to do so. Fixed prices align our interests with those of our clients,” Ausley said.
In addition to novel pricing, Good Life Legal also employs an novel litigation philosophy when it comes to litigation. “We’re not in the game of beating up your ex-spouse and over-litigating. We’re in the business of figuring out who you are and what’s going to get you where you want to go. We want to do that in the quickest, most reasonable way we possibly can,” The Good Life Legal Founder said.
Good Life Legal can help you start over, too.
Once you have made the difficult decision to divorce – you have to decide what your life is going to look like. Not how the divorce is going to proceed – what the rest of your life is going to look like.
Niceville attorneys at Good Life Legal take this portion of the process seriously and have created a unique framework to help you determine what is important, what isn’t, and your strategy to achieve it.
In your first meeting as a client – you will take part in a visioning session. “We will cover all of the details, from questions as big as “How often will I be able to see my kids after my divorce,” “what is a Florida parenting plan?” and “where should I live after my divorce?” To “How will my assets be split in my divorce in Florida?” Or “What happens to my military retirement after a divorce in Florida?””
The visioning session allows us to ensure your priorities get achieved in your divorce. We then craft a plan for your future so that it can be the best life possible for you and those you care about.
Typically, a divorce that is settled out of court can take on average about seven months. Contested divorces which go to court for litigation take much longer. “On average, contested divorces take about 12-18 months for Niceville attorneys. The big thing to know about the litigation process is that it is very unlike anything else that anyone has ever experienced. The legal system is a very different animal than services or businesses you’re used to dealing with in your daily life. This is the government. So normally, we are used to things happening at the speed of light. That isn’t how the legal system works,” Ausley said, “We jokingly say that the wheels of justice turn slowly. But, that is an understatement. There are a lot of moving parts in the legal system, and each of these is moving on its own schedule, which is very full. If any one of these parts gets jammed up, it snowballs. So, it just takes way, way longer than anyone thinks it should.”
That is just one reason it is so important to have a fixed price. A high hourly rate over 12-18 months can add up to costs that people can’t possibly afford. You wouldn’t remodel your kitchen without a fixed-price bid, how could you consider litigating without one. We all know what happens where there is no budget.
So, what is a fair amount to pay an attorney for a divorce? Well, it depends on what you are looking for, what you want to achieve, what your spouse wants to achieve and what everything is worth to you.
Prices may vary. But there is one thing that Good Life Legal can promise you that few others can; you’ll pay one exact amount to get you through your divorce and on to the rest of your life.
This content is a paid advertisement for Good Life Legal.
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