FAQs
Q. Does your firm handle cases in my city or county? Or do you only work in Columbus and Franklin County?
Our firm helps clients from all over Ohio, and we are admitted to practice in all 88 Ohio counties. We will travel from our Columbus office to any county in Ohio.
Q. What is an Ohio State Bar Association Certified Family Relations Specialist?
Approximately 100 attorneys in Ohio have been designated as OSBA Certified Family Relations Specialists. In addition to numerous other requirements (how long the attorney has practiced law, how much of the attorney’s practice is family law, additional continuing legal education classes, recommendations of peers, judges and/or magistrates, being in good standing, etc.) , to become an OSBA Certified Family Relations Specialist, an attorney must take and pass a written exam administered by the Ohio State Bar Association covering multiple areas of family law in depth, including:
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CALL NOW at (614) 225-9316 or contact us by e-mail.
Q. I don’t know if I need an attorney, I just have some questions. That’s not legal advice, so why do I have to book a consultation?
Answering your question IS giving legal advice, even if it is just one question. There is a reason you are calling a lawyer’s office to get answers to your questions, because lawyers know about the law, and you trust that the answers you get from them are accurate, not just some random thing that somebody put on the internet. When a lawyer answers your question, that is legal advice. If a paralegal or some person who is not a lawyer answers your question, it’s is the unauthorized practice of law, and that is a crime in Ohio. We want to help you, but our staff cannot commit a crime. They have families too.
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Q. I can’t afford an attorney, and I’m going to have to represent myself. Can I just make an appointment to ask questions about the law and how things work in court?
Yes. In fact, if, after your first appointment, you have more questions as the case goes on, you can make additional appointments. You don’t have to retain us or plan to retain our firm to make an appointment to discuss your case or get our advice. We must caution you that having one or even several appointments with us is unlikely to produce the same result as hiring a lawyer to represent you. However, if the reality is that you cannot afford a lawyer and want to do the best you can on your own, you may benefit from meeting with an attorney to ask questions.
Q. If I request a consultation, does that mean I have to hire you?
No. It means that you have questions that you would like us to answer for you, and you did not find the answer on our website.
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Q. I don’t even know if I need an attorney. Is there just a packet of forms I can use?
Most family law problems can’t be solved with a simple packet of forms unless everybody involved agrees on exactly what is going to happen. Even then, there is not always a packet of forms to solve the problem. Just in case your situation is the exception and not the rule, we’ve provided links to a lot of family law forms on our web site. If you want to know if your county has a packet of forms to solve the problem, you can call the clerk of court or look at the clerk’s web site. If they won’t tell you if there is a packet of forms, you can go down to the clerk of court’s office and look at what forms they have. Some counties will give you a list of everything that has to be filed to start a certain kind of case and some will not. If you need a certain pleading prepared and there is no form for it, you can look at your local law library to see if there is a book that will help you prepare the pleading that you need (for example a shared parenting plan or a separation agreement). If your case is contested, you may be able to find a packet of forms to file the case, but when it comes time to present your evidence, you are going to have to follow the Ohio Rules of Evidence. If you don’t understand them, you need an attorney. To read more about a packet of forms vs. hiring a lawyer, take a look at this article: http://www.cornwell-law.com/07/can-i-just-get-a-packet-of-free-divorce-or-custody-forms-do-i-need-a-lawyer/
CALL NOW at (614) 225-9316 or contact us by e-mail.
Q. Should I send you an e-mail, documents or information about the facts of my case?
You should not send us an e-mail with the details of your case until you have called our office and let us do a conflict of interest check. We need to make sure we have not had a consultation with anyone else involved in the case. We cannot agreed to confidentiality regarding your facts or documents until we have done a conflict of interest check. If you e-mail us about your case, just give us your name and the type of case, and a phone number and/or e-mail where you can be reached. Likewise, don’t mail, fax or deliver any documents or information until you have spoken to a member of our office and they have confirmed we do not have a conflict of interest. We do not do e-mail consultations because there is so little that can be communicated via e-mail in 45 minutes.
Q. Are you able to do consultations with active military members, persons overseas or international clients who have Ohio family law issues?
Yes. If you are an active military member stationed overseas, or you live outside the United States but have an Ohio family law case, tell us how you can be reached and we’ll work something out. You can use the Contact or Request a Consultation form to e-mail us. If phone is just not possible, we can try instant messenger or Skype, or Google Talk. Our overseas clients may find Paypal offers a better exchange rate than your credit card, and we do accept Paypal payments.
CALL NOW at (614) 225-9316 or contact us by e-mail.
Q. Once I have set an appointment for a consultation, what documents should I send you?
If you have court documents, or papers from the child support enforcement agency, you should send those to us. We need copies of all court order agency orders in order to give you the best advice. This is important! We cannot count how many times people have tried to have a consultation without showing us their court orders, and then, after they rescheduled and let us look at their paperwork, learned that they did not understand the court’s orders at all. You are paying for an attorney’s advice – please show us any orders or child support orders regarding your case so we can give you the best advice possible!
The attorney will look over these documents during your consultation and discuss your options with you. If you prepare a list of all of your questions, bring it with you to the consultation. If your consultation will be on the telephone, it would be helpful if you could send your list of questions in advance.
CALL NOW at (614) 225-9316 or contact us by e-mail.
Q. Will I be involved in my own case?
YES! Regardless of which area of family law you need our help with, we need your help to be the best attorney we can be for you. We want your help gathering and organizing information and documents. We want your help to put together the history of your case. You need to be an active member of your legal team to get the best result.
Q. Does your firm use mediation?
Yes! Where the parties have a good faith desire to resolve the matter, mediation can be very successful. Even before the parties try mediation, they can simply have a meeting with both parties and both attorneys and try to work things out. If you start with the small stuff and work your way up to the big stuff, you’d be surprised what you can reach agreement on. If you can agree on some things and leave the rest for the court decide, you can still save yourself a lot of time, heartache and money.
Unless the case is truly unresolvable by agreement and mediation is being offered simply for purposes of delay, mediation is a good thing. If you want to go to mediation quickly, and on your own terms, rather than wait for mediation to go through the courts, you can hire a mediator on your own. In some ways, this is preferable, because the mediator does not make a report to the court about whether an agreement was reached. Private mediators are also more willing to allow your attorney to attend the mediation than a court appointed mediator. Mediation resolves a lot of conflicts without the expense of a trial. Even where the conflict is not resolved, mediation rarely makes the conflict worse. For more information on mediation, see this article:http://www.cornwell-law.com/07/ohio-mediation/
CALL NOW at (614) 225-9316 or contact us by e-mail.
Q. How long have you been practicing Family Law?
Virginia Cornwell has been practicing family law since 1999. She has been a Ohio State Bar Association Certified Family Relations Specialist since 2007.
Q. Does your firm represent clients during Child Support Enforcement Agency proceedings?
Yes. We represent clients in child support cases both at the agency level and in court. We also assist clients with administrative review proceedings and child support modifications.
Q. Is your firm able to file Petitions in federal court on behalf of family law clients (for example, petitions regarding international abduction or kidnapping, Hague Convention petitions)?
Yes. Virginia Cornwell is admitted to the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio.
Q. Is your firm able to argue my case in the Supreme Court of Ohio?
Yes. Virginia Cornwell is able to argue cases before the Supreme Court of Ohio.
CALL NOW at (614) 225-9316 or contact us by e-mail.
Q. My daughter or son’s school and/or pediatrician will not give me any information about my child. Is this the type of case that your firm handles?
Yes.
Q. Does you firm accept credit cards?
Yes. We accept Mastercard, Visa, Discover, American Express and Paypal. We also accept cash, cashier’s checks, personal checks and money orders.
Q. Do you offer free consultations?
No. The Law Offices of Virginia C. Cornwell charges $150.00 for the first lawyer consultation. However we do put a LOT of work and hundreds of hours into making our website helpful and informative. All of the information on our website is available at no charge. We know that some firms offer free consultations. Everybody likes to get something for free. We work hard to make information available for free on our website. Our website has over 200 pages of information. Most of that information was written by an attorney. It’s all available for free to everyone who wants to read it. In addition we have added the ability to leave comments on most of the articles on our website. If we get enough comments on a certain topic, we will probably add another page to the website that answers that question for free as well. We believe this is the highest level of service that we can provide for free. When you have a consultation with an attorney, you are getting answers to your questions, immediately, and we charge for this service.
CALL NOW at (614) 225-9316 or contact us by e-mail.
Q. Do you give consultations over the telephone, via Skype, Google Talk or e-mail?
Yes, we give telephone consultations, but you must pay the $130.00 consultation fee prior to your consultation, just like an office consultation. We do consultations over the telephone, via Skype, and Google Talk, but not through e-mail. You just can’t cover enough ground in 45 minutes via e-mail to get your money’s worth.
Q. What are your hourly rates?
As of August 25, 2011, Virginia Cornwell’s hourly rate is $260 and hourly rates for associate attorneys range from $175-200 per hour. Virginia and her associates work together and consult each other on almost every case, so it is likely that the work on your case will be split, with associates doing some things and Virginia doing other things. When they are working on the same thing at the same time you are only charged for one attorney’s time.
Q. How much is your retainer?
Our retainers vary from case to case, depending on the issues we believe may be involved in your case. That decision is made by Virginia during the consultation, after discussing the issues in your case, the position taken by the other party, the obstacles to resolution, evidence issues in your case, etc.
Q. How much does a dissolution of marriage cost in Ohio (often mistakenly called a “no fault divorce”?
In Ohio, it is a conflict of interest for one lawyer to represent both husband and wife in a dissolution. Neither party is required to have a lawyer, but each firm can only represent one client. The other spouse can either hire their own lawyer or waive their right to be represented by counsel during the dissolution.
The first step would be to have a consultation with Virginia Cornwell to discuss the terms that should be in your dissolution, information you need to know before filing, whether dissolution is a good idea for you, etc.
Every law firm sets their own prices. Once you know what terms you want in the paperwork, for the first draft we charge a flat fee for the dissolution paperwork ($1,500 for a marriage with no children and $1,750 for a marriage with children). In addition to the flat fee costs of document preparation, you would pay:
- The filing fee required by the court in your county (as of 9-29-11 Franklin County charges $175)
- The fee for the private judge to have the hearing in our office (as of 9-29-11 this fee is $150, but subject to change)
- If you need help with negotiation, or help with mediation
- If you need changes after the documents are drafted
- If you need documents drafted to transfer retirement accounts
- If you need documents to transfer title to real estate
- If some children were born before the marriage and paternity needs to be established
- If you need your documents prepared faster than two weeks after we have all the necessary information from you.
- If all matters are not agreed upon, or one of the parties changes his or her mind
CALL NOW at (614) 225-9316 or contact us by e-mail.
Q. How much does an annulment of marriage cost in Ohio?
Again, every law firm sets their own rates, and you are not required to have an attorney. If you hire our firm, and your case is contested, you would pay a retainer and be charged at the attorney’s hourly rates. If your case is uncontested, you would pay a flat fee of $1,500 for document preparation in marriages with no children, $1,750.00 for marriages with children(first draft only, does not include any necessary changes) . In addition to the flat fee costs of document preparation, you would pay:
- The filing fee required by the court in your county (as of 9-29-11 Franklin County charges $175)
- The fee for the private judge to have the hearing in our office (as of 9-29-11 this fee is $150, but subject to change)
- If you need changes after the documents are drafted, you would be charged at the attorney’s hourly rate
In Ohio, it is a conflict of interest for one lawyer to represent both husband and wife in an annulment. Neither party is required to have a lawyer, but each firm can only represent one client. The other spouse can either hire their own lawyer or waive their right to be represented by counsel during the annulment.
CALL NOW at (614) 225-9316 or contact us by e-mail.
Q: How much will my case cost?
Just as people are unique, each case is unique because of the people involved. During the initial consultation, you will go over the facts of the case and discuss the dynamic between you and the opposing party. You will discuss your goals, and one of our Ohio Family Law Attorneys will discuss how to best meet your goals. We will discuss how the facts of your case mesh with the current state of the law. Based on our experience, we will give you our advice, and discuss the challenges in your case. The attorney that you meet with will give you a retainer quote. A retainer is a deposit toward your total fees. Some uncontested cases are handled on a flat fee basis. Contested cases are billed on an hourly basis. If your case is contested, the retainer you are quoted depends on the issues and challenges in your case. Without a consultation, we cannot give retainer quotes for contested matters. We know you would like a more concrete answer, but it really does depend on the issues in your case.
Most family law cases are not flat fee cases, they are hourly cases, and the number of hours depends on the case.
CALL NOW at (614) 225-9316 or contact us by e-mail.
Q: Will my spouse or the other party have to pay some or all of my attorney fees?
Sometimes the court will order the other party to pay some of all of your attorney fees. Sometimes the court has discretion to order attorney fees, but in some family law cases, the court MUST order reasonable attorney fees. To discuss the law of attorney fee awards in Ohio Family Law cases with one of our lawyers, you must schedule a consultation.
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