Find the Best Family Law Attorney in Charlotte, NC
Family disputes are an ugly affair even when kept out of the courtroom. Divorce, child custody, and equitable distribution negotiations can have a profound impact on your children’s lives, and the proceedings themselves are likely to leave emotional scars. You cannot be too careful when choosing the family law attorney is going to represent you.
In other words, it’s not enough to focus just on finding the most qualified family lawyers in Charlotte, NC. You also have to consider how their approach to litigation and mediation–nothing like an aggressive attorney to destroy your future relationship with the other party or parties involved in the suit.
Hopefully, this article will help you find the right family law firm to go with if you want to get results without abandoning basic civility.
Featured Firm: Sodoma Law
Even though they have expanded the range of practice areas, when Nicole H. Sodoma opened Sodoma Law in 2008 in Charlotte, North Carolina, their sole focus was on family law. They now also offer services in the domain of business law and estate planning but remain a family law firm primarily.
This commitment to helping people going through family issues has not only brought them accolades, but it has also led them to start the Sodoma Law Foundation. A foundation to support organizations that have the well-being of children as their primary goal. If you
Services
Apart from business and estate law that we already mentioned, Sodoma Law also offers services in the areas of sports or entertainment and employment law. However, with most of their time and workforce devoted to family law, they are most commonly found helping their clients with:
- Divorce or separation agreements
- Property distribution negotiations
- Post and prenuptial agreements
- Domestic violence cases
- Child custody or support arrangements
- Disputes involving alienation of affections
Availability
Aside from visiting them in either of their Charlotte offices – one Uptown and one in Ballantyne, between 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM on weekdays. You can also reach Sodoma Law in several other, perhaps more convenient ways.
You can call for their family law service by dialing (704) 442-0000 for either of their Charlotte offices. You can also send them an email or a text message or fill out either of the contact forms available on their website. This may not be relevant for residents of Charlotte, but it should be noted that Sodoma Law also has two offices in South Carolina.
Average Cost
Seeing how they decided to forego listing their prices on the site, which is by no means untypical for a law firm, the only thing we have to go on when discussing their rates are online client reviews, potentially unreliable as they are. They do offer online free consultation family lawyers in charlotte, NC.
The general impression is that they aren’t exactly one of the cheaper family law firms that you could hire, but they well-worth it. Sodoma Law instructs clients on how to organize their files to ensure the highest efficiency and, thereby, the lowest costs.
Online Reviews
As we already mentioned, most of their clients feel like they’ve got their money’s worth, but that’s not all they have to say about Sodoma Law. The overwhelming majority of the reviews are positive, with a couple of negative comments.
Aside from praising their efficiency and promptness in responding to inquiries, their clients seemed to be particularly impressed by how understanding, kind, and patient every family law attorney at Sodoma Law has been with them. Since most of the issues that you would need a family lawyer for are bound to be stressful and include severe invasions of your privacy, the importance of having an attorney who can appreciate your position cannot be overstated.
Caveats
Even with most of the reviews being positive, there were a couple of former clients who weren’t happy with the results they received after paying the rather hefty fees. One such review drastically lowered their rating on the Better Business Bureau. However, Sodoma Law still received an impressive 4.8 stars on Google Reviews, out of a more representative sample of 49 reviews. This should indicate that there is not much cause for concern.
Why Did We Choose Them?
Even though they may not have been around as long as some of the other family law firms on the list, Sodoma Law has still managed to build an impressive reputation. The only possible issue with the firm is their pricing, however, since when these matters are concerned the best way to save money is not to hire a cheap lawyer, but an efficient one, this shouldn’t be a problem for most people.
Firm #2: Hatcher Law Group
With J. Gregory Hatcher and Paul A. DeJesse, Jr. at its helm, Hatcher Law Group has been helping people dealing with family law-related issues since 2002 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Since then, they have built an impressive portfolio, and have been recognized as reliable and efficient by their peers.
Services
Primarily focused on family law, Hatcher Law Group can help you with:
- Alimony and post-separation support
- Separation and divorce
- Collaborative law agreements
- Domestic violence issues
- Alienation of affections
- Premarital agreements
- Custody issues
Availability
The Charlotte office of Hatcher Law Group (they also have one in Davidson, NC) is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM. But, before you head on there for a detailed consultation, you might first want to familiarize them with your case at least a little bit.
You can do so either by giving them a call on (704) 375-3911 or by completing the brief online contact form you can find on their rather resource-rich website. If you do decide to contact them through the form, don’t go into more detail than you need to, and keep any sensitive information to a minimum, simply because of the inherent security issues typical for the medium.
Average Cost
Prospective clients only get pricing details once an initial consultation has been completed, and they are presented with a written fee contract that outlines the hourly and fixed costs. This means that we couldn’t get any reliable information on the matter, but, based on the reviews they have received, positive as well as negative, their fees seem to be perfectly average.
All of the costs you can expect will be clearly stated in the contract before you decide whether you want to hire them, minimizing surprises down the line.
Online Reviews
While Hatcher Law Group has an almost perfect score on sites like Lawyers.com, where they have been favorably rated by clients and peers alike, a look at their Google reviews paints a somewhat less harmonious picture. If you need affordable divorce lawyers Charlotte, NC Hatcher Law Group seems to be a great option.
Even though positive reviews are still more than predominant, describing the team at Hatcher Law Group as diligent, tireless, highly competent, and compassionate, several reviewers did complain about their experience with the firm. Since most of them couldn’t be verified to have actually ever been the firm’s clients, their credibility is somewhat questionable, so we’ll leave it up to you to decide how seriously you’re going to take them.
Firm #3: Collins Family Law Group
Founded in 1995 in Charlotte, North Carolina by Shawna Collins, Collins Family Law Group has since the very start been focused solely on family law, which is why their team can now boast more than 85 years of combined experience in this practice area. They have, in the meantime, expanded to the point where they now have seven offices all across North and South Carolina, with two of them being in Charlotte.
Services
With some of the finest family law attorneys, Charlotte NC can boast in their ranks, Collins Family Law Group might be able to help you if you are facing or need:
- Divorce mediation, arbitration or litigation
- Child custody negotiation
- Grandparents visitation and contact rights disputes
- Separation agreement negotiation
- Alimony or child support litigation
- Family law attorney charlotte, NC
Availability
Both of their Charlotte offices (one on East Blvd, and one in Ballantyne) are open on weekdays from 8:30 AM to 5 PM, if you want to visit them or give them a call on (704) 275-2942.
If you prefer other methods of outreach for the initial contact, you can always email them at [email protected], or use the contact form on their website.
Average Cost
True to the industry standard, Collins Family Law Group abstained from discussing their pricing. Still, if their client testimonials and reviews are anything to go on, their fees seem to be perfectly reasonable.
Online Reviews
Their Facebook and Google reviews are brimming with praises of the team’s professionalism, tactfulness, and dedication. However, there are two reviewers on Yelp have been far less impressed with the firm’s services. Clearly, these reviews are outweighed by all the positive ones, and may very well be portraying perfectly isolated and infrequent incidents.
Firm #4: Arnold & Smith Law, PLLC
Opened in 2007 by Matt Arnold and J. Bradley Smith, Arnold & Smith Law, PLLC initially focused on criminal defense law, only to later branch out into family law as well. However, this is not to say that their expertise in this area is subpar.
Services
Aside from the mentioned criminal defense and family law, Arnold & Smith Law, PLLC can also help you with bankruptcy, personal injury, or estate planning related issues. However, if you are looking for a family attorney, you’re more likely to be interested in their services relating to:
- Child custody agreements
- Divorce and separation litigation
- Child and spousal support and alimony
- Paternity fraud
- Collaborative divorce
Availability
Aside from their Charlotte office, they also have one in Monroe and one in Mooresville. While you can only visit the offices between 8:30 AM and 5:30 PM on weekdays, you can reach them at any time of the day by dialing (704) 370-2828.
If neither of these methods suits you, you can use the contact form on their site linked above. Be advised that sending them a message this way doesn’t constitute a client-attorney relationship, so be wary of what you write.
Average Cost
According to a single review, their consultations can get rather expensive, supposedly going all the way up to $500. Aside from that (possibly false) bit of info, we couldn’t find anything else that would give us a clear idea of their fees.
Of course, like other firms on the list, they might be able to ensure that your fees are paid by the opposing party in certain instances (alimony and post-separation support claims). However, this is never guaranteed.
Online Reviews
Arnold and Smith Law has an impressive average of 4.9 stars on Google, summarizing the opinion of no less than 175 reviewers–making it one of the best-ranked family law firms in Charlotte, North Carolina. Client’s Choice awards from Avvo and generally positive sentiment on other platforms, Arnold & Smith Law, PLLC seem to have left quite an impression on the large majority of people they represented.
The reviewers praised everything from their pricing to their promptness and expertise, making them seem like an extremely well-rounded firm, with compassionate and competent family law attorneys.
Firm #5: Rech Law, P.C.
When she opened Rech Law, P.C. in 2010 in Charlotte, North Carolina, Kate Rech focused on family law, since she wanted to find the most direct way to help people dealing with this kind of issues. While the range of practice areas has expanded, this commitment is still strong as it was on day one, as evidenced by their results and their clients’ testimonials.
Services
Like we mentioned, even though Rech Law also has capable estate planning, personal injury, and criminal defense attorneys, they are mainly focused on family law, or more specifically on these practice areas:
- Domestic abuse cases
- Pre and postnuptial agreements
- Separation and divorce
- Property division mediation
- Child support and custody disputes
Availability
You can find Kate and her colleagues in their office anytime between 8:30 AM and 5:30 PM on weekdays, and they’ll be more than happy to instruct you on the best way to proceed with your case.
If you’d like to have some ground already covered before you reach this point, though, you can also choose to first discuss your issue by calling them on (704) 659-0007 or by using the contact form on their website.
Average Cost
Once again, we had to base our assessment solely on secondary sources like online reviews. Suffice it to say that if any of the reviewers thought that the prices were too steep, they were far too pleased with the results to mention it.
Online Reviews
As we have already hinted at in the previous section, it is difficult to find a platform where they don’t have a perfect score. These platforms include Google, Avvo, Lawyers.com, and others. Customers described the team as a close-knit, synchronized family, and individual family law attorneys as personable, organized, and highly-efficient professionals. They seem to be one of the more unanimously praised firms we’ve gone over in this post.
Conclusion
The emotional toll that comes with the majority of family-related issues leaves people not only frustrated but can also often make them quite a bit less rational than they usually are. During times like these, a competent, straightforward, and compassionate family law attorney could offer immense support and help you go through the process with the least possible damage done to anyone involved. In other words, choose carefully and the best of luck to you.
