POV: You’re rollin’ down Rodeo Drive with your boo, you just left your attorney’s office where you signed your prenuptial agreement, and your wedding is just three months away, life is good! Okay, but rewind a little bit. Where do you find this prenuptial agreement attorney? Do you just do a quick Google search and pick the first one you see? (Hint: no, we don’t recommend that). Plus, what will it cost to hire one? In Beverly Hills, it can’t be cheap… On top of that, what will my prenup attorney even do? We answer all those questions and more, so keep reading.
How to Find a Beverly Hills Prenup Attorney
Between all the glitz and glam of Beverly Hills, if you think it would be easy to find an excellent prenup lawyer in Beverly Hills, then you would be correct! With all the assets floating around, it’s no wonder so many people are searching for a prenuptial agreement attorney in Beverly Hills. Keep reading for a step-by-step guide on how to find the best Beverly Hills prenuptial agreement attorney for you.
Step 1: Ask your inner circle
You may only need to do one step, and one step only, if you have a trusted friend’s recommendation for a prenup lawyer. What’s better than having the reassurance of a real person that you trust and their word on the quality of a service? Try asking friends, family, and maybe even coworkers for their experience with any prenup lawyers. If you get a few options from your friends, skip to step 4.
Step 2: Search the internet
Google is a great place to start your search if your inner circle doesn’t have any recommendations on prenuptial agreement attorneys in Beverly Hills. You can start by googling “Beverly Hills Prenuptial Agreement Attorney,” “Prenup lawyer Beverly Hills,” “prenuptial agreement lawyer near me,” or pretty much any other combination of those words. A solid list of options should pop up.
Step 3: California Bar Association
The California Bar Association website has a lawyer referral page that provides a list of places to find a referral for a lawyer. This can be useful in finding a lawyer and you can filter by location and specialty.
Step 4: Check online reviews
Once you have a few shortlisted Beverly Hills prenup attorneys, you can then do some digging. You can check Avvo and Google to see if they have any public reviews listed. This can tell you a lot about an attorney. If they have a ton of 5-star reviews, there’s a good chance you’ve found a good one. On the flip side, if you are seeing lots of 1-star reviews, you may need to do some more research. Read through the reviews (the good and the bad) and determine who you want to meet with.
Step 5: Check their website
Don’t forget to check their website and make sure they actually do prenups. Many family law lawyers do divorces, spousal support, custody, and other family law matters, but do not do prenuptial agreements.
Step 6: Do a trial run
Last, but not least, set up an initial 15-minute consultation with the shortlisted lawyers to do a meet and greet. Most attorneys will do this for free. In this time you can ask basic questions about cost and timeline and get a good feel for the attorney and if you want to hire them. Remember, you will be sharing intimate details about your finances and personal relationships with this person, so you should be fairly comfortable with them.
Advice from a Beverly Hills Prenuptial Agreement Attorney
We spoke with a real-life prenup attorney in Beverly Hills, Raymond Hekmat. Here’s what he told us about finding a prenup attorney in Beverly Hills:
“When looking for a prenup attorney in Beverly Hills, you will want to look to experienced (10+ years) family law attorneys that have decided to focus their practice on prenuptial agreements or have a mediation background, and like to work collaboratively with other attorneys in preparing prenuptial agreements. You may feel like you need to hire the biggest and worst divorce attorney out there to represent you, but why hire a divorce attorney for your marriage? Many of the larger family law firms that focus on divorce litigation will treat the prenuptial agreement as such, and you’ll wonder why there was so much drama through the prenup process. Instead of helping clients achieve their goals and intentions, they will draft an agreement that is easiest for them to draft, regardless of whether or not it’s right for your marriage. I always suggest clients to look for an attorney that wants the best for both partners and their marriage, and help couples have those important discussions about money.” –Raymond Hekmat, Beverly Hills Prenuptial Agreement Attorney
Average Cost of a Beverly Hills Prenuptial Agreement Attorney
The cost of a prenuptial agreement attorney in Beverly Hills can be tricky. Some lawyers may offer a flat rate and others may charge hourly. If they charge a flat rate, well, that’s pretty straightforward. However, if they are charging hourly that’s when it gets a little sticky because you may not know exactly how many hours it will take to get your prenup in hand.
Variation in prices
What a lawyer costs can vary based on several things. How much experience do they have? If your lawyer is a new grad, they may not charge as much as a lawyer with years of experience. What is their skill level? An attorney who is frequently doing complex and high-value prenuptial agreements may charge more than a lawyer who only does basic, low-value prenuptial agreements. Where are they located? Since you clicked on this article, we’re guessing you’re located in Beverly Hills and the cost of living there is quite high. As you may have guessed, prenuptial agreement attorneys in Beverly Hills are more likely to charge more given the cost of living.
Hourly rates
So, if you have found an attorney who charges hourly, how do you know how much you will be charged? Will it be 10 hours worth of work or 50 hours worth of work? That’s a huge difference in price. Well, how much time it takes depends mostly on your needs and situation. Do you have a ton of intricate requests for your prenup that are out of the norm? Do you have a complex set of financials that will take hours for your lawyer to sift through? Will there be a ton of negotiations with your partner? These are the things that may create more work for your lawyer, and ultimately, cost you more.
The average cost of a Beverly Hills prenuptial agreement attorney
Now, for the moment you’ve all been waiting for. How much does a Beverly Hills attorney actually cost? Well, we spoke with our friend Raymond Hekmat (a Beverly Hills prenuptial agreement attorney) who told us the following:
“Generally speaking, people should expect to pay between $5,000 to $20,000+ for drafting a prenup and between $3,500 – $7,500 for reviewing a prenup, depending on the complexity of the agreement and the net wealth of the individuals. Some attorneys may charge flat rates for drafting or reviewing, while others may take a retainer and bill their hourly rate. Hourly rates can range between $450 – $800/hour for most family law attorneys with at least 10 years of experience.” –Raymond Hekmat, Beverly Hills Prenuptial Agreement Attorney
What does a Prenuptial Agreement Attorney in Beverly Hills do?
Let’s talk about what happens once you hire that prenup attorney. What do they actually do?
- Provide legal advice
What should I put in my prenup? Should I include a sunset clause? What about a death clause? There are lots of things that a prenuptial agreement lawyer can advise you on, legally, pertaining to your prenuptial agreement.
- Create a prenuptial agreement draft
Of course, a prenuptial agreement attorney is going to actually draft the contract for you. They may add in customized clauses that are specific to your situation and ensure the contract meets your needs.
- Answer questions
Once you get the draft of the prenup and your lawyer explains it to you, it’s probable that you’ll have questions. What does this severability clause mean? How does the death clause work? What happens if we get a divorce? And so on, so forth.
- Negotiate with your partner and their lawyer
It’s healthy and normal to not agree on every last detail with your partner. That’s where negotiations come in. They don’t have to be hostile, in fact, a good prenup lawyer will make sure it’s not hostile, but negotiations may still be necessary.
- What they DON’T do
When you hire a prenuptial agreement attorney, you’re not necessarily hiring a divorce attorney. You can hire a prenup attorney and then hire a different divorce attorney if the time ever comes for that. Some prenup attorneys may also be divorce attorneys and you can use them for your divorce if you want to. But the moral of the story is that hiring a prenup lawyer is not equivalent to hiring a divorce lawyer.
Nicole Sheehey is the Head of Legal Content at HelloPrenup, and an Illinois licensed attorney. She has a wealth of knowledge and experience when it comes to prenuptial agreements. Nicole has Juris Doctor from John Marshall Law School. She has a deep understanding of the legal and financial implications of prenuptial agreements, and enjoys writing and collaborating with other attorneys on the nuances of the law. Nicole is passionate about helping couples locate the information they need when it comes to prenuptial agreements. You can reach Nicole here: [email protected]
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