Office Hours

The Firm's business hours are ordinarily 8:30 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. M - Th.and 8:30 am - 12:00 Noon Friday. After-hours or Saturday appointments can occasionally be arranged but are generally discouraged.

Our Staff

The lawyers and staff of The Law Offices of Sarah K. Brandon P.C. operate as a unit, each doing those tasks which they can most efficiently perform. For example, our legal assistants will handle much of the information gathering and status reports. You will likely be dealing or interacting with the entire staff during the course of our relationship.

Attorney's Fees and Costs

Neither divorce modification, contempt, nor any other legal action is inexpensive. We will give you an estimate of your legal costs in our first conference. Also, we will send you a bill periodically showing services rendered and costs incurred to date, so as to keep you fully informed.

You may be assured that your legal costs will be proportionate to the difficulty of the case. For example, a case involving no children and no significant amount of property will cost less than child-related suits. However, where significant amounts of property and income are involved, or where children are involved, the stakes are higher and the complexities greater; accordingly, the cost is greater. We will never suggest that you invest more legal expense than the case is worth.

Whether or not attorney's fees are charged against the other party or your ex-spouse depends upon several factors, including whether or not your ex-spouse is in violation of the previous order or there is a great disparity in the parties' respective incomes. Absent special circumstances, courts generally require each party to pay their own fees. We will discuss this with you and will advise whether you should seek to have your attorney's fees paid by your ex-spouse.

Relationship of Attorney and Client

You can be sure that we will give our complete loyalty to you and your case. Your spouse or ex-spouse is not our client, and we will do nothing for or on account of your ex-spouse unless you tell us to do so.

You can be sure that we will treat whatever you tell us, lawyer and legal assistant alike, in total confidence. This is our professional obligation, enforced by the laws of Texas and the Code of Professional Responsibility of the State Bar.

Going to Court

We hope we can save you the time and expense of contested hearings. But if you make the decision to take one or more issues to a court hearing, don't be afraid of the experience. Contested hearings usually don't have the tension and spectacle of the trials one sees on TV. Moreover, we will prepare you fully for whatever role you will have to play.

For purposes of litigation and, more particularly, for the benefit of the children, we encourage you (and your spouse) not to speak disparagingly of your spouse to or in front of your children.