How Do You Evaluate The Efficacy Of Your Divorce Lawyer? Location: Missouri

Location: Missouri

So I’m involved in a a fairly contentious divorce with one young child. I am the one that filed for divorce after my soon to be ex wife took our son from our residence and wouldn’t let me see him. So the primary motivator for the divorce was initiation of custody proceedings because you can’t have one without the other in Missouri.

There is no abuse, drug use or infidelity.I am very cognizant/cautious of anything that could risk this case on my end. We had our temporary custody hearing last month and after several months of being inhibited from seeing my son, I received a fairly generous custody ruling in my favor.

A couple of concerns I have with my lawyer:

He is very quick to respond to emails and texts but he rarely responds with the specifics of what I am asking for. Things such as the status of filings, potential repercussions for my spouses exhibited behavior (I’ve had to pay for two pediatrician visits because she would not let me be present at his regularly scheduled check ups, I was relegated by my to five minutes with my so via FaceTime every other day for contact for several weeks, etc) and what the strategy is moving forward. I will go weeks without hearing from him and then get a generic “it’s a process” answer to pretty much any question I ask.

I said that I received a favorable custody ruling; my lawyer was tasked with writing the temporary custody order and it has sat for thirty days because the opposing council is arguing that he misinterpreted what the judge was saying. I have requested a second hearing multiple times and he has yet to follow through under the auspices he is still negotiating with the opposing council. The custody ruling was received with next to no input from our side, and was based solely on what the judge perceived my spouses behavior to be.

He is almost impossible to get a hold of by phone other than text as he is constantly citing that he either has a schedule mediation or trial.

He was supposed to have a phone call with the opposing counsel last week and I didn’t hear anything about the result. This weekend she violated the judges stated custody ruling and I was not allowed to see my son citing she had plans for Mother’s Day. It has been radio silence from my lawyer.

There has been a pattern of inhibiting me from seeing my son and participating in his medical care. This is well documented via texts and our family wizard messaging all of which has been submitted as part of discovery.

So I have several questions: am I right to suspect that his case load is likely too high to give my case individualized attention or do I have unrealistic expectations?

He keeps telling me that I essentially just have to deal with her behavior “because the court is not going to micromanage her”. This seems to run contrary to the speech the judge gave her in our previous hearing when she stated quote “if you continue your behavior, it will be held against you in the final custody determination”.

If I need to replace him, am I running a risk of damaging my case by doing so? I don’t want to appear like an unruly client but I feel like I am beginning to genuinely jeopardize my future with my some by continuing to retain him.

At my lawyers insistence, the initial petition was for 50-50 custody. My spouse counter petitioned for full custody. Did I make a mistake in trusting him on this?

Since the temporary custody order is still a draft, is being inhibited from seeing my son this weekend even enforceable or did she realistically just get away with it? is it appropriate that it hasn’t been finalized? I keep being told “it’s a process” but 30 days seems like a long time for what I perceived as a clear cut ruling