I am not sure I am getting good advice from my attorney. I have called around to others and they say they cannot give me any advice because I am already represented by counsel. We have a few things in motion in the discovery phase, so I am not sure how big of an issue it would be to fire him and hire someone else at this stage.

My specific issues with his advice:

  1. We are using Jan. 1 as the value date of the assets (the separation date), but he says I need to use my current salary, which is higher now, in my financial disclosure. Why wouldn't we use the same date for both the assets and the income?
  2. I typically get an annual bonus, which varies based on performance. My STBX has not addressed that at all in any of the temporary orders. My attorney is advising me to make a proposal before it gets to court, but he wants me to include my bonus saying she gets a piece of that for the next 8 years (the alimony period). Why would I include it if she's not asking about it?
  3. He is telling me I'm going to pay more in alimony than she has even requested in the temporary orders. He says it's all just a formula. My layman's reading of my state's rules shows that there are other factors that can be considered by the court. Shouldn't I try to make some arguments about why she should get less alimony? Even $100 a month adds up to thousands over 8 years.

I'm really leaning toward getting rid of my attorney and hiring a new one, but I am also wary of of screwing things up mid-stream if another attorney is just going to tell me the same thing.

Thoughts? I don't really care if I pay a few extra thousand in attorney fees if it gets me a better deal. Any one of these issues breaking my way would more than make up for the fees.