Transcript:

Hello, I’m Scott Berry, your host for Immigration Nation. And today we have a very special guest for you, Ronique Robinson. Now listen, sometimes you need an immigration attorney. Sometimes you need a family attorney. We’re going to talk about what family attorneys do today and whether or not you might need one. Welcome, Ronique. Hi, thank you. Hey, will you tell us a little bit about your firm? Yes. So my firm is called the Bastine Law Group, and we are located in the Houston area, primarily in Fort Bend County, which is a suburb of Houston. And our office is actually located in Stafford. We are four attorneys, and we primarily focus on family law issues. So what exactly, cos some people may not be familiar with the term family law or family lawyers. What exactly do family lawyers do? So family lawyers handle a multitude of types of cases, primarily those being your child custody related cases, your contested divorce cases, your uncontested divorce cases, your modifications when after you’ve made an order, then you want to make changes to it and you have to go to court to get that done. So your modifications, your child support cases, your paternity cases and your maternity cases, your gestational agreements, your prenuptial agreements, your post nuptial agreements, your Agreement Incident to Divorce So those are some of the things that family lawyers commonly do. You know, I thought was, that’s probably not realized by most people. And it’s important that you know who to go to when you have an issue or a problem. Now, one of the neat things about you is you’re also an author. So I want to introduce people to your book. And then I want you to tell people about it a little bit, because this will be, I think insightful to not only what family lawyers do on a day to day basis, but the kind of work that you do on a day to day basis. Well, thanks. So my book is titled, From Divorce to Deliverance. It is a faith based book regarding the divorce process. And so we do focus primarily on divorce. And we talk about what to expect in the family law journey. So how it get started, who to look for as your lawyer, what to expect when you get to the courthouse, all of the logistics. I find that an educated client is a better client because they really know where they want to go and they’re asking you the right questions and they’re using their retainer responsibly and they’re using your time responsibly. And so I really enjoy an educated client. And so I kind of wrote the book so that people would go in feeling very knowledgeable as they approach the process. The other part of it, like I said, it’s a faith based book. And so, From Divorce to Deliverance will walk through the five stages of grief. But the sixth stage is what I call deliverance. That means delivering you from the divorce journey from the process, from what has happened to you. Because a divorce is like a death. You have lost something in your life and you’ve lost that spouse. And whether you were the protagonist or whether you were the antagonist doesn’t really matter. It’s still a loss. And so even if you were like jumping for joy at the end when the judge said, “Okay, you are divorced.” You’ve still been delivered from something. So whatever that is. And so that is the journey of From Divorce to Deliverance. Thank you. That’s incredible. And we’ll leave some information at the end on how people buy and find the book on Amazon and purchase it. Yes. So let’s say that someone is thinking, you know what? Maybe I do need to speak with a family attorney. They would typically request a consultation. So for some people, meeting with an attorney can be intimidating. And so will you shed some light on what a consultation with you might look like? Yes. So for our firm, the first thing I want people to know is that it’s more of a strategy session than just a consultation. We’re going to give you legitimate, real information that you can use, whether you choose to hire our firm or whether you choose to go with someone else, and so they’re paid consultations. And I say that in the book, don’t be afraid of the paid consultation. I had someone once tell me he was a realtor, but he said, you don’t get what you don’t pay for instead of you get what you pay for. He put it in the reverse. And it seems like a subtle nuance, but I really got it when he said it. If you go to an attorney that says, “Oh, I’ve got a free consultation.” They’re only going to give you the same information that you could get on the Internet. They’re really just trying to sell you on them. Not help you resolve the issue with your case. And so you’ve got to be really careful of that because there is a reason for why they’re trying to bring you in for free. So don’t be afraid of a paid consultation and do your homework. Don’t be afraid to go to two or three consultations. Attorneys are just like doctors. If you want to get a second opinion, if you want to see a second strategy, if you want to see a second style, don’t be afraid of that. Even if that’s going to cost you a little bit of money, because the divorce process can be extremely expensive. And so you really want to make certain that the investment that you make is one that you are certain about. And attorneys and clients, they all have personalities and they really should sort of match. You should like your attorney. And I know some people think that’s ridiculous. No, it’s not. And your attorney should really like you. People might think, “Why does it matter? I’m paying them a fee. I don’t care if they like me.” Yes, you do. Because what happens is when they don’t like you and you’re just a fee, your case goes to the bottom of the pile. It also goes to the least amount of work that I need to do to not get a grievance. You don’t want to be in that space. You want somebody who cares about your case, cares about your outcome, cares about you. If you have children, cares about your children. Like that’s what’s really important to me. So in establishing that relationship with a client at that very first consultation, I want to know who are you and what do you need me to do for you. So, Ronique there has to be some misconceptions that people have about family lawyers. So let’s clear some of those up. So just share a few that you hear and shed some light on that. If it has to do with my family, it’s a family law attorney issue? It’s not. If it’s a will, it is not a family law attorney issue. There are some family lawyers that will do estates, but that’s not a family law issue. It’s a whole area of law called estates and planning and trust. So there’s all these different areas and you really want to go to someone who specializes in what you need. Probate. Probate is not a family law issue. It is its own area of law. So probate attorneys, they’ll do litigation, they’ll do wills, they’ll do estate planning, they’ll do all those different things. But they’re not family law lawyers. I’ve had evictions, while my family is being evicted. So it is a family law issue. It’s not. So it’s more like civil litigation? It’s more civil. Criminal issues are not family law issues. Just because a family member is going to jail, does not make it a family law issue. So those are the kind of things. We actually get calls that say, “Well, you’re a family lawyer. My family needs help.” It makes sense, actually. Thanks for clearing that up. That’s good. So we’d love to hear if you have, like, a single piece of advice for someone who thinks they might have a case and wants to talk to you, can you offer a piece of advice or two? Yes. So come to your initial consultation prepared. Have whatever your questions are, have them written out, so that you direct where that’s going. Remember I said earlier, it’s okay to pay for a consultation. Well, you want to get your money’s worth. So don’t let the lawyer do all the talking, ask questions, so be prepared with your question. Secondly, have your spouse’s information. You will get a request for a questionnaire. And so you should get that request prior to coming in. And so you should have an opportunity to look for that. But if for some reason you don’t. You don’t get the questionnaire or you don’t have time to fill it out, or because you were nervous about receiving any information, because you think that your spouse is monitoring your email but have their information. One thing that somebody never has is a driver’s license number, because no one ever thinks that they need their spouse’s driver’s license number. So snap a quick pic of it if you know you’re going to visit a lawyer because they’re going to ask you for it. Definitely wouldn’t have thought of that. Great point. So I know there’s going to be some people that want to talk to you and ask a few more questions. Would you share a couple of the best ways for people to get a hold of you and your firm? Sure. Absolutely. So our number is 281-240-7979. We are located in Stafford. We do have an office in the Woodlands, and we do have an office in Dallas, but we are primarily in the Fort Bend County area, in the Harris County areas. And our website is bastinelaw.com. Ronique Robinson, thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me.