Debra Patterson--downtown Houston. Not close but great.
I know she's handled custody cases for a world famous athlete and she's handled high profile custody cases that I have seen on the news. I figure these people can hire whomever they choose and they picked her.
She did NOT charge me a lot. $1500 retainer and that covered everything. She also really seemed to care about me, talked to me in a personal way "off the clock". I felt she had my best interest at hand and it wasn't about how much money she was getting.
We did a Collaborative Divorce. Try to do that, look it up for details. It's where you both basically agree to things together, keeps it out of court and saves you all a lot of money.
I did not have to go to see my lawyer very much so even though you may not want to go downtown, she was worth it. She knew my husband's lawyer and so they worked together well.
When you fight over every little thing (and it's easy to let it become a power struggle), no one wins but the lawyer. Hopefully your husband understands that.
You will likely be given primary custody of your son. If your husband tries to fight that...look out. NOT b/c he will win but he's being unreasonable and it's those people who drag on the divorce forever and make the lawyers rich. Only time I've seen the dad get primary custody is when the mother is proven unfit.
You will get a LOT of responses so I will stop but if you want to email me back, I will be happy to provide as much info. as I can.
My husband and I had an amicable divorce, and today are good friends. He calls us the "poster parents for children of divorce". It's all about the kids and it CAN work out to have a happy ending down the line. Good luck.
