Hartwell handles divorce and custody with a settlement-first philosophy that keeps money in your family and conflict away from your kids — while being fully prepared to litigate when the other side won't be reasonable.
§ Monthly invoices itemized to the tenth of an hour — you'll never wonder what a bill was for.
Assets, custody factors, and how courts here really weigh them.
Best case, likely case, worst case — not just the one you want to hear.
Mediated: $4–8k. Negotiated: $8–20k. Trial: we'll be honest, it's a lot.
Documents to gather, accounts to protect, mistakes to not make — free advice, either way.
Contested and uncontested, from filing to final decree. We push settlement hard because trials spend your kids' college fund on our fees — and we say that out loud.
Uncontested flat fee: $3,500Parenting plans, modifications, relocation cases. Built around what courts actually order here, and what your children actually need.
The children are not leverage. Ever.One attorney-mediator, both spouses, a settlement in weeks instead of a war over months. The cheapest divorce is the one you negotiate.
Typically $4,000–8,000 totalPrenuptial and postnuptial agreements that hold up — drafted plainly enough that both people actually understand what they signed.
From $1,800 flatWe negotiate from prepared-for-trial strength. Opposing counsel knows which firms fold; being ready is why we rarely have to go.
Every motion has a cost-benefit conversation first. A $3,000 fight over a $1,500 couch fails that test — we'll tell you so.
We don't weaponize children, and we'll withdraw before helping a client do it. Judges notice. So do kids, forever.
"She talked me out of three fights I wanted and won the one that mattered. My divorce cost half what my brother's did, and my kids still have two functioning parents."
Custody & divorce client · 2025Uncontested with agreement: $3,500 flat. Mediated: $4,000–8,000 total between both spouses. Negotiated but contested: $8,000–20,000. Trial: $25,000+, and we'll spend the first months trying to keep you out of that bracket. Your consult ends with your range in writing.
Almost certainly not — the internet's horror stories are trials, and 95% of cases here settle. Courts start from equitable division and shared parenting; the consult maps your actual starting position, which is usually calmer than 2am Google suggested.
Don't empty accounts, don't move out without advice, don't text anything you wouldn't read to a judge, and don't introduce the kids to anyone new yet. The consult's week-one checklist covers the rest.
For mediation itself, yes — the mediator is neutral and drafts the agreement; each spouse can have review counsel look it over before signing (we encourage it). It's the least expensive and least scarring route when both people can sit in a room.
Settlement-first family law. Uncontested from $3,500 flat. Know your range before you commit.
A firm that does the math with you. Mediation from $4k total.
One hour, your realistic outcomes, and what not to do before filing.
Outcomes, cost range, and the week-one checklist, in writing.
Which path fits their facts — with real cost math.
Local custody norms — replaces 2am Google with ground truth.
Fees explained line by line before any signature.
No pressure close; some consults rightly end in reconciliation or waiting. Door open.
Realistic outcomes, a written cost range, and this week's do-and-don't list — hire us or don't.
Book a Consultation§ Evening consults available · everything you say is privileged, hire us or not