Divorce Packages

Marital Agreements

Discovery

Wills

Solutions

All Forms

Home

Search

States

Children

Money

Survival Guide

Best Books

Legal Help

Clients

What It Means When I Close Your File

I added this page to explain why I close case files and what happens when I do.

I try to keep my filing system current, and it's important to me to make sure that no client falls through the cracks. To do this, I monitor all my clients using a tickler system.

A few weeks after you and I prepare the papers for your uncontested divorce or other transaction, if you have not returned to me the signed documents ready for filing, I will send you a quick reminder letter. If I do not receive the signed documents a few weeks after that, I will close your file and let you know that I am doing so. Your case has already taken more of my time to do this, but I don't usually charge for the reminder letter and the second letter.

At some point, however, if I were to keep your case open I would need to charge you for all the extra time it is taking me to keep track of it and to send you those letters. Most clients don't want to pay for that extra time on a case that may come to nothing, so my solution is to stop monitoring the case, stop sending letters, and "chill." That's when I close a file.

When I close a file, I stop tracking it on my tickler system, and I move it from the drawer at my desk to a plastic tub that sits on top of the bookshelves in my office. That's it. That's all that "closing your file" means. If you return the signed documents to me soon after I close the file, all I need to do is to stand up, grab the tub, and pull your folder out, and you and your case are back in business.

So please don't get alarmed if you hear from me that I am closing your file. It's simply a way of keeping your cost low.

Now, having said that, I should also remind you that divorce documents are a little like fresh strawberries; they have a limited shelf life. So if several months have gone by since we prepared your documents and you send them to me, there's a high likelihood I'll tell you they're too stale to file with the court.

A few months after I close your file, I will image all the documents in it and destroy the printed pages. I wait to do this until after the documents are too stale to file with the court. This means I will always have a photographic record of your documents but will no longer have the originals. I do this for the same reason I do most of the things I do in my practice, to keep your costs as low as possible.

So what's the bottom line? Closing your file isn't in itself a cause for alarm; there's still time to get your spouse or former spouse to sign the documents and get them to me for filing with the court. However, it's a sure indication that if you're still waiting on something, time is quickly running out.