Thomas A. Morton has been helping clients in North Central Phoenix and throughout the Phoenix area for years.
Tom’s practice includes family law, divorce, legal separation, paternity, child support, child custody, parenting time, visitation, spousal maintenance and alimony, division of assets and debts, community property, community debt, post-decree modification, fathers’ rights, mothers’ rights, grandparents’ visitation rights, juvenile law guardianships, child dependencies, severance of parental rights, bankruptcy (including adversarial actions), probate, wills, estates, intestate succession, powers of attorney, living wills, landlord tenant, eviction, debt collections, garnishment, real estate disputes, adverse possession, real estate partition, and contract disputes.
Defense From Creditors Suits
In addition to quality bankruptcy representation, I now offer defense services for suits from creditors, particularly for credit card debt. See Collections page for details.
Why Should You Hire a Lawyer?
There is no requirement that you hire a lawyer and lawyers are expensive. Besides, some people represent themselves and get good enough results. However, most people who represent themselves make disastrous mistakes, often making such basic errors as not submitting their exhibits into evidence or neglecting to address entire issues. Many times, these people will then seek a lawyer's help after the fact. By then, it is usually too late.
By hiring an experienced attorney, you will employ the services of someone who takes cases to court for a living. An experienced lawyer knows how to conduct a case, what arguments to make, when it helps to be aggressive, and what to present in court (and how to present it). In short, an experienced attorney knows the system. Just as important, a lawyer does not have the deep emotional involvement in your case that you have. A look at your case with an unbiased, clear view and, if the lawyer is honest, will give you objective, honest advice. Furthermore, the lawyer will not make decisions based on emotion, but on legal standards and experience. Most people, even lawyers, are too emotional about their case to effectively represent themselves.
$100.00 Consultation Fee
This firm offers an initial consultation at a substantial discount off of the regular hourly rate. This allows potential clients to evaluate us, obtain advice and learn more about their legal issues without a large financial commitment. Oftentimes, these consultations are one-time meetings for people who may never have spoken professionally with a lawyer before, but need answers to questions about their legal issues or need help with a few forms. For these clients, it’s a quick and affordable way to gather information.
Many law firms advertise free consultations. Thomas A. Morton, P. L. L. C. does not offer a free consultation for most kinds of cases. So why should you choose to pay when you can get something for free? In the first place, you will meet for up to an hour or more with a licensed attorney, not a staff member whose primary job is to recruit you as a client and who cannot give you legal advice or for 15 minutes with an attorney who will avoid giving you much information until you have paid a substantial retainer. Tom will answer your questions, give you advice, and describe your options for resolving legal issues. If I cannot help you, I will try to give you the names of other attorneys who can.
If you have a legal issue but aren't sure how to handle it, call Thomas A. Morton, Attorney. If you've got a problem let’s work together and determine how to help you.
Fees
For most cases, Thomas A. Morton, P. L. L. C. charges an hourly rate and bills in increments of tenths of hours. There is no minimum time billed for particular services, such as .3 hours to review a one-page letter or .5 hours to draft a one-page notice to the court. Tom used to work for a firm that had this practice and he quickly realized that it makes the firm's owners rich, but depletes the retainer quickly without much progress on the legal matter. Tom decided several years ago that he will only bill his clients for a reasonable amount of time.
For some cases, such as bankruptcies, I charge a flat fee. For other cases, such as collections, I sometimes charge a percentage of what we collect. Ask during your consultation.
