Q: Am I able to put all divorce attorneys in my area on retainer?
If so, does the retainer mean that lawyer/firm cannot represent my spouse? Assuming there are ~30 divorce attorneys in my area and I paid a $5,000-$10,000 retainer to each would this insure they could not represent my spouse?
A: Interesting question. When you retain an attorney, the attorney will typically draft and file documents. Once that is done, the other attorneys would see that you have counsel of record. Theoretically speaking in a vacuum, if you retain an attorney, that attorney should not represent an adverse party. So, again, theoretically speaking, retaining thirty attorneys should mean that all thirty attorneys should not represent the adverse party. In reality, this could be a huge problem. For example, if someone were to use marital funds and attempt to do this, the court could most likely sanction such party and treat this as a dissipation of assets. Further, for someone to attempt to do this, such person would have to ensure that every single attorney were conflicted out, there are simply too many attorneys in Florida, in Alachua County, in Gainesville, to attempt to do this. Further, many, many attorneys will practice family (divorce) law, and may not advertise it as his or her main area of practice. Overall, it would be a terrible game plan.
Terrence H Thorgaard agrees with this answer
A: Also, (aside from the dissipation of assets problem to which Ms. Augen refers), if you have that kind of money to burn, your spouse could simply retain an attorney from another part of the state. It might be more expensive, but apparently that would not be a problem.
A: And it might be found to be a conspiracy in restraint of trade, allowing for treble damages: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman_Antitrust_Act_of_1890
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