Frequently Asked Questions About FamilyLawyer.Software

FamilyLawyer.Software offers lawyers 3 interconnected software apps. The 3 apps are: onlinedivorce.lawyer (handles uncontested divorce), onlineprenup.lawyer and AI-powered online-divorce-mediation.lawyer.

Online Divorce Lawyer (ODL) is our "flagship" product. ODL is the constantly upgraded software written by our founder in 1983. We believe that was the first divorce software ever written. The app was converted to the web in 1999 and has been active on multiple websites ever since. It was upgraded again in 2019 to a white-label work-product tool for California lawyers looking for fast, impressive divorce software that runs right-out-of-the-box under their own brands and fee structures.

Online Divorce Lawyer (ODL) is more profitable per hour than cases in your traditional contested/mediated practice. By how much depends on your hourly rate in those contested/mediated cases.

Existing experienced Online Divorce Lawyers report that they are charging flat fees of $700-$900 for uncontesteds with no kids/no property; $900-$1200 for kids and/or property and $1500-$1900 for any case with an MSA. Average grosses per uncontested are reported to be a little over $1000 PLUS any add-on packages (e-signing/e-filing and service of process). We'll use $1000 as the average gross in this analysis.

Existing experienced Online Divorce Lawyers also advise that there is an average of less than 90 minutes spent on each uncontested. Almost all of that can be handled by a paralegal, but we'll ignore that beneficial fact in this analysis as some aspects of a contested case can also be handled by a skilled paralegal. So, your average gross profit per uncontested will be approximately $1000/1.5 hours = $666.67. What is your comparative hourly gross profit in a contested/mediated matter?

Further, because of the low flat-fee unbundled packages the ODL business model allows you to construct, your closing rate on uncontested prospects will be MUCH higher than for traditional contested retainers. That is particularly true if you try to scare the crap out of a savvy uncontested consumer on the sole basis of the worst that MIGHT happen in her case. That savvy uncontested consumer will hang up and go directly to Hello Divorce for their cheapest $2400 non-lawyer uncontested package with support, divorce.com (formerly It's Over Easy) at $1000-$2000 (for packages with ANY support) or AIdivorce.legal for $1450-$2699 (cheapest packages with any support). All of those outfits have expert up-selling and cross-selling systems in place for the benefit of their lawyer owners/fronters.

Did you think you were competing with local lawyers for uncontesteds? You are not. Our recent random survey of 903 nationwide family law websites found that only 27 of those websites featured uncontested divorce packages. A few more mention uncontested but do not offer actual service packages. You are competing substantially with aggressive non-lawyers. You are competing with only 3% of lawyers for the approximate 90% of the market that is uncontested (look it up - that is the current expert estimate of the size of the uncontested market). 97% of lawyers (including you) compete for the remaining 10% of the market.

Now here's the kicker. The above analysis is why Online Divorce Lawyers advise us that, when they add an uncontested business model to their practices, there is a gradual and natural movement within their practices to the reduced stresses and increased hourly profits of uncontesteds. Uncontested flat fee packages charge for the deliverable work product, not the process. Uncontested consumers know that better than lawyers do. GET THEM "IN THE DOOR" and allow ethical up-selling to a well-informed client to occur if circumstances require, which they rarely do.

We cannot control or influence your pricing, but we can ALLOW you, if you wish, to charge what the uncontested market will bear. You can see that when you know whom your actual competitors are, there is some room for upward movement in your ODL fees.

Onlinedivorce.lawyer (ODL) was designed for uncontested divorce, but it works remarkably well in contested matters too. We are always seeking practical upgrades into contested matters. ODL works for Petitioner or Respondent clients. It handles Summary Disso, FL-100 and FL-700 procedures, publication cases and military Respondent cases. It handles legal separation. It handles domestic partnership terminations. It works for same-sex or opposite-sex marriages. It handles both pro-se and full representation. It creates ALL fully prepared, ready-to-file, uncontested Judicial Council and local county documents in either batch or single-doc modes in Adobe PDF format. It creates Marital Settlement Agreement and Stipulated Judgments in Microsoft Word format.

ODL can be used as a highly profitable, reduced-stress add-on to your full family law practice or as a stand-alone practice. It works in all 58 California counties. It permits you to operate a virtual and/or semi-retirement family law practice. If you have an RV with a Starlink connection, you don't even have to be in California anymore. Remember that long-awaited nationwide golfing or fishing trip? We have one lady right now spending valuable time with her young grandkids in Michigan while running her uncontested California practice virtually.

Onlineprenup.lawyer does, but onlinedivorce.lawyer and online-divorce-mediation.lawyer only produce California documents at this time. Our 1-800-DIVORCE lawyers in Texas and Florida are lined up for their state's versions of our software. Texas should launch in 2027. If you are a non-California lawyer interested in the development of our unique software into your state, please contact us at 1-800-PETEROH to register that interest.

• You receive that first triage call as normal, but now you don't have only the illogical one-size-fits-all traditional retainer to offer. If you conclude that the case is likely to be uncontested, you have the opportunity to offer one or more flat-fee unbundled pro-se packages.
• The new client signs your retainer agreement (we have a model uncontested retainer agreement you can adapt if you do not have one) and pays your fee. You always get paid before we do.
• You login to your ODL Control Panel and create the new client's user account. You control all client access to that user account by the assignment of the initial client password at the time of account creation and by the assignment of a new client password through your lawyer control panel if any security issue arises during the matter. Client user accounts are good for 5 years from the date of creation.
• The client (and you) receives an automatic Account Opening Email that includes the user id and assigned password as well as a clickable link to your white-label client login portal. No email ever goes to the client without also going to you (and/or your paralegals).
• Your self-empowered client clicks through to your white-label login portal and logs in. S/he completes the secure online help-based interview. Most clients take 30-90 minutes to complete the interview, depending on the numbers of minor children and items of property/debt. Most clients take 2 or 3 sessions across several days to complete the interview. Your client data gathering time goes to zero.
• When the client has completed his or her interview, s/he clicks a button that advises you by email that s/he is ready for you to review the case and to receive instructions regarding filing the case.
• You or a paralegal logs into that client's download panel. The client has NO access to downloads. You download the first filing batch, which is complete with all local county forms. If the matter happens to be an FL-700 Joint Petition, you also have the option to download the entire set of fully-prepared documents in that streamlined process.
• Here's where the typical case flow can diverge a little based upon your own preferences. It will also be affected by whether or not the client purchased a package that includes e-signing and e-filing. At this point, you would download the documents to your device (1-2 seconds). You would review the downloaded docs, making sure that they conform to your case notes, which can be stored privately in your control panel for this client. After review, provide any additional strategy/advice to the client.
• The case is either filed traditionally over-the-counter or is e-filed (if the county in question accepts e-filing in family law). You (or your trusty paralegal) enter the case number and date of filing in the download panel for this client and then, if not a Summary Disso or FL-700 procedure, you download the second batch of docs (the Petitioner's service of process docs and preliminary declaration of disclosure docs - obviously procedures differ if your client is the Respondent, the Respondent is active duty military or its a publication case). If required, the Respondent is served with process in the manner discussed with the client.
• If a written agreement has been requested, most Online Divorce Lawyers will also download the MSA or Stipulated Judgment at around this time so that service of process can be as collaborative as possible, perhaps with the MSA/stip being signed somewhere close to the date of jurisdiction.
• You (or your trusty paralegal) enter the date of jurisdiction into the download panel and you are ready, in an FL-100 default or uncontested case, to download the third and final batch in most cases - the default and judgment batch - and to file it once the default period has expired./li>
• Your client's entered judgment arrives in the mail in due course.
• Your self-empowered client is impressed with your speed, accuracy, cost and the reduced stress of the whole process. The client has experienced the Best of Both Worlds solution - the right mix of tech and lawyer. Tech to reduce the cost and stress and lawyer to keep you on track. And the client knows s/he has paid the lowest fee dictated by his or her case, NOT a huge one-size-fits-all retainer somehow justified by what MIGHT have happened.
• Testimonials and referrals flow to you from those impressed clients.

Very generally, in four ways: (1) By automating client intake. (2) By reducing your client data gathering time to zero through a secure, impressive, interactive, help-system based online interview that gathers all client data needed based on the facts and circumstances of the case. (3) By automating repetitive, time-consuming and error-prone form preparation, document review and assembly such that your doc-prep/review time goes almost to zero. (4) By streamlining both the client interface and court-filing processes such that almost all of your time spent on a case is actual client support, not busy-work.

Your benefits as a lawyer include:

• FamilyLawyer.Software produces true work-product that can be sold to clients. Lawyers maintain full control of that work-product and brand the output as their own.
• FamilyLawyer.Software is NOT busy-work client/practice management or billing software (like Clio Draft and many others)
• impressive secure online client-empowering interactive data gathering interview (your client data gathering time goes to zero) (pdf intake forms are not impressive in 2025)
• complete fully-automated Judicial Council and local county document preparation and download function (in batch or single doc modes) controlled entirely by you (your doc-prep and review time goes almost to zero)
• case tracking/management and client communications systems built in
• includes MSA and stipulated judgment preparation/download
• works with Petitioner or Respondent clients, opposite or same sex divorces, full representation or pro se, domestic partnerships, legal separations
• works in all 58 counties
• anywhere | any time | any device
• unlimited use of software
• client accounts good for 5 years
• with advances in e-signing and e-filing, enables a statewide virtual uncontested practice
• you no longer have to be in your office, or even your state, to conduct business - remember that cross-country fishing or golfing trip you were thinking about?
• reduces your average uncontested case time to less than 90 minutes for flat fee unbundled doc-review packages in the range of perhaps $700 to $2000, depending on what's involved (with ALL time spent on client support instead of slow error-prone repetitive actions)
• all easily handled by you and/or your experienced paralegal
• while designed for uncontested/default cases, works well in contested cases, where you still have to prepare the forms!
• $50 per created client account, billed in arrears; includes our unlimited support; first 2 cases FREE!
• no play-no pay; if you don't get any cases in a month, you pay nothing

If you request it, we will now set up a custom white-label demo for you and plug you into a sandbox account so that you have immediate access to all of the features of Online Divorce Lawyer. There is no cost or obligation to you for that demo. There is no upfront. There is no subscription or retainer. There are no minimums. No play - no pay. There is a flat fee of $50 for each client account created, billed in arrears. Your first 2 client accounts are free. There is no contract. There is no credit card. We use friendly PayPal billing. If you decide this is not a fit, it will have literally cost you nothing. There is NO RISK. The only cogent reason not to do this is if your are not a family lawyer!