Tips For Dealing With Legal Matters Discreetly During The Holidays

What To Do If You Have Legal Problems During The Winter Holidays

While the holidays may mean a few government holidays during the standard workweek, they don’t completely put most legal issues on hold. Creditors will still file a lawsuit or repossess your vehicle if you have fallen behind on debts, regardless of how close the date is to the winter holiday that your family celebrates. You could be injured in a traffic accident, while out running holiday errands, or even while attending a loved one’s home or a public venue for a holiday celebration. You could be arrested for a holiday dispute gone wrong, or even driving home after having one too many. Or maybe even that forced family time could make you realize that you no longer want to be a part of the family, and you need to initiate a divorce or other family law filing. But if you have friends and family in town, especially if they stay with you, addressing legal matters will be extra complicated. Read on for tips for discreetly addressing legal issues during tense times like the holidays. Our Arizona law firm offers high-quality representation in criminal defense, bankruptcy, personal injury, and family law matters. We offer in-office and over-the-phone consultations for your convenience. Best of all, your initial consultation is free. Call 480-448-9800 or click here to get started today.

Have Any Relevant Documents Ready

If you’re about to enter a family law matter, you will probably need documents like your marriage certificate, tax returns, and more. Bankruptcy may require similar financial documents, vehicle registrations, account statements, and more. You could need items like your arrest records, medical prescriptions, etc. if you are facing criminal charges. No matter what type of legal issue you’re facing, your legal consultations will be more useful to you if you have all of the relevant paperwork available beforehand. Tracking them down may be more complicated than running a search through your email account- you might even have to request certain documents through government agencies. That means getting the physical document could take weeks, and you could be left scrambling to keep things quiet instead of learning the most possible out of your legal consultation. Have access to them, and preferably physical copies printed out so that you can easily reference them during your consultation. You may always want to take notes to help you remember the information given to you during your consultation.

Phone vs In-Person Consultations

Oftentimes, our clients prefer phone consultations because of their convenience, privacy, and the fact that we can sometimes even transfer potential clients for phone consultations immediately. Phone consultations are great for people who feel anxiety about their legal issues, don’t have reliable transportation, have a disability or medical condition, and more. At the same time, phone consultations do have disadvantages if privacy is a concern. If your home is full of holiday visitors, you may not have a quiet space to lock yourself away for 15-30 minutes or more. You could have poor reception or a broken device. You may even have to worry about security cameras picking up footage of your phone consultation. If you find yourself in these types of circumstances, you may want to request that your consultation be scheduled in person.

Have A Plan If You Are Overheard

If you’re involved in a legal matter, news of that fact may get around to friends and family despite your best efforts. That may be from someone overhearing your consultation, receiving mail correspondence about the matter, or even hearing it through the grapevine. If you need to explain an arrest to your spouse, a divorce to your children, or any other issue, have a backup plan in case your situation is revealed before you’re ready. Saying the wrong thing could throw fuel onto the fire of an already bad situation.

Designate Private Areas

If you’re already in the midst of a legal matter during the holidays, you could have important meetings and hearings to attend, despite holiday celebration plans. Find a space to attend these meetings before they occur, whether you are staying with family or family is staying with you. That could be a spot in the backyard with good reception, a friend’s house, or even your lawyer’s office. Picking these spots in advance can prevent someone like a child with no filter or a nosey in-law from overhearing your private legal matters. Nip family drama in the bud and find at least one area to handle private affairs.

Use Private Browsing

Undoubtedly, the start of your legal journey will begin with some internet research. Of course, it’s important to take some information gleaned from the internet with a grain of salt, although it can be quite useful if gathered from the right resources. But if you’re trying to keep your legal research private from someone who also has access to your devices and WiFi, you should be sure to browse in private mode and delete your history afterward. This also goes for if you need to complete online courses as part of your legal matters, e.g., online credit counseling courses for bankruptcy or online defensive driving school for DUI charges. However, because these types of courses may need sensitive information, you might not want to complete them in a public WiFi setting such as a library.

Find Outlets For Your Stress

Even if you successfully hide the legal aspects of your matter, the stress could take its toll in a way that eventually becomes apparent to those around you. You might benefit from walks around the neighborhood to cool down, extra hard workouts, time in nature, or even a little more time for video gaming per day. If it’s going to keep you from reaching your boiling point in front of holiday visitors, do it as much as you can. Otherwise, you may be forced to reveal your legal matter if you can’t find another explanation for your behavior.

Remember That The Holidays Are Temporary

Unless your family bought one-way tickets for holiday travel, the holidays will be over at some point in time. The amount of pressure you feel will most likely plummet once your holiday celebrations are complete. Hopefully, things will get easier rather than harder when you or your visitors return home. Try not to count down the days (or hours) too much until you are near the end. If you can make it through the holidays, you can make it through the legal matter that lies before you.

Contact My AZ Lawyers for Your Free Initial Consultation

At My AZ Lawyers, we have a diverse and skilled staff offering services in bankruptcy, family law, criminal defense, personal injury, and estate planning. We offer consultations that are 100% free and can be held in one of our convenient office locations or over the phone. Let us know when you first reach out to us and we can handle your case with extra discretion. Our firm charges affordable rates that are competitive for the area and our skill level. We will fight to defend your position, regardless of your legal matter and the situations that brought it about. To schedule your free initial consultation, click here or call 480-448-9800.