Good Neighbor Podcast South Charlotte
Bringing Together Local Businesses and Neighbors of South Charlotte.
Good Neighbor Podcast South Charlotte
Ep # 145 From Sociology Student to Family Law Expert: Jana K Jones Shares Her Journey
Ever wondered what makes a truly effective family law attorney? In this candid conversation with Charlotte native Jana K Jones, we explore a refreshingly different approach to divorce and custody matters. With 16 years of experience practicing exclusively in Mecklenburg County, Jana shares how her sociology background and personal experiences shaped her unique perspective on family law.
Forget the stereotypical "shark" attorney. Jana's philosophy centers on being solution-oriented rather than combative, helping clients navigate the emotional and financial complexities of family transitions with clarity and purpose. She explains her innovative flat fee structure that allows clients to budget for legal expenses without the anxiety of unpredictable hourly billing. "Most of my clients just want to get to the other side," she explains, emphasizing her focus on practical outcomes over prolonged battles.
As a passionate advocate for fathers' rights, Jana discusses why ensuring equal representation matters in family court and offers invaluable advice for men facing divorce or custody issues. She emphasizes the importance of early consultation: "Knowledge is power. Even if you're not ready to go down the road of divorce yet, but you're feeling like it might go in that direction, it's important to get the information." Her intimate knowledge of Mecklenburg County's local rules and judicial tendencies provides clients with strategic advantages when navigating the system.
Ready to approach family law differently? Visit lawofficeofJKJ.com to learn more about Jana's services, watch her informative YouTube videos, or schedule a consultation to discuss your unique situation.
Law Office of Jana K. Jones, PLLC
Jana K. Jones
5960 Fairview Road, Suite 325 Charlotte, NC 28210
(704) 275-3505
connect@lawofficeofjkj.com
lawofficeofjkj.com
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Regina Lee.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast. I'm here in Charlotte and my favorite thing to do is talk to local business owners, and today I'm super excited to speak to Jana K Jones. Jonna is a family law attorney here in Charlotte. She's been in practice 16 years and, jonna, you are a Charlotte native.
Speaker 3:Yes, I am One of the unicorns.
Speaker 2:You are you know it is rare, but I am meeting more and more and it's so fun. So you know, when you look around at this city it's just crazy how much we've grown.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. This is definitely not the small town that I feel like I grew up in, exactly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think you went to East Meck, so I think we're through like five high schools back then Exactly yeah, there are high schools that I've never even heard of now, and to have two in Ballantyne, where I've been, it's just crazy, crazy. Well, first I want to compliment you on your website, Jana AK Jones PLLC Law Office. It is wonderful. It's very informative. It just helps someone navigate everything if they're getting ready to go through a divorce. But let's start. How did you get into law? I know you went to UNC, Chapel Hill. That's amazing Dean's List my goodness.
Speaker 3:So how did you decide law was for you? Well, you know, it's funny, I have always wanted to be a lawyer, since I could remember what I wanted to do and my inspiration came from Felicia Richard on the Cosby Show. I thought she was the epitome of class and her little witty comebacks and I was just like, oh, she's a lawyer, I want to be a lawyer. And then my family encouraged it, because pretty much any time they brought something up, I was asking questions about it. I wanted to delve deeper. I challenged folks on things that they didn't expect me to challenge them on and they said, yeah, you probably should be a lawyer. So from the time I can remember I knew I was going to become an attorney.
Speaker 2:So you studied sociology. Is that a typical stepping stone to become a lawyer? How did you switch gears?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I wouldn't say it necessarily is, I think because I knew I wanted to be a lawyer, I said let me have some fun in undergrad and learn something that's interesting to me, because I know law school is probably going to be pretty tough. So I took a bunch of courses my freshman year and one of them was the introduction for sociology and I found it fascinating. I think people are very interesting. I think that now in hindsight it was great preparation for becoming an attorney maybe not specifically law school, but definitely for becoming an attorney and specifically a family law attorney, because I understand how people as a group in general think. So I understand kind of the plight in general of people going through divorce or people who are going through custody issues. I think more from a perspective from that sociology background than maybe some other attorneys who did a more traditional political science approach.
Speaker 2:Okay, that's the other one, political science. I couldn't remember that. Well you are a mediator. I mean, there's so many components to family law. Why don't you kind of take us through some of the key services you offer?
Speaker 3:Why don't you kind of take us through some of the key services you offer? Yeah, so I definitely do representation in mediations, but I don't actually mediate cases. So there's a little bit of distinction there. So a mediator themselves they may be a family law attorney, but they are not actually representing either party. They are just working with the parties and their attorneys, if they have them, to try to help facilitate an agreement. The work that I do is to represent a party, so I'm always representing one spouse or one parent or the other. I don't actually do the mediations, but I do represent people in a mediation setting.
Speaker 2:So child support custody, the actual divorce itself, you do all of that.
Speaker 3:Exactly so. Custody when it comes to establishing custody or modifying it once an order's already been entered. Child support, whether that's establishment or some type of modification, enforcement of orders. So if somebody is violating a provision of the custody or the child support order, I handle that type of work. And then on the divorce side, I handle contested divorces. So that's going to be equitable distribution and alimony and there may be custody and child support components to that as well. And I also help people with separation agreements, which is going to be a less adversarial way to deal with the things related to your divorce or property settlement, alimony, custody, child support issues, as well as preparation for marriage. So prenuptial agreements or separation agreements or postnuptial agreements.
Speaker 2:Wow wow. That is a lot and all of that has touched really all of us. Sadly, that is a big part. One thing that stood out for me on your website is you really stand up for father's rights. Absolutely Share with us what that means to you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so my parents had a really rough marriage. They stayed married for a long time but it was not a happy marriage and my father, candidly, was not a good husband, but he was a great father to me. He had other children I don't know that they would say the same but he was a great dad to me and a big part of why I had the kind of gumption to go out and become an attorney, because neither of my parents went to college. I'm kind of a first generation with that, so to go to not only college but to graduate school, to law school, was kind of a big jump for me and my family, and so I think that the role that my father played was really instrumental in that.
Speaker 3:I think it played a big role in the relationships I've been married now It'll be 13 years in December to a wonderful man and I am actually a second wife. I'm not his first wife, hopefully, I'm his last, but you know. So I know what that can look like from a father perspective, a husband perspective, both as a child, as you know, an adult, and so I just know kind of what men are going through and I feel like they need representation Traditionally in family law. This is kind of the one place that women tend to have the upper hand, and I'm just trying to level the playing field and make sure that fathers get the representation that they deserve.
Speaker 2:Well, one thing I read on your website fathers have the same rights as mothers and I thought that was shocking. A shocking statement, because right over the South Carolina line you know it's a different ballgame. I have some experience there. So North Carolina law, and I believe you told me you specifically stay in Mecklenburg County. Tell us why you do that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so every county in North Carolina has their own local rules, which you know. The statute governs the law of the land in North Carolina, but local rules will govern how family court operates, and you need to know both when you're going through divorce and custody issues, and I think it's important to know those things well, and it's going to be very difficult to know local rules all over the state. Additionally, every county has their own judges, and to know your judge is important as well, because what may play in one courtroom with one judge may not play in another courtroom with a different judge, and I think knowing that kind of information helps you strategize with what you're going to do with your case.
Speaker 2:So what sets you apart? You gave me a comment before we got on air which I thought was amazing about. You know how you handle and go after these cases.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I think that you know people commonly say, oh, I want a shark, or I want someone who's super aggressive or a pit bull. I don't subscribe to any of that. I'm a human being, I'm not an animal, so I do not refer to myself as such, but I do think that it's important to have someone who's knowledgeable and someone who's strategic, and so I am not the type of attorney that you hire. If you're just looking to fight for the sake of fighting, I have no problem saying that. If that's what you're looking for, I'm not your girl.
Speaker 3:I am solution oriented. When you're coming to me, most of my clients just want to get to the other side. Frankly, they don't want to have to hire me, they just want to move on with their life. You know, and that is what I'm about I'm solution oriented.
Speaker 3:Another thing that's kind of unique about me is that I do flat fees, so most attorneys bill by the hour.
Speaker 3:They're going to ask for a certain amount of money. They're going to put it in their trust account. They're going to put it in their trust account, they're going to bill against it, or they're going to hold that money and then bill you on top of it and then if you run low or you run out or you don't meet their threshold and they're going to withdraw from your case regardless of where you are in the case, and that can make things really difficult for people. I believe it's super important to try to be able to budget for this expense, and it is expensive Divorce and custody issues are expensive but to the extent that I can help people be able to budget for it, that's what I try to do. So over the 16 years I've been practicing, I've come to understand in general what cases may cost, and so I've set up my flat fee structure accordingly, and it just allows people to know what they're going to get coming into the case and when they can expect things to change, and then they can plan accordingly.
Speaker 2:So when you meet with someone initially for a consult, are you able to determine that upfront, or does it take some digging for you to know what that fee is?
Speaker 3:So generally I can quote some type of fee upfront, whether it's a monthly subscription amount or it's up to a certain stage of the case. But there will be times where, because of the complexity of the case or the type of case it is, that I couldn't quote them the entire case. It's very rare that I can do that. Generally, the only place that I'm doing a full, flat fee up front, with no additional fees that would come up for any reason, would be an uncontested or an absolute divorce.
Speaker 2:Gotcha. So if someone's listening and they're just, you know they're headed down that path. What advice do you give listeners to find the right attorney, the right firm to work with, because you don't want to get halfway in and then go the right firm to work with because you don't?
Speaker 3:want to get halfway in and then go oh, I got the wrong person, right, right. So I think it's really important to ask questions in your consultation about kind of the attorney's approach and making sure that what you're ultimately wanting to get out of the case is aligned with how that attorney operates. So, for instance, I'm of the mindset that, again, you're wanting to get to the other side. It's important to make informed decisions, but that doesn't mean that everything is worth fighting about. So I may have someone who comes in and we have an estate that's considerable and it's going to be complex and it's going to take some time to get through, to find out what that true 50-50 split is, and they just don't have the time, energy, money, resources, bandwidth, et cetera to go down that road. Well then, we can talk about some strategies, about getting maybe something. Maybe we are leaving something on the table, but it's enough for you to feel satisfied and to move on with your life.
Speaker 3:Some attorneys are not going to be willing to take that approach. They just going to want to fight, fight, fight and get to that 50% mark. My mindset is I take the lead of my client and if you're telling me I just can't do it. I just want this to be over. What can we try to do to get this resolved? It's going to really be my goal to get it resolved for you. I'm not looking for ways to nickel and dime you.
Speaker 2:That's amazing. So advice to the fellows out there since you are an advocate for their rights, what advice would you give men in finding the path they should take?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I'd say the most important thing that I can tell the gentleman is get a consultation. So I'd say the most important thing that I can tell the gentleman is get a consultation. Unfortunately, a lot of fathers and husbands come to me after things have already gotten started and we're behind the eight ball and it's you know. There's an old saying that knowledge is power. Even if you're not ready to go down the road of divorce yet, but you're feeling like it might go in that direction, it's important to get the information. Doing a consultation does not mean that you have to hire the attorney and get started going down that road. It just means that you're getting the information so that you can make informed decisions in the future. So that's my biggest piece of advice is to get a consultation.
Speaker 2:And for a consultation with you is there a fee involved?
Speaker 3:There is, yes, I have two options. I have a phone option and I have an in-person option. So when you call into my firm they'll talk to you about the fees associated with that and get you signed up.
Speaker 2:Gotcha. Well, this is amazing. You are a very smart woman and I can see why you're so successful, so tell our listeners how they can find you, jonna.
Speaker 3:Sure, so you can find us at the Law Office of Jana K Jones. You just Google that you'll find us. The website is Law Office of JKJ or janakjonescom, and all our social media is down at the bottom of the page. So if you want to follow us on social we're on Insta, Facebook Threads We'd be happy to have you join us. We do have a YouTube channel as well, and there's a lot of information on the website as well as the YouTube channel. I find that my clients generally have watched a video or two before they reached out and have been grateful for the information that they got even before they spoke with me.
Speaker 2:Well, how true it is, you know, for them to even be prepared. Well, thank you so much for all this valuable information and thank you for joining the show today.
Speaker 3:Thank you, regina, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPSouthCharlotte. com. That's GNPSouthCharlotte. com, or call 980-351-5719.