Some people are hesitant to hire a divorce attorney to help them through the divorce process. There are several reasons why they feel this way. Some people want to save money, some people want to handle their divorce by themselves, and others have the feeling that bringing lawyers into an already tense situation will only make things more unpleasant. The truth of the situation, however, is that, in the vast majority of cases, hiring a divorce lawyer is always the better option for both parties involved.
Why Hire a Divorce Lawyer?
There are several reasons why hiring a divorce lawyer is the correct move to make in a divorce:
- They provide expert advice – State divorce laws can be more complicated than people realize, and it’s easy for a person to make costly mistakes during their divorce if they don’t have a lawyer to consult with. Issues such as the division of assets, alimony, and other important money issues aren’t always as simple as a 50-50 split between parties. The more investments, retirement accounts, debt, and other complex money issues that need to be resolved during a divorce, the more an expert attorney’s advice is needed to make sure that each party in the divorce gets a fair share of the communal property.
- They reduce stress – Divorce is hard enough to handle emotionally without having to handle all the legal details by yourself, and many people find the process of going through a divorce without a lawyer too overwhelming to handle. Trying to tackle a divorce without a lawyer, only to realize part way through that you can’t handle it yourself, not only adds more stress to the situation, it can also slow your divorce or end up costing you on important issues in the settlement. Hiring a divorce attorney at the beginning of the process makes the proceedings go smoothly from the beginning, and reduces the amount of stress as much as possible from the start of the divorce.
- They know the courts – Legal agreements and rulings have a precise language, one that it often takes a lawyer to fully understand. Sometimes a couple who has handled their own divorce will submit a proposed divorce agreement to the court, only to have a divorce decree come back that contradicts their intentions. This doesn’t happen willfully, but because the court misinterprets the non-legal language of their proposal, or is forced to make decisions on issues that the couple did not know needed to be addressed or on which they made a mistake while handling. A divorce attorney can help the parties in a divorce be sure to use the correct documents and transform their wishes into the correct legal terminology, avoiding these kinds of costly mistakes.
- They provide support – Because divorce can be such an emotional time, the people involved can often act out of emotion, in ways that they come to regret, or that cause them to set unrealistic expectations. When couples forgo hiring lawyers, there is no buffer between them and the negative feelings they may have toward each other. This can create a hostile, unproductive environment that causes the proceedings to drag on longer than is necessary. Divorce lawyers are unbiased parties whose only job is to represent their clients’ interest. By using their lawyers as an intermediary, couples can avoid having their personal involvement in the proceedings stall their divorce or cause them to take actions in anger that they later regret.
For more information on divorce lawyers and family law, contact our office today at 702 766 6671.