The Top 5 Benefits of Hiring a Divorce Lawyer
As you try to decide how to navigate your divorce, you may have a lot of questions about the best way to handle the process. Some people even decide to try to handle their divorce on their own, especially if they believe they can reach an amicable resolution with their former spouse. The truth, however, is that hiring an experienced divorce attorney can offer a number of critical benefits as you manage your divorce. Make sure you’re not missing out on these benefits of a divorce attorney.
1. Working with an experienced divorce attorney will provide you with crucial information about all the legal information related to your divorce.
Do you know how state law suggests that you should divide your assets? If your spouse cheated, do you have the right to more assets or spousal support? As a private individual in the middle of a divorce, especially one with no past legal experience, you may have little idea about the legal details that will go into dividing your assets and dissolving your marriage. Not only that, you may not know how to ensure that those divisions are legal and that they will stand the test of time even if your spouse tries to go back on your initial agreement.
A divorce attorney, on the other hand, can provide you with all of that information. A divorce attorney will make sure that you understand all your rights and deal with any questions you might have before moving forward with your divorce.
2. A divorce attorney can help provide an experienced look at how to best divide many of your assets and debts.
In the middle of a divorce, you may have a hard time determining how to best manage asset allocation. Many people, for example, struggle with how to divide the house–and that division may vary based on how much equity you have in the house or what other assets you have. For example, if you have few assets other than the house, and neither of you has the funds to buy out the other, you may decide to sell the house and divide the funds from the sale, rather than one partner choosing to live in the house.
A divorce attorney can also help you take a look at your debts and how to divide them effectively. If your spouse has racked up a great deal of credit card debt, or brought a great deal of debt into the marriage, you may want to avoid taking that debt on personally, if possible. An attorney can give you a better idea of how to best manage your finances during this difficult time, including how to effectively divide your debts to protect yourself.
3. A divorce attorney can help walk you through more child custody and child support options.
For today’s parents, child custody doesn’t look as simple as it once did. You’re no longer stuck with an every-other-weekend arrangement with your kids–and child support may depend on which parent has primary custody as well as which parent has the greater income. An attorney can help you go over your child custody options to increase the odds that you will end up with an arrangement that works for your entire family. When you have an attorney on your side, that attorney can also help you look at elements that you might not consider on your own. For example, how do you want to handle the division of holidays? Are there some holidays that are more important to one parent than another? What happens if your child gets involved in sports or school activities that take place on the weekends, and how do you want to adapt your child custody arrangement to meet those changing needs? A divorce attorney can ensure that your custody arrangement isn’t missing any details.
4. Working with an experienced divorce attorney can help keep you more objective.
It’s hardly surprising that divorce is an emotional experience for everyone involved–and it can be incredibly difficult to stay impartial when you’re in the middle of it. An attorney, on the other hand, provides an impartial viewpoint that can help you make decisions based on your specific needs, not on your emotions. You do not want to throw away alimony or child support just to “stick it” to your spouse, nor do you want to fight your spouse into the ground over something that doesn’t really matter in the long run, just because you want to hurt him or her in some way. A divorce attorney can help give you the distance you need throughout the process, preventing you from making decisions in the heat of the moment that could have a negative impact on your financial future or your relationship with your kids.
5. Having an attorney of your own can help prevent your spouse from taking advantage of you.
If your spouse has an attorney and you don’t, you could miss out in your divorce. Your spouse’s attorney may aggressively go after your marital assets, or try to manipulate you using your kids. You may find yourself unsure what legal rights you really have, or struggling to protect those rights in court. When you have an attorney of your own, on the other hand, it levels the playing field. You will know that you have someone on hand dedicated to protecting your rights and ensuring that your voice is heard throughout the divorce process, which will prevent your spouse from steamrolling over you or taking advantage of your lack of knowledge and experience.
If you’re ready to divorce your spouse, whether your spouse has already served you with papers or you’re ready to make the first move toward ending your marriage, having an experienced divorce attorney on your side can make a huge difference in the outcome and in your financial future. Contact Betsy A. Fischer, LLC today to learn more about your rights or to start protecting yourself in the midst of your divorce.