A good divorce is better than a bad marriage. This is a universal truth. You see, a marriage is a union that will determine your quality of life quite drastically. It affects more than just your marital status. It also changes your living situation, your ownership over your possessions, custody over children and much, much more. Overall, a divorce lawyer is there to ensure that you get your fair share in the divorce. Since divorce is not the end of the world, a lawyer is there to ensure that you have a clean start and perspective future. Here’s why this is so important.
1. Someone impartial
The first thing you need to understand is that what’s fair and what’s legal aren’t always one and the same. Sure, the reason that the marriage didn’t work could be your fault or your spouse’s fault but, in the eyes of the law, this is not necessarily the most important thing. Dwelling in the past is always a bad idea and allowing yourself to be haunted by these memories will disrupt your decision-making process. You want this to be over quickly so that you can move on with your life, however, handling this quickly sometimes means handling it while you’re still under the influence of all these recent emotions. A divorce lawyer is an impartial outsider.
2. Custody of children
Children are the most important factor to consider during any divorce. A nasty divorce can cause them so many problems and issues that they won’t be able to process or resolve for years to come. This is why you need to make sure that the divorce is clean. Regardless of your gender, you need to fight for your children. According to one of the most recent statistics, about 21 fathers die by suicide in Australia every week. This is a huge problem and it is sometimes a result of not fighting their legal battle up to their full capacity.
3. The future coexistence
Regardless of how vengeful you may feel at the moment, it’s always better to part your ways in good spirits. Namely, you probably have a mutual property and how efficiently you’ll be able to sell it often depends on whether one partner is rushing the other. Second, you will have mutual friends and acquaintances and what you want to avoid is forcing them to choose sides. Just because your partner is abandoning you doesn’t necessarily mean that they no longer care about you or your family members. With a good family lawyer on your side, you can make a difference in this respect.
4. Future finances
Paying or receiving alimony and child support is there for a reason but without a good lawyer, this can bleed you dry. Think about the fact that this is a regular monthly expense that you’ll have to cover or an income that you’ll receive. In a case where you’re paying alimony/child support, this will have to be counted on top of all your other expenses like mortgage payment, utilities, etc. So, the amount that you have to pay will be a factor that you’ll have to budget every single month. Every single dollar that you pay/receive counts.
5. Special circumstances
Previously, the majority of our thesis was based on the fact that you can have a clean, mature divorce, however, what if there’s something more sinister at play. What if your (soon to be ex) spouse is unstable and, as such a threat to you and your child (children). If you want a restraining order or a specific outcome of the custody battle, you’ll have to start out several legal procedures that won’t be that easy to pull off. For this, you need a legal expert and a specialist on your side.
6. You always need a lawyer
If you’re getting a divorce, you need a divorce lawyer. That’s it! Regardless if you have a good relationship with your partner and if you’ve agreed to split. Legal procedures still need to be honored and regardless of how well you believe to know each other, you just can’t put something so big into someone else’s hands. So, hire a lawyer if for no other reason than to get a quote. At least have them review what you and your partner have agreed upon and ask them for their honest opinion. Your friends and family are bound to be biased, so this sort of insight may prove to be invaluable.
In conclusion
In the end, you need to keep in mind that you need a divorce lawyer in order to get the legal side of the divorce sorted out. While they can help alleviate some tension or help you negotiate, the truth is that your future relationship with your former partner really isn’t in their hands. This is something that you need to take into serious consideration.