The initial consultation is your opportunity to size up a prospective attorney. Once you have found a lawyer that seems like a good fit, how do you use that opportunity to evaluate them? Is this attorney someone I can talk to? Divorce can be an intimate matter. Unless you can share specific private details, your lawyer can't give you their best legal advice. Divorce cases can sometimes go on for months or even years. How do they make you feel [...]
Divorce is often an emotionally exhausting journey. Legal counsel and courtroom costs can be an added source of stress and difficulty in the divorce process. Many couples seeking a divorce may also fear that involving lawyers and a judge will make the process even more adversarial. If you and your partner are not in agreement about whether to get divorced, if there are issues of domestic violence, or if your finances are particularly complicated, you will need a lawyer [...]
We live in an increasingly divided world. Simple things like facts are no longer so simple. Misinformation abounds, spread by social media platforms, and reinforced by social bubbles and echo chambers. If you are married to someone whose political opinions are very different from your own, tensions can mount. Here are some things to think about if arguments over politics increasingly plague your marriage. Source: shutterstock.com / Photo Contributor: wellphoto Values An opinion is, "I like tea better than coffee." [...]
Holidays after a divorce are never the same as they were before. Your world, your children's world, and your ex's world is now different. Nonetheless, you and your family can still have happy holidays with a change of mindset and a few common-sense guidelines. Source: shutterstock.com / Photo Contributor: Stock-Asso Enjoy Your Time Together The traditions can remain, and some families may get together, even after a divorce, to share significant holidays. Ask yourself if it is possible to have [...]
In a divorce, the thing which takes up the most time, emotional energy, and money is fighting with our spouse over the divorce settlement. Rationally, everyone knows that calm and sensible discussions are more effective. So why do we get into towering arguments at all? Source: shutterstock.com / Photo Contributor: fizkes Resources The reality, in any divorce, is that both spouses are going to need to divide everything: time with children, money, and property. That means that each person will [...]
There are many emotions we experience while going through a divorce, and some of them can be difficult to understand. Most commonly, we think of feelings such as anger, stress, and anxiety. Many of these emotions begin to make more sense when we start to think of them, not as individual emotions, but as parts of a larger emotional process: the grieving process. Even though we may recognize the need for a divorce, especially if the divorce is amicable, [...]
Everyone who has been through a divorce has a story about why it happened. Why does divorce happen, though? In some cases, someone in the relationship is physically or otherwise abusive or just a bad person. Most of the time, however, divorces are the result of one side or both thinking that “the grass is greener on the other side of the fence.” Certainly, we don’t divorce to get rich. Most often, the assets are divided in some [...]
Even the most amicable divorce can take its toll on your emotional wellbeing. How much more so for those of us going through contentious ones! Add to that the stresses of work, caring for family and keeping up with the daily news cycle, and it can leave us feeling overwhelmed. A clear head helps with negotiations. It can keep amicable divorces amicable and make the less amicable ones easier to manage. Maintaining your composure may even tilt the scales [...]
Going to trial can be quite expensive and stressful. If you find yourself going to trial, it's likely that you've already exhausted the less adversarial methods of settling, and you might feel exhausted. Regardless of how you may feel, it's essential to put your best foot – and face – forward when you are appearing before a judge. Many intangible factors can influence the decisions of a judge. These can include the way you dress, the way you [...]