You know you are going to be getting divorced. You have heard the horror stories from friends, co-workers and family. It will cost tens of thousands of dollars. My spouse will make sure we end up in Court, spending all of our money. My spouse will hide everything. My spouse refuses to move out of the house.
You know what I am talking about.
Creating a path from marriage to divorce can prove most difficult. Sometimes, the only path is the most difficult path. But usually it is not.
In any initial consult with a highly experienced divorce attorney, the attorney, after listening to you, will provide you with each of your options for moving forward. In one particular instance, those items might look at this:
1. Have the attorney draft a Separation Agreement that you will share with your spouse
2. Send the two of you to a divorce counselor to develop enough trust to craft such an agreement
3. Send the two of you to a divorce mediator to draft an agreement
4. After both of you have attorneys, all four of you will meet to work towards an agreement
5. Give you enough of an education so that the two of you can put your thoughts down in writing and bring them back to the attorney to put together the agreement
6. File a Complaint for Divorce in Court, trusting that the process will result in an agreement.
As you can see, many approaches can lead to the same positive result. But there are minefields hiding in your way. One wrong turn and you or your spouse’s emotions could blow up the minefield and lead both of you into expensive litigation.
The answer? Get to a highly experienced divorce attorney early on in the process, tell the attorney precisely what you want. If you do not know what you want, a highly experienced divorce attorney will tell you. That is our job, after all. If you do not get straight, complete answers from the attorney at your initial consultation, find another one. It is no different than test-driving a car. If one does not feel right, it probably isn’t.