Selecting an experienced divorce attorney is one of the most vital decisions you’ll ever have to make. Solicit recommendations from friends and family before meeting multiple lawyers before making your choice.
How an attorney presents herself can give insight into their approach. For instance, someone identifying themselves as a divorce attorney might embrace its tough and often antagonistic connotations.
What Is a Divorce Lawyer?
Divorce attorneys are adept at mediating negotiations within and outside of court on issues such as custody, property division and ongoing spousal support. Furthermore, they serve as an objective third party when emotions flare and help keep both parties calm during heated moments of negotiation.
Divorce lawyers spend most of their days conducting research, drafting paperwork and filing it with the court. They help their clients compile a complete list of assets and liabilities while reviewing other pertinent data such as tax returns, medical bills, stock statements and prenuptial agreements, prenuptial agreements or real estate tax records. Furthermore, they assist their clients with settlement conferences or court appearances and can advise on alternatives such as mediation that could save both time and money in litigation costs.
Child Custody
Custody of children is at the core of most divorce proceedings. Although parents can attempt to reach an arrangement themselves, sometimes a judge must step in. When making their determinations about custody arrangements, judges take into account several factors including what would be in the best interests of the child and can award physical custody either solely to one parent or jointly as well as legal custody arrangements between both of them.
In general, judges award joint custody arrangements wherein children spend equal time with both parents. If one parent has substance abuse problems or domestic violence history that puts their ability to provide a safe environment for the child in doubt. Furthermore, the court might take into consideration work schedules, distance from school and extracurricular activities when awarding custody arrangements.
Child Support
After a couple with children separates, a judge typically requires one parent to make payments to the other for their expenses related to raising the children. Exact amounts and requirements depend on which state you live in.
Child support is determined by combining both incomes and then using an appropriate formula to determine an amount that will support children living at both locations. Courts consider factors such as housing costs, insurance premiums and the costs of raising them as well as any extraordinary expenses such as orthodontia or medical treatment that arises.
If either parent experiences an important change to their financial circumstances, they can petition the court for modification. For example, if one loses their job and payment amounts decrease due to unemployment benefits. A lawyer can be helpful when making such arguments before court.
Property Division
Asset division is an essential aspect of divorce proceedings and can often prove contentious, particularly when it involves things such as the family home or one spouse’s business. Luckily, most states allow equitable division courts who can divide marital property fairly between spouses.
What this really means is that a judge will assess and divide up assets and debts of both partners equally, though that doesn’t have to mean 50-50; they judge will instead try to distribute property fairly. Sometimes it can be difficult separating individual property from marital assets when couples use joint bank accounts or use funds from the marriage on assets owned individually.
Spousal Support
Spousal support (also referred to as maintenance or alimony) is an income-based financial award that courts may grant in a divorce to help lower-wage earners maintain their standard of living after marriage ends.
Spousal support comes in different forms: temporary and permanent. A judge may grant rehabilitative alimony payments that support one spouse while they go back to school or get career training that will enable them to earn more in the future.
Duration and type of spousal support depend on factors like length of marriage, each party’s income and what property each is receiving in the property division process. Judges often utilize statutory formulae to calculate spousal support amounts but may make exceptions for compelling reasons.
