What Family Court Lawyers Can Tell You

Over the many years working as family court lawyers, our firm has seen a lot. Divorce is one of the most common types of cases to walk into our office, and it’s almost always an overwhelming time for the individual.

Keeping emotions in check and continuing to think and act rationally while you’re feeling emotionally raw can be quite difficult. You’re on an epic emotional roller coaster, alternating between hurt, confusion, anger, and a variety of other emotions.

To help ease an already troubled time, our family court lawyers have compiled a list of tips we share with our clients when the process begins. Hopefully, you’ll find one that resonates to help you during this incredibly trying time.

Divorce Is a Process and It Takes Time

There is a misconception about how quickly divorces take place. Many people think it can be done in just a few weeks and are surprised to be still in the middle of the process several months later.

However, you need to understand one of the worst things you can do is try to rush through it. Don’t sign anything without reading it through first, and never take the advice of your spouse’s attorney. Retain your own counsel, and run the agreement by them and a financial professional or accountant before signing anything.

This Is YOUR Divorce

As much as you would like your lawyer simply to make the decisions for you, that’s not our job. We’re experienced, yes. We’ve handled many cases, some similar to yours. But at the end of the day, only you know what you’re going to able to live with down the road. While you can certainly listen to your lawyer’s advice, YOU are the one who needs to make the final decision.

Ignore Friends and Family When It Comes to Steering Your Divorce

No, we don’t mean that literally. But when it comes to getting a divorce, many of your inner circle friends will have tons of “helpful” advice and may do a lot to try and sway your actions one way or another. They might tell you horror stories about divorces of other friends. Or maybe they’ll try to offer legal advice based on their own experience. Heck, they may even feed you fake information in attempt to improve the outcome for your soon-to-be ex.

All of these are actions which can seriously harm the resolution of your case. What’s right for others isn’t right for you. And no matter how similar a case might seem, trust us when we say no two are identical.

Don’t Divide Marital Assets Until You Have a Full Inventory

At Reeder Law Firm, we’ve seen cases where someone “forgot” to list the boat in the Bahamas or an antique sewing table from the 19^th century. It’s incredibly important to list ALL your assets, agree upon the list, and then go about dividing them up.

From real estate to securities to life-insurance, it should all be on there. This prevents further legal action and property division down the road.