Why Your Divorce Attorney Won't Want To Start A War
As a marriage lurches toward its legal end, many people find themselves spoiling for a fight. When they go in for their first consultation with a divorce lawyer, however, they often discover that it's a rare attorney who wants to make a war out of it. You deserve to know why that is, and it can help you move forward with your case and, eventually, your life.
Representing Your Best Interests
Every divorce attorney working for a client has a legal duty to represent the client's interests. This requires the lawyer to set emotions aside and focus on what course of action might yield the best outcome. Everyone in America has known someone whose anger about their divorce devolved into absurdity, wanting to fight over unloved knick-knacks or a pile of rusty tools in the shed.
From the unbiased perspective of a divorce lawyer, all this behavior does is drag a bad situation on longer. The best interests of the client are rarely represented by starting a war. It's also not uncommon for someone who decided to contest a divorce over something like the value of assets to find out the assets in question were grossly overvalued. Giving up a few things to reach a quick peace is often going to be cheaper than paying lawyer's fees anyhow.
A Fight May Not Even Be Legally Allowed
The reality is that no-fault divorce is the de facto law of the land. That's so much the case that some states don't even legally allow contested divorces anymore. Courts have zero interest in litigating the end of a marriage, and it takes something compelling to get a judge to go along with it even in states where contests are permitted. Unless you're 100% sure your ex is hiding significant assets and committing blatant fraud during the process, it's usually best to not go to war.
Reaching Agreement
In all but a handful of cases, a divorce lawyer wants to get both sides to sit down and arrive at an agreement. Truthfully, the sweetest music to an attorney's ears is hearing that the other side in the case has retained counsel and that their lawyer will be in touch soon. In such a scenario, you would tell your lawyer what your goals are, and then they would hash out an agreement with the other attorney. Once both attorneys are comfortable with the agreement, they will sit the parties down, explain the agreement and get things signed.
For more information, contact a divorce lawyer today.
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