Generally, the best time to hire a divorce attorney is before filing the complaint. With experienced legal guidance from the get-go, you can improve your position in divorce proceedings. This is especially true if you expect your divorce to be contested, have children, or have a high net worth and are concerned about preserving your wealth. Even if you are amiable with each other and agreeable about all the issues, a divorce lawyer will ensure your interests are protected from the beginning of the process, reducing the likelihood of later problems.
If you are not the spouse who files, consult with a lawyer as soon as you know your spouse is seeking divorce. If your spouse’s divorce filing was a surprise, speak with an attorney as soon as possible after being served with the complaint. The sooner you reach out to a lawyer, the faster they can begin advocating for your rights.
How issues in your divorce are resolved will affect you for the rest of your life. You can start out at an advantage by getting legal help early on.
HOW A DIVORCE ATTORNEY WILL HELP YOU PREPARE AND PLAN FOR WHAT IS TO COME
Effectively preparing for a divorce requires understanding New Jersey’s family law process. By being well-informed before taking the first step into the divorce process, you will have a foundation to make the best decisions for yourself and your family. Your lawyer can assist you in this by:
- Counseling you about your rights and obligations under the law
- Explaining what to expect throughout the phases of divorce
- Advising you about how the court might make decisions based on the factors in your case
- Answering your questions and addressing your concerns about what is to come
- Helping you think through and identify your goals for divorce and how to reach them
- Building a strategy to help you keep more of what is rightfully yours
- Making sure you fully appreciate the ramifications of actions you take and choices you make during divorce.
Your lawyer will ensure that you are in compliance with residency requirements and other jurisdictional rules, so that when you do file there are no unnecessary hold-ups in this critical first step. The divorce process is confusing and, consequently, frustrating and stressful. By hiring a divorce lawyer as early as possible, you can greatly reduce your stress and anxiety.
CHOOSING THE BEST GROUND FOR FILING YOUR CASE
You must give a ground, or reason, that you want a divorce. This ground must be stated when filing the complaint. When you hire a divorce lawyer early on in your case, they can advise you about choosing a ground for filing for divorce, based on your circumstances. Most people file on the no-fault ground of “unreconcilable differences,” which does not blame either party for doing something wrong.
In rare instances, it may make sense to file on a fault-based ground. As described in N.J.S.A. 2A:34-2, fault grounds in New Jersey include the following:
- Adultery
- Desertion
- Extreme cruelty
- Alcohol or drug addiction
- Imprisonment
- Institutionalization due to mental illness
- Sexual deviancy.
Once your attorney is aware of the facts of your marriage and what is driving the divorce, they can advise you about the most appropriate filing ground.
REACHING SETTLEMENT BEFORE FILING FOR DIVORCE
Sometimes spouses are able to reach settlement on property division, child custody, and alimony (if that is a factor) before the divorce complaint is filed. When this is a possibility, it makes the divorce process faster, less expensive, and often less contentious. This is an area that an attorney can help with when they are brought in before the official legal process begins.
Your attorney can represent you in negotiations with your spouse, and their lawyer if they have one. Once you and your spouse reach agreement, you can provide your signed agreement to the court for review and approval, and then file.
If settlement can’t be reached prior to beginning proceedings, you can still continue to work with your lawyer toward reaching agreement. In some cases, a neutral mediator may be brought in to help move settlement negotiations forward. A divorce case can settle anytime during the process. Once parties to a divorce reach agreement on all the issues, the divorce is uncontested.
CONTESTED DIVORCE AND HOW THE ATTORNEY YOU HIRE WILL REPRESENT YOU
Settlement is simply not a possibility for some spouses. There may be too much animosity between them, so hashing out a compromise on anything is not an option. Or there may be something that they simply both want to get out of the divorce and neither is willing to give in, even though they may have reached agreement in other areas. When this happens, the divorce is contested. In contested divorce, a judge will make the determination on the issues at a trial. The judge will hear from both sides and consider all the factors involved to arrive at their decision. Once decisions are reached, they will become part of the divorce judgment that you and your spouse will have to abide by.
When clients hire our law firm, we do everything we can to help them reach agreement and avoid a lengthy, expensive, and public trial. If a case does go to trial, we fight vigorously in the courtroom for the best interests of our clients.
DON’T WAIT—REACH OUT TODAY TO GET A HEAD START ON YOUR DIVORCE
We want to help you get a fair and satisfactory outcome in all the issues of your divorce. By speaking to us early on and before you or your spouse have filed the petition, we can assist you in properly preparing for the complex legal process.
However, even if the process has started, you should not hesitate to reach out. Our attorneys at [MFR] Men’s & Fathers’ Rights Divorce Lawyers have the necessary skill and experience to guide you wherever you are in proceedings.
Call our Hackensack, New Jersey, office today to schedule a confidential case evaluation with a knowledgeable divorce lawyer at (201) 880-9770.
