Getting Divorced: Three Things You Can Do to Help Your Divorce Lawyer Win
It happens everyday. A husband or a wife in the midst of a separation and staring down the barrel of a divorce walks into my conference room and takes a seat. They look scared, nervous, frustrated, beaten, or sometimes a combination of the above. unfortunately, there are few things in life that are more stressful than going through a divorce. They want me to fix the situation, and get the best possible result for them. And oftentimes I can.
However, no matter how expensive your divorce lawyer, there are three things you can do to help him win your case. They are:
Keep a Journal
The biggest one first: Keep a Journal! My office provides thorough questionarres to our new clients to have them fill out and return to us. But these alone often fail to provide your lawyer with the entire story. So, I tell clients to go back and write down all th big events and big issues that have transpired between the spouses. Even if it will take the client 3 hours in front of the computer, it is worth the time and effort. After all, your attorney cannot possibly know everything that is relevant that has happened during your marriage. But if a client writes down everything he thinks might be relevant, the attorney can sit down and skim the journal for what matters.
Going forward, the client needs to keep a journal. The emotions of the divorce process will often lead one of the parties to do something stupid. Whether it is the intentional depletion or waste of marital assets (see below) or prohibiting one of the parties from seeing the children )9also see below), the parties can do dumb things that your attorney may be able to use to help your case at a later date. So.. write it down!
Be the “nice guy”
This is big too: Be the nice guy! There are no juries in divorce court, only Judges. And Judges are people. And people are more likely to sympathize and side with the party that does the right thing. Furthermore, a Judge will be the one determining the amount of times-haring you get with your child. The better parent the Judge thinks you are, the more likely he is going to agree that your time-sharing plan is in the best interests of your children. Simple, but so true: Be the nice guy, do the right thing, and you will go along way to helping your divorce attorney get you a great result.
If children are involved support the relationship with your child and your future ex
Related to the one above: Support and nurture the relationship between your minor children and the future ex. One of the biggest factors that a Divorce Judge looks at when deciding which parent should get time-sharing with the minor child is which parent is likely to make sure that the child keeps a good relationship with the other parent.
Simple, but good advise: Do these three things and you will go along way towards helping your lawyer win your case for you.
