Family Lawyers and Divorce

A family lawyer is a lawyer who works with legal matters under family law. Family law covers legal concerns about marriage, marital rights, children, marital property, etc. Here's what you need to know about family lawyers and divorce.

Do You Want to Divorce Your Spouse?

You might want a divorce for many reasons; for example, your spouse cheated on you, your spouse continuously abuses you, your marriage causes you to stress, which affects your mental and general health, etc. Regardless of the reason, you have two options for divorce: to either divorce in an amicable or unamicable way. The latter is tedious, more expensive and stressful; it would be best if you could come to an understanding and divorce amicably.

Difference Between an Amicable and an Unamicable Divorce

An amicable divorce is where the two spouses of a married couple mutually agree to divorce peacefully and come to an agreement on how to share marital property and child custody. You might only need a family lawyer to draw up the divorce forms and lodge them for you.

An unamicable divorce is where there is no mutual agreement on how marital property or child custody is to be shared. The reason behind this may be that one spouse feels bitter towards the other and feels like he or she should not receive anything from the accumulated marital property, including child custody.

In such a case, you need two separate family lawyers: one for you and the other for your spouse. Each person's lawyer listens to their side of the story and offers legal advice. They then try to find common ground where you can agree and where the best interests of your children, if you have any, are considered.

What Usually Happens?

As indicated above, divorce lawyers will listen to your story and offer advice and guidance. If you are wrong, expect to be told so and that you might need to be humble and compromise on something before you lose it all.

If you are not the one who wronged your spouse, your lawyer might also try to calm you down as he or she respects your wishes so that, if there are children involved, the children don't suffer as much from the divorce.

In some cases, such as if there is domestic violence, the abused spouse usually wins custody of the children and marital property. Depending on the extent or nature of the violence or abuse, the abuser may be imprisoned or restraining orders may be issued so that the abuser does not go near the abused or else he or she will be imprisoned.

Share