The process of divorce, simply put, is the legal system’s answer to the unraveling of a marriage. Remember, while marriage has biblical origins, marriage remains a creature of the law. The divorce process is the State legislature’s and court’s attempt to establish a legal framework for addressing the problems that arise when a husband and wife decide to dissolve a marriage. Our law firm will guide you through domestic law the legal labyrinth of divorce.
Typically, both the husband and wife, soon to be divorced, will experience an emotional transition, a family transition, and a financial transition.
The emotional transition may be more or less severe for one spouse or the other, depending on the circumstances and/or reasons surrounding the need for divorce, which spouse wanted a divorce, and, of course, the length and success that the marriage experienced prior to the decision by one spouse or the other to seek a divorce. Of course, children of a divorced household will certainly experience a degree of anxiety, anger and sadness over the separation from one parent or the other.
The family transition involves the separation itself, whether husband from wife, children from parents, or both. This includes physical separation as well as the emotional separation. The family transition will undoubtedly include the day-to-day changes of living without the other spouse’s assistance, and where kids are involved, this can be a substantial change to the daily life of both parents and the kids. Transportation of kids to school, to birthday parties, to events, to extracurricular activities, and numerous other entertainment outings will now require some extra planning.
The financial transition involves the direct and indirect impact of dissolving the family unit, and this generally means the creation of two households where there was one, with the same or similar combined standard of living, but based upon the same or similar earnings which formally supported one household. Inevitably, there will now be two mortgages (or two rent payments), two power bills, two gas bills, two cable bills, and the list goes on. Add to that one spouse will now take on the job of being the custodial parent and having the day-to-day child-rearing responsibilities that were once shared by the married household. The other spouse will experience the financial burden of child support under guidelines established by the law and which leave little or no flexibility for the sitting trial judge when he or she sets the dollar amount of child support to be paid to the other spouse. Legally binding decisions related to child custody, child support, and visitation rights require the input of an experienced divorce attorney to provide reasonable and practical advice for the divorcing client.