Paying Your Legal Fees
Most people have to pay their own legal fees during the divorce process. Although there are some situations where your spouse can be ordered to pay for your legal fees as well, most people do have to pay for their own legal fees, even if they aren’t currently employed. Some attorneys will allow you to finance your legal fees, and depending on your circumstances, you may qualify for reduced rate or free legal services. While most people are stuck paying for their own legal fees, there are situations where a spouse can be ordered to pay for the other party’s legal fees. Usually, this happens in situations where one party has the capability to pay the legal fees and the other party needs help paying for their own legal fees. …where one party does not have the resources to litigate the divorce and the other party has the resources to pay for them both parties to pay these costs. This isn’t common, and if you think that you could qualify for this, you may need to speak with an attorney who’s familiar with your specific situation.
Sharing Physical Custody
Unless there is a good reason your ex cannot effectively care for your child, they are probably going to get some custody, assuming they want it. Parents may struggle to get parent-time if there’s a history of substance abuse, or child abuse/neglect. Usually, for a parent not to receive parent-time, there needs to be good reason (typically well-documented) to believe that the child would be in danger if left in the parent’s care. Remember, just because a parent doesn’t have physical custody, doesn’t mean that they won’t have the right to have a relationship with a child. Many parents have supervised visitation or some other method of contact with the child while they’re recovering from mental health conditions or substance abuse disorder. It is difficult to completely remove a parent from a child’s life, so you should plan on your ex having at least some physical custody, assuming there’s no reason that they cannot adequately care for the child or otherwise causing the child to be under some threat of harm while in their care.
Paying Child Support
Different states have different child support calculations. Furthermore, the specific facts of your case may influence how much child support you’ll pay. Do not assume that you’re not going to have to pay child support just because you make the same amount of money that your spouse does, or you have 50/50 custody. You can still be ordered to pay child support even if you and your spouse have a joint-physical custody arrangement (or schedule). In some states the parent-time arrangement doesn’t affect the child support calculation. If you have concerns about how much child support you’re going to pay, you will need to speak with your attorney to get an answer that’s accurate. If you are ordered to pay child support and you cannot afford to pay it, do not just decide not to pay it. Speak with an attorney as soon as you possibly can. There can be civil and even criminal consequences for failure to pay child support. The worst thing you can do is nothing.
Splitting Marital Debts and Assets
Depending on where you’re located, your assets may be split 50/50, or your assets may be split in a manner that a judge decides is equitable. However, you are free to agree to whatever terms you want to agree to. Most people start high when they file a petition for divorce. Generally, a Petition for Divorce is a Christmas wish list of everything they’d like to have. Attorneys should inform their clients that they are unlikely to get everything that they asked for in the initial petition. It should be noted that most parties are unsatisfied with what they got in their divorce.
Disappointment
It’s normal to be disappointed with the terms of your divorce. Many people like the idea of getting an attorney in order to ensure that their spouse doesn’t get anything. This is not usually how things work. While spending more may get you a better attorney, it cannot change the way the laws work. While you may have heard stories of people complaining that they lost everything in the divorce, that is rarely what actually happens. When it comes to divorce, everything is a matter of perspective. It would be extremely unusual for one party to get everything and the other party to be left destitute and paying all the marital debts. Usually, divorces are equitable, but everything is still a matter of perspective. If you have questions about your divorce, contact CoilLaw today to set up an initial consultation.
