Like most California parents, you’ve likely encountered financial challenges during marriage. In fact, you may be one of many who are constantly juggling your financial books to try to stay afloat. It’s definitely not an uncommon scenario in most households these days. When you decided to divorce, you might have started worrying about money right away, which is understandable, especially concerning your children’s needs.
California is a community property state, which means the court typically splits all marital assets 50/50 in divorce. It’s no secret that it costs money to divorce. Many people make the mistake of thinking they’ll walk away with more in the end if they act alone in the courtroom. In reality, doing so often means a spouse won’t get as much as he or she might have if there had been an attorney involved.
If complications arise during property division proceedings
One of the best times to have an experienced attorney by your side is if things aren’t going well during property division proceedings. Since this is a community property state, many spouses try to gain the upper-hand by hiding assets, which is not only mean-spirited, it’s illegal.
If you do not have a background in family law, you may not even recognize the signs that your spouse is stashing cash or trying to keep assets away from you. Then again, even if you do suspect something, you might not know how to go about investigating further or resolving the matter in court.
Divorce involves a lot of paperwork
All California legal proceedings include paperwork. The ultimate outcome of your divorce depends on how well-prepared you are document-wise. Trying to figure out which documents you need and how to compile things in an organized manner can be highly stressful in itself, much less knowing what the other side is supposed to be doing and how to keep things fair.
An attorney handles such issues. He or she knows which documents to gather and how to file them in court. Nowadays, there are many online services that claim to provide support for such matters, but thousands of spouses who have gone through similar experiences say they were glad to have an attorney by their side when push came to shove in the courtroom.
Extenuating circumstances
If you’re in a domestic violence situation, or you and your spouse are unable to resolve issues regarding custody or visitation, the experience and skill of a family law advocate can be a great asset.
When you already feel stressed and overwhelmed, the last thing you might want to do is speak in front of other people in a public setting. This is one of the ways many people say their attorney provided the strongest support in divorce. Simply knowing that there was someone there to speak on their behalf helped them feel less stress and confident about the ultimate outcomes of their situations.