Nothing makes your divorce or family law matter complicated or expensive more quickly than heading to family court. You and your spouse may become very emotional and exaggerate your circumstances as you describe your marriage to the judge who will make decisions about property division, child custody and support matters.
The more time you spend in court, the more the divorce will cost, and the more damage the end of your relationship may cause for your children. What are three ways that you can potentially prevent the drama that comes with family court litigation?
Leave the burning bridges mindset behind
Some people stop caring about the impact of their actions on their former spouse as they pursue a divorce, and others even actively seek ways to cause emotional damage.
That approach where you completely destroy the relationship with the other party and try to hurt them can lead to very aggressive behaviors during the divorce and can make the process both more expensive and more painful for everyone involved.
Instead of acting like the other person will cease to exist after the end of your divorce, try to retain what compassion you can for the fact that they will also need to rebuild their life.
Look into alternative ways of resolving disagreements
Just because your marriage will soon end does not mean you have to fight with one another. You can take a cooperative approach, possibly with the help of mediation or arbitration sessions, which can help you settle everything outside of court and pursue a faster and more private uncontested divorce filing.
While battling with your ex may provide you with some short-term emotional release, it may unnecessarily complicate your divorce and contribute to increased stress levels for both of you.
Be clear about when you can and cannot compromise
Every individual considering divorce has their own priorities, and you have to carefully evaluate your own to plan for the divorce process. Do you feel very strongly about being able to spend birthdays with your children? Do you feel like you need to retain your retirement account but will happily compromise regarding other major assets?
It is important for someone to identify their most important goals so that they take the right steps to achieve those goals and do not get bogged down in endless, unnecessary conflicts.
Looking for methods to minimize conflict in your divorce will benefit you, your ex and any children that you share.