A divorce lawyer can help you in so many ways. Let’s count them:
TIME –
A divorce lawyer can help you save time by knowing what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. If you try to handle your divorce on your own, you will have to spend your valuable time learning about the law for parenting your children, what is marital property, what is not, how the law splits up your stuff, how much to pay in child support, alimony, insurance, how to split up retirement plans, bank accounts, investment accounts, and on and on. Do you have the time to learn everything? Probably not. A divorce lawyer who focuses 100% on divorce law will work with you to understand what is most important to you and will know how to use the law to help you accomplish your goals in your divorce. You can never get back lost time. Once it’s gone, it is gone forever.
MONEY –
How much money are you going to spend learning everything you need to know about divorce law? You might not actually spend money learning, but how valuable is your time? What value do you place on giving up the things you love to do or need to do because you have to learn everything about divorce law to handle your own divorce? Your time is valuable. How do you want to spend it? Money is replaceable. You can probably work and earn more. As I mentioned above, time is precious. Once it’s gone, it is gone forever.
EXPERTISE/EXPERIENCE –
If you needed open heart surgery, you would probably try to find a surgeon who had great reviews and experience right? While divorce may not appear to be a life-or-death situation, its impact and consequences on your life can be substantial and permanent. Hiring a divorce lawyer with experience and expertise in solving divorce problems buys you something you will never be able to obtain on your own. You would not do your own open-heart surgery would you? Would you perform your own root canal? So why would you try to handle your own divorce?
KNOWLEDGE –
Choosing the right divorce lawyer means you will have a guide during your divorce. Imagine being dropped into the middle of a large, unfamiliar forest. You have no compass, no food, no water, and all the plants, trees, animals, and insects are completely unfamiliar to you. Would you want a guide to help you? Of course, you would! Your guide could help you identify the hazards and dangers and help you get the things you need to survive. In other words, help you stay alive!! Like your guide helping you navigate the unfamiliar forest, your divorce lawyer will be your guide helping you navigate the unfamiliar and often confusing divorce process…pointing out the hazards and dangers…protecting you and helping you get what you need and survive.
SKILLS –
Are you an expert negotiator? Are you familiar with the negotiation tactics and techniques used by other divorce lawyers? Do you know enough about divorce law to know what a reasonable child support or alimony settlement might be? You are not alone if you are concerned you might be taken advantage of by your spouse’s lawyer. Or concerned that you might agree to a bad deal. A divorce lawyer negotiates every day. When you hire a divorce lawyer, you are hiring experience and skills in the negotiation arena. If you needed to hire a warrior to defend your family’s honor, would you do it yourself? Would you actually go up against a hired warrior on the other side with years of training and experience that you don’t have? Or would you want to hire someone to give you the best chance possible to protect you and your family and defend your family’s honor?
OBJECTIVITY –
Having a divorce lawyer walking by your side as your professional guide to the divorce landscape can help you see problems more clearly. Let’s face it. When you are in the middle of a problem like divorce, with all the stormy emotions divorce brings with it, it can be incredibly difficult to see things clearly. Your perspective and experience can become clouded by your emotions. You will have a difficult if not impossible time trying to think logically and clearly about your divorce. Your divorce lawyer is removed from the intense emotions of your divorce. He can help you think more logically about your options and potential solutions. Imagine you are trying to find your way through a foggy walking trail with a sheer cliff on one side and thorny bushes on your other side. It would be helpful to have someone with a fog light to help you find your way, right? Your divorce lawyer has the fog light that can help you see more clearly and find your way out.
So, your job is to choose a divorce lawyer whose services fit within your financial budget to help you save time and money. Give yourself the best chance of success and the best opportunity to identify and avoid the hazards and dangers of the divorce process. Hire the experience, skills, and objectivity you need to find your way out of your divorce problem, survive, and thrive in your future.