The beginning of a marriage is usually a very happy time, the couple pledging to be together for the rest of their lives and even often beyond them as well. But life sometimes gets in the way. People grow apart, and they find that they no longer want to continue their marriage and would prefer instead to go their separate ways.
Here in the United States, the process of getting a divorce is one that is incredibly common, with more than a full one million people deciding to pursue a divorce and embarking on the divorce process over the course of just one single year – and this number just represents divorcing couples that have children, let alone childless divorcing couples. In fact, the pursuing of the divorce process only grows more likely with each subsequent marriage that a person becomes involved in. While first marriages already have relatively high divorce rates at forty one percent, the likelihood of getting a divorce in a second marriage jumps up to sixty percent. And if you end up entering into a third marriage, the divorce rate, at seventy three percent, represents nearly three fourths of all third marriages.
There are risk factors for pursuing the divorce process as well. For instance, smoking can be a risk factor for divorce, but only if one partner smokes and the other does not (and often never has). In these cases, the risk of getting a divorce or even just becoming interested in pursuing the divorce process skyrockets by as much as seventy five percent.
And this is far from being the only risk. Even just dividing the chores that need to be done throughout your home can as much as double your risk of getting a divorce and even just spending more time at work per week can increase the overall risk that you will ultimately end your marriage with the typical divorce process.
All of this is to say that divorce and the divorce process are very common things and in some cases are very difficult to avoid. If you and your soon to be ex partner find yourselves interested in pursuing getting a divorce and the divorce process (which typically takes at least one full year, depending on the couple and the nature of the divorce itself, of course), you will want to each hire a divorce lawyer. Divorce lawyers can help you to navigate and difficult and emotionally fraught process, helping you to stay as objective as is possible, something that can be an incredibly difficult thing to do when you are involved in the divorce process.
If you have matters of child custody to decide on, having child support lawyers on board can be incredibly beneficial – and even critical – to determining matters like child custody of your child or multiple children and even matters of child support, if legally pursuing child support is found to be necessary. In the case of an uncontested divorce with children, this process is likely to go relatively smoothly (as smoothly as things can possibly go, all things considered).
However, not all divorces are uncontested ones and it is certainly not uncommon for parents to find themselves disagreeing over matters of custody arrangement and child support when they are mired in the divorce process. In such cases, the fight over child custody can be both long as well as bitter and instead of an uncontested divorce attorney, a lawyer that specializes in difficult divorces should be brought on board to help to mediate the proceedings for one or both members of the couple in the divorce process.
A child custody evaluation can also be conducted. This evaluation can be then be used to determine child custody between both parents. In some cases, custody will be split down the middle, but in many, custody will be awarded to one parent and other will receive legally mandated visitation hours – but this will all depend on the situation as well as the parent abilities and capabilities of both parents involved.
From uncontested divorces to ones that drag on and one, the divorce process is never an easy one, but having a skilled divorce lawyer can help.