Divorce is a tough choice. It comes with consequences that can affect the way you used to live your life. With a divorce, you will face financial challenges, lose your rights to your kids, and other problems. The following are 5 things you should do before filing for a divorce.
- Be Sure that You Want to Get a Divorce
First of all, you must be sure that you are making the correct decision in getting a divorce. Sometimes, you can make a wrong decision just because you can’t get over an offence your spouse commit against you. Before filing for divorce, you should do your best to reconcile with your spouse. If marriage counseling can save your marriage, you can get your spouse into attending the session with you. In case you change your mind, it will be hard to go back on your decision after the divorce paper is served to your spouse.
- Organize the Financial Documents
The next step is to organize all the documents that are needed for filing the divorce. If you did not organize the documents, it will cost you money for the attorney to organize them. Some of the documents you should prepare are tax returns, bank account statements, loans, mortgages, utility bills, family trusts, and insurance policies. If you and your spouse share the same documents, you should make copies of them for sending to the family law attorney.
- Prepare Sufficient Funds for the Legal Fees
You must have enough funds to pay for the expenses of the legal advice for at least 3 months. You can take some time to think about whether you can come up with the money to cover the expenses. Usually, the other spouse will cut off your access to the financial resources soon after you tell him that you want a divorce so you need to be prepared on this. There is the option of asking your attorney to help you obtain financial support but it will take some time and the divorce procedure will get delayed.
- Seek Help from a Family Law Attorney
Filing the divorce yourself can be difficult if you are not familiar with the laws. There is only limited information accessible to you even if you read articles on the web, and get advice from friends. Instead, you should talk to a divorce attorney about your problem. Oklahoma City divorce lawyers are expert in family laws and give you advice on what to do. When interviewing attorney, try to avoid those who want to suggest solutions before listening to your problems. You should look for an attorney that has experience handling the same type of divorce case as yours. Besides, the price the lawyer charges should be affordable to you.
- Don’t Go on Dating Before the Divorce is Completed
You are still considered married even before settling. Therefore, you should not be living like you are single, for example, sleeping with someone. If you do this, you are committing adultery. This can lead the judge in accusing you of using money from the marital estate for paying the expenses of the dating. He will, in turn, ask you to reimburse back the expenditure you spent for this purpose. Some states allow dating before divorce is complete while others don’t. You should speak with your attorney to get advice on this if you plan on going for dating.
