Can You Afford to Get a Divorce?
It is one of the greatest frustrations unhappy spouses can face. The absolute knowledge that their marriage is not a good situation for them, combined with the financial uncertainty of what a divorce will cost them, and whether they’ll be economically secure after their marriage has ended.
The truth is that there’s no amount of money that makes it worthwhile to stay inside of a toxic marriage. The longer you stay in an unhappy situation, the worse it is likely to get. The risk of domestic violence increases, the impact of depression becomes more significant, and the marital assets are likely to grow – making the equitable division of assets more adversarial. In almost all cases it is better to leave when you know that the marriage is irreparable rather than waiting, and you can make the process less costly by taking advantage of creative divorce solutions offered by the experienced family law attorneys at Reinherz Law.
There are a number of ways to minimize the costs of getting a divorce. These include:
- Gathering your financial information ahead of time instead of making it your attorney’s responsibility. Any time your attorney has to ask your spouse, opposing counsel or a financial institution for documents, it’s going to cost you money. If you take the initiative to gather your documents and financial statements yourself, you will save yourself money, and probably get the job done faster too.
- Avoid calling your attorney at every turn. It is tempting to contact them to complain about every grievance or report every conversation or wrongdoing from your spouse, but each time you do it, you’re costing yourself money. Keep a list of things you want to tell your lawyer, then email them all at once. This also gives you time to cool down, letting you reconsider whether you want your attorney to spend billable hours on every slight or disagreement.
- When you have a question on a non-legal issue, see if you can find the answer yourself, or ask your attorney’s assistant.
- Try speaking directly to your spouse on small issues. Anything that you can resolve for yourself will save you money.
There’s no doubt that a divorce can be expensive, but nobody should stay in a marriage that makes them unhappy. If you’re smart in your approach to your divorce, you can minimize unnecessary litigation and animosity with your spouse. For information on the divorce solutions available to you, contact Reinherz Law today to set up a consultation.