Top 10 Divorce Dont’s
Top 10 Divorce Mistakes
1. Involving Your Children
Children need to be shielded from the divorce process. Talking about your divorce with them, bad-mouthing your spouse, reading them legal documents, or using them as leverage against your spouse can harm them. Protect your children from that stress by shielding them from your divorce.
2. Getting Pregnant
When contemplating getting divorced, or during your divorce, it is best not to become pregnant. Among other issues, if you get pregnant with someone other than your spouse while married, there is a presumption in the law that your spouse is the father of the child.
3. Anger
Anger is a natural response to adverse situations like divorce, but it usually serves to make things worse during a divorce. It is an emotional reaction that is best kept under control when handling the legal and practical aspects of divorce.
4. Not Hiring an Attorney
It might seem like you can save money and possibly avoid a bitter battle by not hiring an attorney. However, the divorce process is fraught with opportunities to make legal mistakes. To ensure a complete and final resolution of your divorce, it makes sense to hire an attorney.
5. Unrealistic Expectations
Getting a divorce requires compromise, patience, and realistic expections. The objective in divorce should not be to win, but rather to conclude a marriage in a fair and efficient manner.
It is easy to forget about tax deductions, the benefits of joint filing, and the disposition of tax refunds among other things. Overlooking tax issues can lead to unresolved problems in the future. It may be helpful to consult a tax expert.
7. Forgetting About Your Will
You may need to change your will if you made one while you were married. Your will may have provisions that you wish to change because of your divorce. You may also want to change beneficiaries on your life insurance policies.
8. Withholding Information from Your Attorney
Hiding assets or glossing over facts that you believe are unfavorable, will only make things worse. Your attorney cannot adequately represent you without complete honesty on your part.
9. Rolling Over
Apathy toward your divorce can be an appealing way to deal with the stress and scary nature of the process. In the long run, it is better to face the issues sooner to ensure your rights and property are protected.
10. Going it Alone
Getting a divorce is a very emotional life event. Take care of yourself by reaching out to loved ones. Seek out a counselor to talk about ways to move your life in a positive direction.
