If a marriage is coming to an end and there seems no hope of a reconciliation, both parties will find  services of experienced divorce lawyers.  This is important if not imperative.  There are things to be settled such as financial affairs, property holdings, wills, leases, trusts personal goods and possibly child care.  The divorce lawyer can arrange all the legal aspects of this making the agreements an order of the divorce court. It is essential if possible, to minimize the stress of going through a divorce and the paperwork associated with it.  Make a call to your lawyer and arrange a consultation.

The divorce lawyer needs to be level headed and above all try to be objective and consider his clients’ needs first.  It may well be that your divorce lawyer will try to get both parties to co-operate and maybe meet together. This depends on whether the other party’s lawyer is happy with this arrangement.  It also depends on whether the divorce is amicable or whether there is an element of frustration and aggravation. A divorce lawyer needs to be able to absorb his client’s arguments especially when tempers rise.   Both parties will need to produce net worth statements. A divorce lawyer will look into the length of the marriage as this can be important in the case of alimony as he or she needs to put all the facts before a judge.  Very often, a judge will look upon the length of the marriage in years favorably when it comes to alimony. If there are child issues and child support to be considered, this has to be discussed before a court hearing is pursued.  How to approach a child issue will also depend on the age of the child/children. They may be in their teens and maybe well be over age for support issues to be even considered.

Initially, finances need to be agreed upon and approved by both parties.  If there are property holdings with mortgages, these need proper documentation and firm agreements drawn up and signed by both parties.  Wills need to be redrawn. In the event of any alimony to be paid, correct documentation is required and due cognizance must be taken of increments that maybe due in the years to follow.  Fixed alimony causes a lot of problems with escalating costs especially if children are involved and this means repeated visits to lawyers and the re-drafting of paperwork. There is also the question of the amount of child support.

Child support and visitation rights needs to be discussed with due emphasis on the incremental needs of the children.  If the children are a school going age then the school fees together with the complete needs of the children must be agreed upon.  Tertiary education should also be a subject for discussion as college education, university and possible vocation courses are possible.  All these factors need to be carefully documented and agreed upon by both parties prior to making them an order of the court.