Divorce Lawyers Have Major Role In Contested Actions

When couples decide their marriage is over and decide to get a divorce, for many it may be prudent to talk to divorce lawyers to make sure their rights under the law are being upheld. Many times only one of the partners obtain legal guidance and can end up with less of the available marital property to which they may be entitled. Paying divorce lawyers is usually not cheap, but the savings may be substantial compared to what can be lost in a settlement.

While there are many resources online to enable couples to have their divorce papers drawn up at exceptional savings, in most states they are not acceptable for use in contested divorces. Many states are not particular about who fills out the form, only that they are filled out corrected and filed with the court in a timely manner. For contested divorces, or one claiming fault against one of the parties, divorce lawyers can make sure all of the proper paperwork is filed with the court.

The majority of states have standard formulas for calculating child support if applicable and even divorce lawyers have little say in the amount established by the court. However, if one couple believes the court has over stepped its bounds when issuing a child support order, divorce lawyers can go to bat for the party who believe they are being wronged.

Lawyer Fees May Be Money Well Spent

Even in uncontested divorce proceedings, hiring divorce lawyers can help each party in the division of assets. While a few states may be considered mutual property states and all assets are divided in half, divorce lawyers can often convince judges that some of the assets were accumulated before or after the marriage took place and save one party money in the long run.

There have been instances where divorce lawyers have been the butt of many attempts at humor, and in some cases they deserve the criticism they receive. However, for the most part divorce lawyers are going to perform the duties for which they were hired. It pays to remember that the attorney works for the person who hired them and are not the best person from whom the other person should seek advice.

While being untruthful would be against the law in most states, most divorce lawyers, hired by one party, will not answer questions for the other party, unless they can see a benefit to their client's case.