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There is something in the American spirit that propels us towards doing things on our own. The same independent streak that led to us settling on such a huge tract of land is still with us to this day. As a result, many of us prefer doing things on our own versus seeking help. We like to change our oil. Some of us enjoy growing our food. More and more since the pandemic families have been choosing to homeschool children rather than send them to private or public school.
Nothing is wrong with wanting to do things on our own. There is a certain sense of satisfaction that comes with accomplishing goals by ourselves. However, in some situations, it is worthwhile to consider asking for help from other people. For instance, if you have no experience or skill at changing your motor oil you may wind up with a car that does not work period likewise, trying to grow your food is all good and well until your family is hungry because the crops don’t come in. The same is true for trying to fill your cavities or fix your roof.
There are some circumstances where working alongside a professional helps. When it comes to the Law Office of Bryan Fagan our attorneys assist clients every day. Our attorneys are inside the courtrooms and at the negotiating tables across Texas serving clients with pride. In today’s blog post, we are going to share with you some of the hidden risks of a do-it-yourself divorce.
Challenges abound in the world of divorce
Picture this. You are standing in a large field staring at a mountain of building supplies. You see lumber, nails, tools, and drywall. On some level, you understand what these things are. You know that they are used to construct buildings. How you go from the raw materials to the building of a functional structure is another matter altogether.
If a professional builder stood before these tools and equipment he may know exactly what to do to build a house. However, you are no professional builder. You are a professional in your career path but that does not help you when it comes to building a modern home. Were you to be asked to build a house using all these tools and equipment you may be in for a problem.
This is not unlike A circumstance that you may find yourself in when it comes to doing your divorce. The challenges in a divorce are not unlike the challenges presented to you in trying to build a house from scratch. There is a matter of trying to put all the different processes together. There is coordinating help and identifying potential problem areas.
In short, it could be a mess for you to take on all by yourself. It is possible to represent yourself in a divorce. There is no requirement in Texas law that you hire an attorney to represent you. As we will see, however, hiring a lawyer may be the most prudent decision for you to make moving forward.
Do you need to hire an attorney for your divorce?
We can begin by saying that hiring an attorney for your divorce is almost always the right decision. I can’t think of a circumstance where hiring an attorney would be to your disadvantage. However, as we just covered it is not a requirement for you to have an attorney in your divorce case. People get divorced in Texas every day without a lawyer. However, you need to think about your particular case in the circumstances you are facing. Even though it may not be strictly required to have an attorney you may find that having one benefits you to a large extent.
For the sake of argument, let’s think about circumstances where you may not need an attorney to represent you in a divorce. The one circumstance that comes to mind is 1 involving no children and very little property. Younger people who married at an early age are the prime group that I am thinking of. Not having children removes the single most important element of a divorce case for many people. On top of that, coordinating the division of marital property is another important area. If you have no Community property then the stakes of your divorce are lowered significantly.
However, if you do have marital property to divide then you ought to hire a lawyer. By the same token, if you have minor children in the divorce then hiring an attorney for the best. In those situations, you can look at hiring an attorney as a short-term investment. It is your long-term future that stands to benefit the most from making this investment in yourself and your family.
The beginning of divorce is sometimes the most difficult step
A familiar expression goes: a journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step this means that even in the long journey the 1st step matters. Getting your case up and running is a challenge for many people. It can take a lot of belief in yourself to feel comfortable as far as filing a divorce case. Some of you reading this blog post have been waiting months or even years to file your divorce.
As a result, getting your divorce started truly may be the most difficult part of the entire case. When you are relying upon yourself to file the case that puts you in a difficult spot. When you have problems initiating an event you may be delaying yourself a great deal. From a relational, financial, and marital standpoint delaying a necessary divorce is a problem. At a certain point, a marriage ceases being a relationship and starts being a liability.
When you reach the point where you’re marriage is fast becoming a liability it is time to move towards a divorce. This may not be the result you had wanted but it is the result that is most prudent based on your situation. Having an attorney propels you toward this eventual result and can save you a great deal of time, money, and stress.
Drafting documents is not simple
Legal writing is not the same as creative writing or writing a sales report for your boss. Legal writing requires that you implement specific practices within the writing for a court to be able to use your document in the future. For example, asking a court for relief in the petition is important. You cannot receive relief from a court at the end of your case if you do not ask for it at the beginning of your case. Having an eye for detail and not skipping steps ensures that you can get as much out of your family law cases as possible.
Next, even taking a mediated settlement agreement and turning that into temporary orders is longer. It is not as simple as copying and pasting the settlement agreement into a court document. Rather, you need to take that settlement agreement format it differently, and turn the agreement into an order. This takes some degree of experience in training to be able to do. Many people ignore the details of their case and focus only on the big picture items. Drafting documents may seem like a detail but it is truly a big-picture item, as well.
A major consideration when it comes to drafting legal documents is that there are no shortcuts allowed. Judges will not sign legal documents unless they appear to be satisfactory. However, judges are human and are not checking with the same eye for detail as attorneys would. Therefore, if you want to ensure your court documents are drafted correctly work with an experienced attorney. There is no substitute for the detailed eye of a lawyer who drafted and negotiated many court orders over the years.
Helping with negotiations
Negotiations in a family law case are critical. Many people enter into a family law case assuming that a judge makes all the decisions. This could not be further from the truth. In actuality, judges only enter into the equation when it becomes apparent that you and your opposing party are unable to sort out the issues yourselves. This puts a lot of authority on your ability to negotiate with your opposing party.
Communication skills are something that people have to different degrees. You may have a great deal of skills in a lot of areas of life but if communication is not one of them then you will struggle at negotiating in a legal case. You can improve your negotiation skills with practice but it is not as if you will accumulate enough practice throughout your case to get much better on your own.
On top of that, you and your opposing party may be at such loggerheads when it comes to interpersonal communication that it may be pointless to try to negotiate with each other directly at this stage. Therefore, working with an experienced family law attorney helps when you need someone to assist with the negotiation process. Contrary to popular belief, attorneys do not get in the way when it comes to negotiation. Rather, attorneys helped facilitate conversation and give creative problem-solving outlets in your case.
Keeping your case on track new paragraph
Proceeding in a family law case is about more than filing documents and attending court. There are daily steps to follow that need your attention. Some of these steps are simple while others are more complicated. For an attorney, what might be a one-hour task may be a four or five-hour task for you.
The point is that what appears at first to be simple can be quite complex. Just like in your line of work when there are issues that come up from time to time the same is true in the legal world. Having experience in family law cases means that you can adjust to these changes and not run into issues moving forward.
Consider a situation where you are trying to inquire about the value of your husband’s small business. You know that he operates a successful company but knows little about its value or any financial information. As a result, you need to dig deeper and make a formal inquiry into this financial information. However, he is not cooperating with you. What can you do in a situation like this?
Much of the time this means submitting discovery requests to your opposing party. This would put your husband in a position where he had to respond to your requests for additional information. However, there are ways to formulate your questions and make these requests that increase the likelihood that you can receive helpful answers back quickly. Not having any experience in submitting discovery requests upon an opposing party means your chance of success in this regard goes down significantly.
Preparing for hearings and trials
one of the areas where an attorney’s experience is so helpful is in preparing for a hearing or trial. These are situations where evidence is submitted to strengthen your case. However, the process of having evidence turned over to a judge is not as simple as emptying the contents of a briefcase onto the judge’s desk. Rather, there is a process for offering and admitting evidence into the record.
Put yourself in a position where your spouse has an attorney but you do not. This is perhaps the greatest disadvantage to have in the entirety of your family law case. An attorney knows how to offer objections to your attempts to admit evidence. At the same time, he or she knows how to move around your objections, if any, to their evidence. This is to say that there is an intricate courtroom and evidence-based knowledge that you do not have going into a family law case.
This knowledge is not optional. You must know your way around a courtroom literally and Figuratively. Do not put yourself at a major disadvantage by not understanding courtroom procedure during your family law case. Working with an experienced family law attorney provides you with this sort of advantage you need to remain on level ground with your spouse.
Providing you with context and perspective
It is possible for you to read about a divorce or child custody case online and to have a very good knowledge of what occurs. You can follow the steps, look at sample documents, and even read helpful blog posts like this one to prepare for a case. Show up to court on time. Take off from work for hearings and do everything the right way based on what has been shared with you here and in other places.
That may work for you when everything is straightforward and no surprises happen. However, invariably in a family law case, there will be a surprise at some point. That surprise will cause you to change course and look at your case from a different perspective. This is where the advice and perspective of an attorney is helpful.
Imagine going into a football game as a coach with one strategy. If the opposing team stops your brilliant strategy on the first series of the game what are you going to do? Do you have a Plan B or something to pivot to? Or will you try to follow the same game plan that yielded unfavorable results? This is the question that you need to ask yourself.
For all the preparation you put into the family law case there is so much out of your control. You can have the best game plan in the world but when circumstances change quickly you need to be able to adjust. Without having any experience in a family law case adjustments can be difficult for you to make. As a result, your case will suffer and you will not achieve the same kind of results that you otherwise could have.
Contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan today
the attorneys with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan are the kind of diligent, accountable, and results-driven professionals you need in your family law case. We take seriously the circumstances you find yourself in and work towards achieving results that are most favorable for you and your family. We sit down with clients and map out strategies that can be used to achieve their goals. This is true no matter what circumstances come our way during a case.
We appreciate you spending time with us today on our blog. Our attorneys and staff put the interests of our clients and their families first. Please be sure to check back on our blog each day. We post unique and insightful content every day of the week designed to help families like yours achieve great results in their family law cases.
Questions about the material contained in today’s blog post? Contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan
If you have any questions about the material contained in today’s blog post, please do not hesitate to contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan. Our licensed family law attorneys offer free-of-charge consultations six days a week in person, over the phone, and via video. Interested in learning more about how your family is impacted by the material in this blog post? Contact us today.
