At their initial consultation with my firm, many prospective clients will tell me that their divorce WILL be simple. Experience has taught me that such an assessment is almost always wrong. But the fact remains that one of the biggest concerns’ clients have when confronting a divorce, is just how time-consuming and expensive the divorce process will be.
Divorce Complicating Factors
I have been redesigning my firm’s billing practices lately and attempting to create a more uniform retainer amount. In doing so, I’ve thought about some of the factors that may complicate a New Jersey divorce. Here is a list of such factors (it should be noted the list is not extensive and that just because a factor is listed does not mean it will be a complicating factor in every or even most cases):
-One or both parties being unreasonable;
-Negative Emotion;
-A party deciding not to retain an attorney (or retaining an attorney that is overly aggressive for no reason);
-When there are children in the marriage, particularly if custody is contested;
-High-asset cases; particularly when there are a variety of retirement accounts, stock options, or other more sophisticated financial instruments;
-When one or both of the parties owns a business or a professional practice that needs to be evaluated;
-When the status of the case changed shortly before the divorce;
-If a forensic accountant, employability expert, or other such experts is required;
-Domestic violence issues or allegations;
-When there are jurisdictional or venue issues;
-Tax issues, bankruptcy issues, or high-debt loads for one or both parties;
-When one or both parties recently got a large promotion or lost their job;
What Can Be Done to Simplify a New Jersey Divorce?
As you are already starting to see, I believe it is imperative that parties to a divorce empower themselves to understand the law, accept their responsibilities under the law, and work with counselors or other such professionals (if necessary) to ensure a clear mind throughout the decision-making process.
Each party has a great deal of control in the outcome of the case, working in the best interests of their children, and preserving family wealth even post-divorce. As an attorney, those are the types of clients I most want to work with. One of my goals is to help clients get to that place, so that we can work as an effective team. Although we cannot completely control the other side or their actions, that is perhaps all the more reason to control our own responses.
Partner with Carl Taylor, Esq.
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