Family And Divorce Attorney
Those who have marriages that ended in divorce can tell you that divorce is not an easy thing. If there are children involved, it is not only hard on the couple, but also on the children. That is why it is crucial that if you decide that you want to divorce, you try to do so amicably; particularly if you have children. One of the best ways to make an already emotional and difficult situation less stressful is by hiring a good divorce attorney. A divorce attorney will take care of all the legal aspects of divorce, giving you the space that you need to deal with the separation.
Statistics say that almost forty to fifty percent of marriages end in divorce; something that people who are about to get married or want to get married at some point might find hard to swallow. If you are planning on getting a divorce or you are someone who wants to focus on family and divorce law, there are a number of basic things that you should know. A divorce attorney basically specializes in civil law. As a prospective lawyer in this field, it is important that you know what you are getting into. Apart from acquiring extensive knowledge in the field, you have to be prepared to deal with a lot of broken hearted people with mixed emotions. This is due to the fact that this kind of separation is life-changing and people deal with it in different ways.
As a divorce attorney, you are expected to know various family law issues including, divorce, legal separation, child custody, visitation rights, marriage annulment and child support. A divorce can take anywhere between 3 months to 12 months or more to finalize. There are basically 3 forms of divorce; contested or uncontested divorce, fault or no-fault divorce and simplified divorce. The time it takes to finalize divorce will be determined by the legal issues on the table as well as the number of issues that require mediation.
Job Description
A divorce attorney has a number of responsibilities. It is the duty of the attorney to ensure that the assets and debt among couples are divided in accordance with the law. In the event that the couple has children, it is the duty of the lawyer to assist the parents with child custody and child support issues. In order to better assist the spouses and the children, you will have to conduct extensive research so that you can have substantial supporting evidence. You also have a duty to do the paperwork which must be filed at a court of law. This paperwork must be detailed and it must document all the necessary evidence. If you are dealing with a legal separation, the separation is done through court orders.
Apart from the basic legal knowledge, a Divorce Attorney must have other important skills. For instance, you must be someone who takes time to really listen and try to understand the needs of the client and what they might be going though. Because you will be dealing with people that are highly emotional, you cannot afford to be judgmental or to let your emotions control your work. You should also have strong interpersonal skills, as well as alternative dispute resolution expertise.