Tuesday 30 July 2013

Fast And Affordable Uncontested Divorce Attorneys

By Lela Perkins


Uncontested divorce attorneys ensure the process is fast, easy and much more affordable as compared to a contested one. The main points of contention usually include a division of the community and marital assets and debt, alimony and child support payments, and child custody. If there is no disagreement on any of these issues, most family court judges will have no problem in granting the petition immediately.

Divorces that are not contested are ideal in most cases, but there are certain exceptions. One instance where it doesn't work is if a couple is ending the marriage due to allegations of domestic violence and abuse by one spouse. There is not much room for negotiations because the couple won't even be on speaking terms. The same holds true for cases where one party doesn't want to give anything up or is asking for too much for negotiations to do any good.

If there are no disagreements, the petition is nothing more than a formality. It is still a good idea to handle it professionally because decisions made by the judge will be extremely hard to change afterwards. The most common problem for uncontested divorces is that the couple has the same lawyer. It won't work in this matter because it would be unethical and would create a conflict of interest even if both parties are in complete agreement about the terms of the divorce.

The way it works is that the lawyer only represents the spouse who is filing the petition. This spouse will be the plaintiff in the case, and the other one now has a decision to make. One option is to get another lawyer, while the second option is to trust the plaintiff's lawyer to handle the case as agreed to by both parties.

In a contested case, when one party files a petition, the other side can do the same and file a separate petition asking the court to reject the request for divorce, or seek different terms to end the marriage. The lawyers for each party present their individual cases at the same hearing and argue against the opposing petition. The judge then has to evaluate the evidence and decide which one to grant.

However, if both spouses are in agreement on how to end the marriage, almost all the legal back and forth is eliminated with just one petition. No hearings are held, and the only thing needed is for the right paperwork to be submitted to the court. The terms of the agreement still need to follow certain state and federal regulations.

The manner in which assets and debts are divided is rarely objectionable to the court, and couples can do virtually anything in this regard that is mutually acceptable. The same may not be possible with alimony, child support and custody, which must be in line with minimally acceptable regulations. The court may object to an overly low child support payment even if the recipient spouse has agreed to it.

The point of having uncontested divorce attorneys take care of the details is so that there are no objections raised by the court. Having separate lawyers also ensures that the interests of both sides are safeguarded. The net cost of two individual lawyers handling an uncontested divorce smoothly and quickly will still only be a fraction of the cost each side would bear if the whole thing devolved into a contested case without proper legal representation.




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