The Divorce Process
When you were planning your wedding, you certainly weren’t imagining your future divorce. Divorces and weddings are completely opposing situations, but there is one thing that they have in common – each one is unique. There is no one-size-fits-all divorce, and your attorney at Merchant Law Firm will help you navigate yours.
The terms of divorce can vary based on many things, but there are ultimately three different kinds of divorce: contested, uncontested, and an annulment. Your lawyer will work with you to understand the particular circumstances of your divorce, the division of assets, and which type of divorce you will have. But first, you should have a basic understanding of those three difference kinds of divorce.
Contested Divorce
A contested divorce simply means that the terms of the divorce will be sorted out in court. It’s very common for soon-to-be ex-spouses to have a difficult time coming to any sort of agreement, and so they often need to go to court to determine the division of assets, child custody, and other terms. Most of the time, a judge will make the final determination and sign the divorce decree. In very rare cases, your divorce could even go to a jury trial, but that is almost never appropriate.
In every contested divorce, you need a lawyer. The end of a marriage is a difficult time, and you need a good lawyer on your team to make sure that you make wise decisions. At Merchant Law Firm, we can help you to get the best possible agreement as your marriage ends.
Uncontested Divorce
In many cases, you and your former partner can settle outside of court. Sometimes this happens if you signed a prenuptial agreement, and often it happens if you simply work together before going to court to determine how you will split assets and manage any children you share.
In many cases, an uncontested dissolution is the easiest way to go through a divorce. No divorce is easy, but this kind helps both people to move forward with minimal stress. Still, you will need to have a good lawyer on your team to make sure that the agreement you and your ex-spouse come to is fair.
Annulment
An annulment is not technically a divorce – it means that the marriage is found to have been invalid from the beginning, generally if it was not legal. That could happen if one of the spouses was underage, unable to consent, or already married at the time of the wedding. When your marriage is annulled, it’s as if it never legally happened.
Divorce is always an emotional and challenging time, even if it is for the best and happening on good terms. No one gets married planning on an eventual divorce, and it can be hard to keep your focus on the legal aspects while you’re sorting through the emotional fallout. That’s why you need a great lawyer, like one from Merchant Law Firm, to make sure that your needs are being looked out for as you go through your divorce proceedings. Give us a call today to learn how we can help you.