3 Reasons a D-I-Y Divorce is Not Right for You
The dissolution of a marriage is almost always an upsetting event. In addition there can be many challenges that require time, energy, and changes in responsibilities. Going through all of this yourself can be a lot.
Family Law Attorney Cierra Garso goes over her reasons as to why doing a divorce yourself may not be right for you.
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Top 3 Reasons to Get an Attorney
Hi, my name is Cierra Garso and I’m a family law attorney at Robinson and Henry. Today I’m going to be talking about my top three reasons why a DIY divorce may not be for you. A DIY approach may work for lots of things, for example, DIY home projects, you may want to invest in some sweat equity. But for your divorce, I want you to consider another approach.
Save Some Time
So here are my top three reasons why you should consider hiring an attorney. Reason number one, hiring an attorney saves you time. So many of the clients that I work with have no idea the amount of paperwork involved in getting a divorce completed in Colorado.
So having an attorney plugs you into a team of trained professionals who do this day in and day out, know exactly which forms need to be completed, how to do it right and can save you a lot of time. If you’re anything like me, you’re busy with so many things, and if you’re going to be in the middle of a divorce, why not save yourself some of that time by hiring an attorney?
Don’t Add Stress
Reason number two, why hiring an attorney may be a better approach than doing the DIY approach, would be that it saves you stress. Going through a divorce is possibly one of the most emotional times in your life. If you want to save yourself some of that emotional stress, by hiring an attorney, you get someone who’s going to advocate for your best interests, who has your back.
Also, an attorney can communicate directly with your soon-to-be ex, so you don’t have to. Chances are that if you’re not getting along well during your marriage, you may not get along well during the divorce proceedings, and having an attorney can reduce some of that conflict and stress for you.
Save Some Money
Reason number three, why a DIY approach may not be best for you during your divorce. Hiring an attorney can save you money. Now that may sound counter intuitive because you’re thinking hiring an attorney is usually a pretty significant upfront investment, and that’s correct. It may even be intimidating to put down that much money to hire a professional to help you out but hiring an attorney can save you money in the short-term and the long-term.
Examples
Short-term Savings:
I’ll give you a few examples. In the short-term, if you decide to take a DIY approach to your divorce, you may end up filling out the wrong forms, filling out forms incorrectly, or missing some step that the court requires completely, and then you have to hire an attorney at down the road to go back and correct the mistakes that you made.
So why not, if you can, just start off on the right foot, and have a trained professional helping you through the process?
I’ll give you an example. I would never change the brakes on my car by myself because I don’t have the skill, training, experience to do that job right, and if I tried to do it on my own, I’d probably have to end up taking it to a mechanic anyway. So why not take the opportunity to start on the right foot and hire an attorney? It’ll save you money in the short-term.
Long-term Savings:
Now saving you money in the long-term might look like a spousal maintenance award, also known as alimony, child support award, an attorney can help you calculate those correctly so that you’re not paying too much or receiving too little. Also an attorney can help you see things in your case that you may not even know exist.
For example, you may not know that you were entitled to a portion of your spouse’s retirement, or you may not know that something you owned that was separate property from before the marriage shouldn’t even be included in the division of the marital estate. So those are some ways that having an attorney can help you save money in the long-term.
So there you have it. Those are my top three reasons why a DIY approach to your divorce may not be right for you.
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If you are contemplating a divorce, or are already in the midst of a divorce, and you live in Colorado, give us a call at 303-688-0944 and schedule a your case assessment with one of our family law attorneys.