Going through a divorce can be a tumultuous, emotionally draining process. While you were surrounded by loved ones and friends in the weeks and days leading up to the wedding, preparing for divorce may feel like some of the darkest days of your life. Anyone in your life who knows about the divorce will be coming at you with lots of advice and possibly with offers to retaliate against your soon-to-be-former spouse. Since you have not likely traveled the road to divorce yet, it can be confusing, and it is always difficult to make what feels like the right decision when you are in an emotional state. Here are a few tips with some advice from a seasoned divorce attorney that might help shed light on what is to come for you. Just remember that while it might seem like going through a divorce is like going through hell, if you do it right you will come out on the other side fully prepared to learn from any mistakes you might have made and ready to move on with your life.
- Being in too much of a hurry. Take the time to think through all of the important decisions you will be forced to make when you are going through a divorce. Trying to rush things through just so that you can be done with it will cause you to miss opportunities and you may end up facing unforeseen consequences of your rushed decisions.
- Going in with unrealistic financial expectations. Dividing everything you had in two can leave both parties in a more precarious situation than you had anticipated. Going in with dollar signs in your eyes will not help the process move forward productively. Instead, take a sober look at your finances and how things will work once the divorce is final.
- Skipping the creation of a thorough inventory before the division of assets. Take the time to create a thorough inventory of all of your marital assets and debts so that you will have a clear picture of what will be divided up. Be forthcoming and transparent with your financial disclosures and make sure that your spouse has done the same.
- Agreeing to your spouse’s “ridiculous” requests for the sake of coming to a settlement. Do not let your emotional state get the better of you when it comes to your spouse’s demands. Allowing sentimentality (or guilt) to cause you to cave in and make a decision will haunt you in the future. There is no need to be vindictive either. Simply make every effort to make decisions from a business perspective rather than from an emotional one.
- Thinking that you can easily file the divorce on your own. You might have seen ads for do-it-yourself divorces and how easy and inexpensive they are, but if you own a home and/or a business, if you have children and if the two of you do not agree on every single aspect of the divorce, then a DIY solution will be more trouble to you than it will be worth. There are also specific filing deadlines for the paperwork, you have to be able to understand the proper jurisdiction and the rules of the appropriate court where you would file your documents. An experienced Nashville divorce attorney from Karla C. Miller and Associates will handle all of the legal legwork and be your advocate through the challenging and adversarial process of divorce in Tennessee.
Divorce can be a complicated process, but when you have a trusted divorce attorney on your side, you can feel confident that you will get through it. We invite you to speak to our Nashville divorce lawyers with any questions you may have about the divorce process and about your case. Please feel free to contact the legal team at Miller Upshaw Family Law, PLLC for more information.
Karla C. Miller has devoted her entire career to the practice of family law in Tennessee. She attended Auburn University and Nashville School of Law, and upon graduation in 1996, she opened her own law firm and has been assisting families throughout Tennessee since then. Learn more about Karla C. Miller here.
