The following is not legal advice

 

 010 Divorced Dad Minute: "What is Your Budget For Family Court?": Play Now | Play in Popup | Downloads 8670

What's your budget for Family Court? 

Most divorced dads never think this part of their situation through, because far too often they are not ahead of the curve, anticipating a letter from their wife's lawyer, or being served Court Documents with short notice affecting a fathers rights and future obligations upon separation and divorce. Without a realistic sense of what one is getting into, once a matter proceeds to Family Court on  Custody, Access, and Child Support issues, a divorced dad can find himself facing a severe cash flow problem.

That's because many divorced dads who have a Family Court matter have completely unrealistic expectations when it comes down to estimating what it will cost to litigate Custody, Access, and Child Support  disputes. They don't understand that initially getting in there can be $5000.00 to $6000.00  If you go into trial, you could be looking at five figures and in the mid-five figures. Most families really can't afford it. Some statistics demonstrate the reality is this:

50-85% of people going through Family Court end up going there without a lawyer. Often that's because many people have all of their cash tied up in an asset like a home. And that can be extremely dangerous. When your wife attends at her lawyer's office, and signs a direction to seek orders to have the home put up for sale; that  the proceeds of a home will go into trust; and that the lawyer gets paid first and foremost before the remaining equity in the home, the funds from your wife's half of the proceeds of sale of the home are released, she now has a war chest.

And guess what? Unless she has a very ethical lawyer, who is reporting regularly on what's being spent on her behalf during Family Court either:

(a) If she wins and you lose, it will likely come out of the remaining equity in the home, the funds from your half of the proceeds of sale of the home are released to you…can you say OUCH?

(b) If she loses and was expecting a cheque for say $50,000.00, but gets one for $2000.00 -Who do you think she will blame? And how will that affect your futureCustody, Access, and Child Support issues?

So you've got to really take stock and analyze the situation before it gets really nasty and completely out of control, or be prepared to lose everything the two of you have worked so hard to acquire in the first place. The key strategy if you have a small budget is to recognize that anger will cost you a fortune.

Anger always equals a huge legal bill when you go to Family Court. Recognizing that is the first step to reducing the financial cost of separation and divorce. Furthermore, and as is important is knowing that there are many other costs: Your health, sense of well-being, future relationship with the mother of your children, emotional exhaustion, how the children are affected by disputes over Custody, Access, and Child Support issues.

However, there is hope: By taking a proactive stance, educating and keeping oneself vigilant and ready for success, you can exercise a degree of control over the outcome. Separation, divorce, Custody, Access, and Child Support issues don't have to be rather than be nearly as bad and acrimonious as described above.

If you feel your impending or ongoing separation and divorce are spiraling out of control, like an impending "train wreck". apply Divorce the 101 step that seems most appropriate to bring matters under some semblance of order. An educated approach will always be far more cost effective in the long run than either acting or reacting on an emotional basis to your situation, be it self-created or imposed upon you by an angry soon to be ex-partner and/or wife.

You will always be Dad and she will always be Mom from your child's point of view. Try your best to always keep focused on that as the most important fact to prove in Family Court.

Let us know how its working out by joining us on our weekly teleseminar / webcast training call Divorced Dad Weekly where we go into more depth on these concepts.

Listen to today's Divorced Dad Minute to learn how….come back often for new insights on how you can begin turning your situation around today.

Let us know how its working out by joining us on our weekly teleseminar / webcast training call Divorced Dad Weekly where we go into more depth on these concepts.

Listen to today's Divorced Dad Minute to learn how….come back often for new insights on how you can begin turning your situation around today.

Danny Guspie & Heidi Nabert
The Dynamic Divorce Duo

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