The Legal Aspects Of Divorce - Legal Counseling And Court Proceedings

By Author: Jamie Hanson
Total Articles: 3495
Comment this article

A divorce, by its very nature, is hardly a pleasant experience, and things can be much more distressful if the individuals involved are not adequately prepared to actually go through the process. In most cases, both spouses are emotionally and financially worn down with such a threatening decision facing them and do not have time to think of systematic way to deal with their problems.

Any couple contemplating divorce should carefully think things through and if one spouse expects resistance from the other spouse at the mention of an impending end to their marital status, then that individual should take extensive legal counseling about available legal options to avoid bitter battles later!

Using Law as a Weapon

Many non-cooperative spouses use "law" as a weapon against the spouse initiating a divorce, but the purpose of law, in the most ethical sense, is to provide equal support and relief to both spouses going through the divorce. Law is not meant to be used as a weapon against an individual; the purpose of law is to protect everybody's rights.

That the legal system and its provisions exist to ...
... protect everybody's rights should be clearly communicated to divorcing couples to that break-up of marriages do not lead to irrational battles between spouses.

The Legal Counseling

The ways divorce lawyers or legal counselors can help are:

They can provide a framework for an impending divorce to take place explaining the legal grounds for divorce and a probable course of action.

They can discuss all the related laws and statues with the client so that the client is adequately informed and prepared in these subjects.

They can assist in building a plan for the divorce to take place including a separation agreement, legal negotiations, serving the notice, court procedures, and so on.

They can guide and counsel the client in case of any unfortunate incident or setback during the separation or divorce settlement process.

They can ensure that the separation and divorce happen amicably and do not lead to any unlawful incident before, during, or after the divorce.

The Court Proceedings
In "no fault" divorces, where both the spouses willingly give up their marital rights without any nasty legal manipulation or negotiation, a lawyer or lawyers representing both parties can appear in Court on behalf of their clients and go through the final motion. In other words, the divorcing couple is awarded the divorce "in absentia".

In cases, where things are not so smooth and one or both the spouses have prepared to fight it out in Court, divorce settlements can take months or years to resolve and sometimes, a divorce is not granted in absence of an amicable settlement.

The function of the legal system and divorce courts are to ensure that both parties' rights are protected and that the final decree is granted as a result of an amicable settlement. Law cannot be used to punish or malign an individual; nor can it be used to vent all marital frustrations. The purpose of law in divorce matters is to guide and counsel the victims or divorcing spouses through the intricacies of many law, statutes, rules, and regulations so that average couples do not face any harassment over settling their divorce matters.

Writer writes about Austin divorce and Austin child custody issues.