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Law Articles
The Job of a Divorce Attorney
by Michael Sanford
Marriage is a very solemn and serious chapter on any person's
life. However, due to personal reasons, a couple may decide
to call everything off and file a divorce. Divorce, or dissolution,
as it is increasingly becoming known, is a process that legally
terminates a marriage no longer considered viable by one or
both of the spouses, and that permits both to remarry. All options
for reconciliation are taken before a decision is made to go
to a divorce attorney. But when everything fails, the divorce
attorney takes over and the legal process of divorce takes place.
How is divorce different than annulment? As any divorce attorney
will explain, annulment voids the supposed marriage. This means
there is not marriage to begin with. A voidable marriage occurs
when some defect exists in the contractual agreement in which
all marriages originate, as defined by a divorce attorney. These
include marriages of the underage or the insane, or a marriage
procured by fraud. Sexual impotency existing at the time of
marriage also gives grounds for annulment according to any divorce
attorney.
Divorce, however, recognizes the existence of the marriage and
dissolves it on the given grounds, which are contested by the
divorce attorney. Grounds for divorce are adultery, unreasonable
behavior, or a lengthy time apart. Once the case is file, it
is the divorce attorney's job to confirm the complaint and proceed
to the divorce court hearing.
What takes up most of the time of a divorce attorney is the
distribution of conjugal property. In "community property"
states, the courts recognize both spouses as owning a 50 percent
interest in any assets acquired during the marriage (except
for items obtained as gifts or inheritance.), which will need
to be divided between the two persons and enforced by the divorce
attorney. Likewise, debts are the responsibility of both parties.
In a divorce action one spouse, usually the wife, may be granted
alimony or maintenance payments generally for a limited period
of time. Often a court will order the transfer of property,
such as the matrimonial home, from one party to the other on
divorce; this is particularly common where there are children
from the marriage who are of school age. The custody of any
children may be awarded to either spouse, with an arrangement
made for visiting rights and support of the children by the
divorce attorney. At present, joint-custody arrangements are
being worked out more and more frequently by divorcing parents
rather than in a court and the divorce attorney.
During all of this process, the divorce attorney becomes the
legal representative of the husband or wife in court. All meetings
or agreements should be made with their divorce attorney present
at all times. This lessens the possibility of violence, especially
when the grounds of the divorce are adultery. The divorce attorney
keeps the parties civilized and help quicken the process even
more. The divorce attorney should not be seen as the villain
during such procedures because it is their job to work as mediators.
A divorce attorney's work is not done until the assets and liabilities
of both parties have been resolved. This includes overseeing
the enforcement of the court's ruling on the division of assets,
visiting rights and custody for the children. With the time
spent on each case, a divorce attorney must maintain composure
despite his or her views on marriage. There is a possibility
that a divorce attorney can lose his or her faith in the institution
of marriage after a while.
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