Marriage stand as one of the oldest and most universal of all institutions, typically when a man and woman are legally bound to form a single family and household. More recently, some parts of the world have legalized same-sex marriages as well, and same-sex couples are known to often adopt children into their households. Whatever the case may be, marriages may often end as well, and divorce is a modern institution that can bring a legal end to a marriage. Sometimes, two spouses will simply want a separation, in which case they are still legally married but not part of the same household at the time. In other cases, a divorce lawyer may be hired at a local law firm, and these divorce attorneys will know how to help their client legally end their marriage. What is more, a divorce lawyer can help their client obtain many items from the couple’s pooled assets, although the other spouse is likely to hire their own divorce lawyer for the same reason. What is there to know about divorce and separation in the United States today?
Why Divorce Happens
Divorce rates have been growing, and today, nearly 50% of American marriages end with a divorce. Why does this happen? There are some common reasons why American adults may file for a divorce and hire a divorce lawyer to help them. Each marriage is different, but studies have revealed some of the most common reasons why a marriage might end. Infidelity ranks highest among these reasons, when one spouse is unfaithful to the other and discovered. Or in come cases, the unfaithful partner is not caught, but rather confesses what they have been doing. Either way, infidelity is a common reason for divorce, and men and women do this at roughly the same rates (though not always for the same reasons). Other common reasons to end a marriage include drug or alcohol abuse, and abusing such substances may cause spouse to become verbally or violently abusive toward other people or pets in the household. Such substance abuse may also make for a major financial strain, such as spending excess money on drugs or losing one’s job because of an addiction.
Simple incompatibility may be another substantial reason to seek a divorce lawyer today. The two spouses may realize that they have very different ideas on what their life should be like, such as spending habits, whether or not to have kids, and how often to travel or take vacations or not. On top of that, the two people may simply not know each other well enough. It has been found that a longer dating period before engagement, such as three years or so, is enough time to test for compatibility in nearly any regard. Marriages after a dating period shorter than one month are more likely to end in a divorce. Whatever the reason for divorce, lawyers may be involved to help make this process legal, smooth, and fair. How might this play out?
Hiring a Divorce Lawyer
When a spouse decides that they want a divorce, they may turn to a local divorce law firm and look for an attorney there whose experience, legal expertise, and personality are to the client’s liking, and hire them. The paperwork will then be filed, and in response, the other spouse may hire a divorce lawyer of their own to represent their interests. These lawyers, and their clients, will typically compete over the terms of the divorce and the distribution of asses, such as who lives at what residence, money, a car or a private business, or even child custody. The latter category may be hotly contested by the parents of an under-18 child, and they may make use of child custody lawyers in particular for this. A spouse may be less likely to get child custody if they abuse drugs or alcohol, for example, or if they do not have a stable income (the specifics will vary case to case, however, and nothing is being guaranteed here). In some divorces, however, the spouses may not feel the need to hire divorce lawyers, and may simply hire an arbitrator who will help them think constructively and offer productive ideas and suggestions during the divorce proceedings.
