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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