Divorcing A Divorce Attorney: Why You Need Another Divorce Attorney On Your Side
Do divorce attorneys ever marry, given what they know are the facts about the survival of marriage in this country and what they have witnessed as divorce attorneys? Surprisingly, some of them do marry. However, they are not immune to divorce themselves. If you married and are now divorcing a divorce attorney, you are going to need a lot of legal help on your side of the courtroom. Here is why.
There Are No Laws Against Attorneys Representing Themselves in a Divorce Case
A lawyer who practices family law in divorce court for a living is not restricted from representing him/herself. When you are already tired of the fighting between you, it can feel like a major personal attack when your attorney/spouse chooses to defend his/her position in divorce court. You may not have the wherewithal to stand up to the verbal onslaught that your spouse can bring and knows just how to present in court in order to be heard. Hiring your own lawyer places a buffer between you and a spouse who is acting as his/her own legal counsel.
Your Spouse Knows All of the Ins and Outs of the Family Law System
Here is a person who has made it his/her life's work to know everything there is to know about family law and divorce and has successfully argued for years to get clients exactly what they want out of their divorces. Without your own lawyer helping to defend you, you would be walking into a courtroom with an ex-spouse/attorney who could strip you of everything from a home to children with their expert legal defense skills. If you are going to be equally matched and get a fair "fight" in court, you have to have your own divorce attorney fighting for you.
Paying for a Lawyer When You Were the Stay-at-Home Spouse
It is always good to have a job, even if you are supposed to be a stay-at-home spouse. The biggest reason for this is that if and when you were to divorce your spouse who is a divorce lawyer, you would need money to hire a lawyer. The second biggest reason is that your soon-to-be-ex-spouse/lawyer can claim that all of the marital income is his/hers because you did not work.
If you work and tuck money away in your own account, you have money to pay a lawyer and your lawyer can dismiss that claim by providing evidence that you worked a job and were not a completely stay-at-home anything. If you can get this claim dismissed, then the judge may scrutinize your ex-spouse's claims a little more closely and not overlook them simply because your ex-spouse is a divorce lawyer.