Fort Lauderdale Divorce Lawyer Blog

In part 1 of How To Survive Your Fort Lauderdale Divorce, I discussed ways that you can take care of yourself and your job during a dissolution of marriage. Let's face it, divorce litigation in Broward County related to alimony, child support, and custody issues such as a parenting plan and time-sharing schedule can become overwhelming. The stress and personal problems during this difficult time in your life should be controlled to prevent your job from being sabotaged.

You should not speak to your Fort Lauderdale divorce attorney during work unless it is a true emergency. When you speak to your marital and family lawyer, you should be in a private place where you can concentrate.

You should not speak to your spouse during work unless it is a true emergency. These conversations can be volatile. You can also become emotional. Your concentration and work product should not be negatively impacted by your pending Broward divorce and the heated conversations with your spouse related to alimony and child support.

Never use your photocopy machine at work to copy litigation papers in your case. You and your spouses financial documents and litigation documents are private and should not be shared, by mistake or otherwise, with your colleagues. You should also not use your office computer to discuss your personal life. Your hard and soft drives can be requested for inspection during the discovery process by your spouses lawyer.

You should focus on your job. During your divorce, the stress can detract from your job. You may also feel a sense of loss of control and self worth. However, you do not want to perform poorly at work. When you are able to take a break, walk, breathe, look out the window and stretch. The more you continue to function, the greater your sense of control and self esteem.

If your are a victim of domestic violence in Broward, document any problems that your spouse may cause at your job. You should ask your co-workers to alert you if they see your spouse's car in the area. In addition, ask your lawyer to subpoena any camera videotapes at your office or on surronding buildings.

Personal problems such as a divorce, alimony or child support case in Broward or a troubled marriage can be so overwhelming that they can threaten your career. During your custody, parenting plan and time-sharing litigation in your marital and family law case, your Fort Lauderdale divorce attorney can help you to control the litigation. However, you must help yourself and control your personal problems. To maintain your professional life during a divorce, there are several tips that you may want to consider.

You should keep your divorce private. Avoid discussing your case at work unless it is completely necessary for reasons such as a court appearance. This will help you keep the stress outside of your job.

Try to talk about your problems with people outside of your job. While it can be expensive to talk to your Broward divorce lawyer, you can speak to a friend, family member or your therapist. They can help calm you down. Your divorce and child support attorney in Hollywood, Plantation or Pembroke Pines can help you handle yourself in front of the mediator or judge.

When you get in your car, give yourself an escape from your divorce. Once you get out of your car at work, close the door on your personal problems and enter work mode. When you leave work, leave your work problems at your job. By compartmentalizing, you will get some relief and your problems will not seem so overwhelming.

You should tell your divorce lawyer to schedule depositions and court dates convenient to your work schedule so that you do not miss more days then you need to miss. Since court dates are planned in advance, give your employer as much notice as you possibly can. You should also try to make up your time.

Your divorce in Broward can become overwhelming. It can threaten to sabotage all aspects of life, including your career. Your Fort Lauderdale divorce lawyer may require you to appear in court so that you can receive temporary child support, alimony or attorney's fees and costs. In order to maintain your professional career, you should consider the following 8 tips:

Keep Your Divorce Private: Avoid telling your coworkers unless they need to know for business reasons.

Separate Work Life From Home Life: When you get in your car to leave for the office, allow the drive to work to become an escape from your divorce. This will allow you some relief so that your problems do not overlap.

Schedule Court Dates Around Work: You do not want to miss a lot of work. Courts recognize that people need to work. Your divorce lawyer can request hearings during the late afternoon or early morning to help with your work schedule.

Give Advance Notice To Your Boss: Many court dates are arranged 4-6 weeks in advance. You should offer to make up the missed hours. Not only do you need the money, your employer needs you to work.

Try To Settle Your Case: Taking time off for hearings or a trial is financially burdensome. If you have to attend a trial, try to schedule it during your vacation time off from work.

Don't Talk To Your Attorney At Work: When you speak to your lawyer, be in a private place where you can concentrate.

Don't Talk To Your Spouse At Work: Many times talking with your spouse during work can result in a heated discussion. You may become emotional. This can negatively impact your concentration and work. Employers want you to be focused during the work day.

Only Use Your Office Computer For Work: Your spouse may request to review your hard drive during the discovery process. Your boss will not be pleased by having your company computer inspected.

Consider Cry Breaks: During lunchtime, take a 3 minute cry break. Crying out your feelings eliminate stress toxins from your body.

Getting divorced in Broward County can be a daunting experience. You are not just breaking up with your spouse, but you are dividing your assets and liabilities and creating a parenting plan and time-sharing schedule with your children. Whether you live in Cooper City, Coral Springs, Plantation or Southwest Ranches, a divorce can be a long and expensive process. By hiring a divorce lawyer in Fort Lauderdale, you can avoid some of the most common and costly mistakes.

Here are the top five mistakes:

Being Unprepared

A divorce attorney charges by the hour. The rate can be between $250.00-$400.00 an hour. Your lawyer will need copies of all of your financial and legal documents, including tax returns, bank statements and proof of debt. You can save hundreds of dollars by gathering and organizing the paperwork on your own and providing them to your lawyer in an organized manner.

Not Seeking Financial Advice

Divorcing couples generally split their assets and liabilities down the middle. You need to take into account the short term and long terms tax ramifications. Seeking financial advice from an accountant or financial planner is crucial. If your spouse owns a business, it is a good idea to hire a business appraiser to estimate the value. Otherwise, your spouse could underestimate the firm's worth and walk away with more than his or her fair share.

Asking For The House

One of the most common divorce mistakes women make is fighting for the marital residence. They feel that finding a new place to live and packing up the house will be tougher on the minor children. The problems is that a house carries a tremendous expense. All too often, the wife gives up so much in the settlement to keep the house that she doesn't end up with cash flow to maintain the house. Often times it is better to sell the house and equally split the net proceeds.

Rushing To Court

The quickest way to have high attorney's fees and costs is to go court. A divorce can cost up to $8,000.00 and one that goes to trial can cost $20,000.00. Unless you have a very complicated divorce, a majority of couples are better off reaching a settlement through their lawyers or at mediation.

Failing To Untangle Your Assets

When you are going through a divorce, you want to become financially independent. Establish your own credit and open up your own credit card before you get divorced. If the divorce gets ugly, you spouse could run up high balances and not make the payments to hurt your credit score. You also want to have all of the marital debt paid off as part of the marital settlement even if it means liquidating an asset. Otherwise your spouse could fail to honor debts that he or she agreed to take on during the divorce settlement, and you could end up with creditors after you for payment.