Divorce is never a happy event for anyone, even when it is inevitable, according to an article in Psychology Today. For every person who gets divorced, there are many emotions that arise, from anger and frustration to feelings of sadness and loss. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are more than 800,000 divorces every year in the country, and according to the U.S. Census, divorce rates are higher in the some of the Southern states than in other parts of the country. For all of those more than 800,000 people, divorce results in emotional shifts. While you may not have control over all of the emotional responses from your divorce, you can limit some of those emotions by working with an experienced Georgia divorce lawyer.
Focusing on the “Big Picture” of Your Divorce
As this article in the Huffington Post emphasizes, it can be extremely difficult to avoid having an emotional response to your divorce, and no one expects you to keep emotions out of the process entirely. However, you could bring additional emotions into the process if you decide to handle the divorce on your own, especially when you get caught up in the small, frustrating details or if a new reality starts settling in and your spouse has moved on and barely treats you as a friend now.
For example, you could end up spending an entire day focusing on a comment your spouse made about your parenting skills, or a statement from your spouse about wanting to keep a certain marital asset when it comes time for property distribution. In other words, you could expend significant emotional energy on small details or personal issues between the two of you that may not have any kind of impact on the bigger picture or just be a distraction from the most important terms to iron out in your divorce.
A divorce lawyer in Georgia can help you to focus on the bigger picture. Rather than 18 7 CHAPTER 19 using substantial amounts of your emotional energy to deal with day-to-day issues in the divorce, or to focus on off-hand comments, your divorce lawyer can manage those matters for you and can help you to keep your emotions in check. The important thing to remember is that you want to have a divorce in which you are treated fairly when it comes to matters of equitable (fair for circumstances) distribution of property and maintenance to ensure your bills are paid through alimony (spousal support) and if there are children; child support, and child custody and visitation. There are big decisions that can affect you the rest of your life and you want an experienced and capable divorce lawyer with a clear head helping you make these big decisions. Moments will come when your emotions can have a negative effect on your divorce if you are doing it yourself and it doesn’t matter if it is uncontested and agreed upon by both spouses or is a contentious trial for your divorce. Keeping these big-picture issues in focus with the help of a lawyer can help you to keep emotions to a minimum.
Interactions with the Other Spouse and the Day-to-Day Stressors of Divorce
When you file a divorce yourself, you will need to deal directly with the other spouse or your spouse’s lawyer. Handling day-to-day contact on your own, not to mention dealing constantly with the facts and requirements of your divorce, can put a serious strain on your psychological and emotional health. To be sure, handling a divorce on your own means that you could bring emotions into the process that could be avoided by hiring a Georgia divorce attorney. Your divorce lawyer can manage the daily issues that arise from your divorce and will be the contact person for the other spouse.
Having an advocate on your side means you can limit the emotions of the divorce proceeding and can focus on your own physical and mental health throughout this difficult process. Ultimately, this is one of the most important reasons why you shouldn’t file for divorce.