divorce lawyer

The divorce process is not the same for everyone. Each couple has its story and a variety of factors can influence the development of the divorce.

If you want to anticipate how long this process is going to take, at least to a certain extent, it is best to discuss the specifics of your case with an experienced St. Louis divorce attorney. They can help you understand the factors that can influence its duration and how to prepare for each step. Here are a few general factors that may effect the duration of your divorce:

The Waiting Period Imposed by the State

According to the Missouri law, there is a minimum of 30 days from filing the petition until the divorce can be pronounced.

The judges can make an exception about the waiting time if the circumstances require it. However, it’s generally only for events that cannot be controlled by the spouse, such as birth or deployment.

How Well You Get along with Your Spouse

It may sound ironic, but your divorce will happen faster if you actually get along with your spouse. Of course, that implies a mutual desire to separate, but also the ability to compromise and agree on the small things in the process.

The fastest divorces happen when you actually settle on a signed agreement, making the division of assets or the custody arrangements simpler for everyone.

The Number of Assets That You Must Divide

It’s only natural to expect your divorce to take longer if you had a lot of properties and goods as a married couple. The court must now register, evaluate them and decide what goes where.

Things can get even more complicated if you have a family business together as the evaluation of its value must be done over a long period of time.

Whether or Not You Have Children

One of the most delicate, important and disputed parts of a divorce is dealing with the custody of the children, child support payments and parent rights. The divorce can be over quite quickly if you don’t have children.

If you and your spouse have different ideas about where the children should live, your divorce won’t be pronounced until the custody issue is solved through witnesses, evidence, evaluations, testimonies, and so on.

The Presence of Both Spouses in the Same State

If both of you live and work in the same state, then the divorce process will be over sooner than expected. Filing for divorce when your spouse or yourself have relocated to a different state, on the other hand, will affect its duration significantly.

St. Louis Divorce Attorney

A lot of things can influence the duration of your divorce. So much so that it can be over in a few short weeks or extend for years on end. Working with a good St. Louis divorce attorney will help you navigate all the legal intricacies and speed up the process.

Give us a call today at (314) 801-8488

Contact Us

As satisfying as it is for you and your divorce lawyer to finalize your split, there are a few more matters that you should take care of.

If your divorce is finalized, or close to it, that is something to celebrate. As painful as your split may be, it is always better to have closure and not have to deal with stressful legal proceedings. Still, you have a few more tasks to carry out once your divorce is final.

Review Your Divorce Decree

Divorce decrees are documents that courts give to couples that split up. What they do is summarize the conclusion of the case, make the divorce official, and give each party a list of things to do. When you obtain this piece of information, you should read it over multiple times to make sure everything makes sense to you. Then, you can complete any pressing tasks on it. More likely, the decree will have general information that doesn’t need your immediate attention.

Change Your Name

If you took your spouse’s name in your marriage, there is a good chance that you’ll want to change it back. Fortunately, doing so is relatively straightforward. Once you do, you can check that the change went through with various institutions like banks, utility companies, the DMV, and voter registration.

Take Stock of Your Finances

No matter which side of a divorce you’re on, your financial situation will change. For a families’ primary earner, that might mean paying alimony and child support. The flipside is true too, as you may end up receiving checks every month. Either way, you need to take stock of your financial situation and likely make some tweaks to it. Some of the more essential matters include sending payments on time, budgeting correctly, and still contributing to retirement accounts.

Resolving Shared Accounts

When you’re married, you share almost everything. That includes bank accounts, retirement savings, deeds, and insurance. Splitting each of these accounts requires some time and effort to do correctly. Additionally, you might share less significant things like a Netflix subscription or email. You should split those as well, though they are less pressing issues.

Understand Your Tax Situation

Child support and alimony lead to a lot of money changing hands. It is essential to know what the tax implications of those transfers are. We recommend talking to a tax specialist, who will make sure you comply with government laws and help you save as much money as possible.

As satisfying as it is for you and your St. Louis divorce lawyer to finalize your split, there are a few more matters that you must take care of before moving on from the situation. The most important of them include reviewing your divorce decree, changing your name, taking stock of your finances, splitting shared accounts, and understanding your tax situation. Once you finish those tasks, you can fully move on from your divorce and build a promising future.

Unfortunately, changing lawyers mid-divorce is, at times, a difficult task, and should only be done under certain circumstances.

If you talk to somebody who has been through a divorce, they will probably have a long list of complaints about the process. That could include a disagreeable spouse, the nature of the law, or any number of other common grievances. One frustration that they might mention is the poor quality of their legal provider. They may even say that they wish they’d switched lawyers before the divorce was finished. Unfortunately, changing lawyers mid-divorce is, at times, a difficult task, and should only be done under certain circumstances.

Realize the Potential Headache That Comes With It

After you find and hire a St. Louis divorce attorney, they will start to get familiar with your case. That will include talking to you extensively, looking through your financial documents, negotiating with your spouse’s legal team, and carrying out a multitude of other time-consuming functions. After all of that, they will be thoroughly entrenched in your case and, hopefully, be ready to fight for you effectively. If you decide that this lawyer is not right for you, that process must start over. You will need to hire a new provider and have them familiarize themselves with the entire case before you can proceed. Not only could this set you back weeks or months, it may be a complicated process to navigate.

Identify Exactly Why You’re Frustrated

The first thing you need to do before deciding whether or not you want to hire a new lawyer is to identify why you’re frustrated. The reason for doing so is that you might discover that your feelings are coming from factors that are outside of your lawyer’s control.

Cases Where You Might Want To Change Lawyers

Generally, you will want to consider changing lawyers if your frustrations are directly related to that legal provider. A few common culprits are them not returning your calls, not adhering to deadlines, being unpleasant towards you, or having a general lack of organization. Essentially, the cases in which you may want to move on are when your lawyer is rude or incompetent.

Read more: 4 Traits Your Divorce Attorney Should Have

Cases Where You Might Not

The other side of the coin is when your frustrations are not related to your lawyer. One example of this could be your spouse being extremely difficult to work with, and as a result, you not getting what you want in your case. This is an issue that isn’t necessarily based on the quality of your lawyer, so switching providers is likely unwise.

Read more: 5 Ways to Make Your Divorce Go as Smooth as Possible

Now that you understand what you need to consider before switching lawyers mid-divorce, you can make that decision with confidence. If you find that your frustrations are out of your attorney’s control, you likely want to stick with them. On the other hand, if they are the source of your issues, you should strongly consider finding a new St. Louis divorce lawyer. If that is the case, you should look back at your original hire and identify any areas where you may have made a mistake. If you do, you can avoid making it again when you hire your new attorney. The result of this careful process will be finding the best lawyer to represent you.

Call The Betz Law Firm 24/7 :: (314) 801-8488