Navigating Family Law Matters with Compassion and Expertise
Just as different medical subspecialties attract people with different types of personalities, so do different practice areas of law. Not everyone wants to be a corporate lawyer who closes deals or a prosecutor who convinces the public that he is tough on crime. Just as some medical students dream of being primary care pediatricians or specializing in treating young patients with a certain medical condition, some law students dream of working in a practice area that enables them to have a positive effect on children and families. If you hire a family lawyer, you should choose your lawyer based on his or her knowledge of the law and on his or her interpersonal skills in dealing with sensitive matters.
Divorce is never easy, and neither is co-parenting with an ex-partner to whom you were never legally married, but having airtight legal agreements in place can stop the conflict from spiraling out of control and going on endlessly. For help thinking clearly about a difficult family law issue such as divorce or child support, contact a Whittier spousal support lawyer.
Be a Peacemaker in Contentious Divorce Cases and a Fighter in Amicable Divorce Cases
When you are going through a divorce, just getting through your day and accomplishing even a quarter of what you had hoped to accomplish feels like a herculean task. Your approach to your divorce will probably be based on emotions, even if you are normally able to take a detached, objective view of financial decisions. If your marriage ended in a firestorm of anger, then you might view your divorce as a fight to the finish, and your goal might be for you to win and your spouse to lose, for you to get more marital property and more parenting time and your spouse to get less. If your spouse walked out even though you wanted to stay together, and you are still holding onto hopes of reconciliation, then you might want to grant all of your spouse’s wishes in the hopes of winning him or her back.
Your family law attorney’s role is to play devil’s advocate in the face of your determination. If you are trying to leave your ex destitute, your lawyer will talk you down from your revenge fantasies. Likewise, your lawyer can divest you of your false hopes that you and your spouse will get back together; if your spouse filed for divorce, it means that your marriage is ending. In either case, your lawyer’s goal is for you to emerge from the divorce with the same financial stability you had when you were married, or at least as close to that level of financial stability as possible. The most straightforward way to do this is to resolve your disagreements in mediation. If your divorce is so contentious that you and your spouse cannot stand to talk to each other, then just sit quietly during the mediation sessions and let your lawyer do the talking.
Do Not Engage in the Battle of the Sexes
It is easy to blame the problems that led to your divorce on your spouse’s gender. It is a mistake to go into your divorce trying to get revenge on your spouse, but it is worse to go into your divorce trying to get revenge on all mankind and all womankind. Every family is unique. Don’t let it mess with your mind that a divorced father you know has less parenting time than he wants and has to pay an astronomical amount of alimony. He is not you, and there may be more to his story than he has told you. Besides, your divorce lawyer is probably better than his.
Listen With Empathy, but Draw Boundaries With Clients
Your divorce lawyer’s job is to help you strategize about which marital property you need and to advocate for you so that you can get it. Your lawyer can also help you make realistic plans about employment and childcare while your divorce is pending and after it is final. These legal and financial matters are only some of the challenges associated with divorce and co-parenting. Even the best divorce lawyer is no substitute for the emotional support of family and friends, who will help you build a new normal.
Contact the Law Offices of Omar Gastelum About Family Law Cases
A family law attorney can help you with family law matters such as divorce and parenting plans. Contact the Law Offices of Omar Gastelum and Associates APLC in Whittier, California, to set up a consultation.
