5 Tips from a West Boca Raton Divorce Lawyer
Living through a divorce may be stressful. These 5 tips from a West Boca Raton divorce lawyer will provide some insight into the process of a divorce in Palm Beach County.
Be Polite to your South Palm Beach County Family Court Judge.
Always be good-mannered when you appear, whether in person or via Zoom, before your Family Court Judge. Presently, there are only three Family Court judges at the South County Courthouse in Delray Beach, which presides over divorces for South Palm Beach County, including West Boca Raton.
Remember, husbands and wives only have one chance to make a good first impression. In less contested cases, the only times husbands and wives will be face-to-face (whether by Zoom or in person) with judges are essentially at case management hearings to set trials and at the trial itself. In more contested cases, parties may be at hearings on motions for temporary relief, motions for appointment of guardians ad litem and other family law motions several times before trial.
Always address your Family Court Judge as “Your Honor.” You should be courteous to the Judge, the opposing attorney and to others in the courtroom. Abstain from showing any resentment, anger or unhappiness with your Judge. You want to appear to be the mature, composed and collected party. You do not want to make a bad impression before the judge, so that he or she remembers your actions, or poor attitude, when you appear before him or her at the trial at the end of your divorce case.
Be Careful what you Post on Social Media Just Prior to and During your Divorce.
It is easy to post critical or negative comments about your spouse on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc. Likewise, it is as easy for your spouse, or his or her attorney, to copy those social media posts to use against you at future hearings in Palm Beach County Family Court. Believe me this happens in just about every contested divorce trial these days. Imagine that whatever you post on social media, that your judge will end up reading that same post when entered into evidence. What do you think a divorce judge will think of you if he reads your Facebook post about your husband, stating “he will never see his son again?” My advice as a West Boca Raton Divorce Attorney is to take a “social media break” during your divorce.
Buy your own Cellular Phone, Open a New Email and Change your Passwords.
You and your spouse have been living in the same house for probably years. Your husband or wife may have each used the same computer and have access to passwords to your email, or may easily obtain your password through answering questions, he or she probably knows from being married to you for years. Further, settings on cell phones can be modified to add in your spouse’s email, thereby allowing that spouse to read each and every text you receive and send.
Step one is open up a brand new email and secure that new email with a complex password, using numbers and symbols. Do not use names of your children or birthdays. Remember, you will be emailing your divorce lawyer. You do not want your husband or wife to be able to read any of those confidential emails between you and your West Boca Raton divorce lawyer.
If you and your spouse have had the same cell phone plan, buy a new cell phone on your own plan. Step three is to change all your passwords to your private accounts, such as bank accounts, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. to complex passwords that your spouse would never be able to guess.
Don’t Buy into Promises your Would-be Divorce Lawyer Makes that Sound too Good to be True.
Unfortunately, a few Boca Raton divorce lawyers out there will promise you everything under the sun at the initial divorce consultation. However, that same divorce attorney will have you sign a legal services contract, right then and there, where a clause states that the divorce lawyer cannot promise specific outcomes at the end of the case. This is the actual truth. How can any family law lawyer know what will exactly happen in every case after just speaking with a client for just an hour? The answer is that no divorce lawyer can.
Be careful, some Boca Raton divorce lawyers will stir the pot and start off the case in a aggressive fashion, then later drop their clients when the clients run through funds for continued legal services. If something sounds just too good to be true, it probably is. At that initial consultation, if your lawyer makes very specific promises, ask him or her to put those promises in writing. If that lawyer will not, then this family lawyer is probably not for you.
Talk to your Spouse
Some Boca Raton divorce lawyers instruct their clients to not talk at all to their spouse during the divorce. This makes absolutely no sense in 99% of the cases. The more spouses discuss issues involving their own families before and during the divorce, the less money will be spent on divorce lawyers. Now, of course, do not sign anything without talking to your divorce attorney first. Your lawyer will put these agreements into a marital settlement agreement (MSA).
Remember, all West Boca Raton divorce attorneys charge by the hour. So, the more issues that can be dealt and resolved between the spouses, the less you will spend on two lawyers going back and forth arguing over the issues. For example, if the parties can sit down and agree on whether their child should go to private school or public school, that issue is resolved quickly and inexpensively than having two divorce lawyers argue over this issue.
For free divorce legal advice and for more tips on divorcing in Palm Beach county, Florida, call West Boca Raton divorce attorney Tim Nies at 561-948-5588.