5 mistakes to avoid in divorce

Going through a divorce is a difficult, emotional roller coaster. You may know your marriage needs to end, but still feel sad and angry about it. Because divorce spurs so many emotions, divorcing couples often make mistakes in the process. They don’t realize how certain decisions and actions will impact their divorce in negative ways.

So, if you now are facing divorce, you should be careful and avoid these common mistakes people make during the divorce process:

  1. Not getting an experienced divorce attorney to represent you. You want to have an advocate, someone who has your best interests in mind. An experienced divorce attorney will know Pennsylvania laws and how to handle dividing your assets with your spouse and reaching a child custody agreement.
  2. Not establishing separate financial accounts when you decide to divorce. You don’t want to give your spouse access to all your joint money during your divorce. You can instead take a portion and establish your own checking and savings account and put your paychecks in that. Then, when you divorce, a judge will decide how you will split your joint account funds with your ex.
  3. Settling your divorce quickly just to get it over with. You may regret it if you give your spouse the marital home and other assets because you feel guilty about the divorce or you don’t want to deal with splitting your assets. You need to protect your own interests and financial future in divorce too.
  4. Putting your kids in the middle of your divorce. You shouldn’t complain to your children about how much money your spouse will receive in the divorce or the amount of child support you will pay. You also shouldn’t use them as messengers between your spouse and you. Your children shouldn’t know all the nitty-gritty details of your divorce or be put in the middle of your relationship with your ex. Divorce is hard enough on children without them being put in the middle.
  5. Sending nasty texts to your spouse or posting about your divorce on social media. You may not realize that your texts and social media posts can become evidence in your divorce case. If you post about how terrible your spouse is, the judge in your divorce case could think you aren’t interested in establishing a good co-parenting relationship. That can impact your child custody order.

Avoiding these divorce mistakes will help you be in a better position once your divorce is final. Then, you will be better able to get a fresh start on your own.

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