Getting a divorce is traumatic and sometimes you can spend too much time, money and emotions in an unwise fashion.  5 Tips:

  1.  Do not fight over the “pots and pans”.  Personal property has a lot of emotions involved and some sentimental pieces are very important but many times people spend too much time fighting over property like a TV that you may both spend more on the attorney fighting about the item than the item is worth.  I have argued over some items that the parties just want to win( other times items are very important and may be worth it to the party eg past examples, Pat’s season tickets, pet’s ashes, and so forth).
  2. Do not let your emotions dictate whether you should go to trial to win or settle quickly without determining what the assets are worth or whether the agreement will be reasonable and fair to you in 6 months or 16 years.
  3. Know what the assets are worth even if it costs some money.  It is hard to know whether you are getting a good or bad deal if you do not know the value of a pension, business, home and so forth.  Most assets can be appraised for not too much money and not take too much time.
  4. Do not think hide income or assets.  Not only are you at risk of perjury but your credibility may be sunk for the judge and the agreement even if approved may be attacked in the future
  5. Be organized and collect documents for your lawyer.  If you can keep copies if financial documents such as tax returns, pay stubs, credit card statements, retirement accounts for your lawyer you can save a lot of time and money.  In addition, if you write out questions before meeting with lawyer at least as a guideline and even sometimes write out a narrative of your situation it can help make your fees less expensive