It is natural and normal to turn to other people for advice when you find yourself considering making big changes. However, not everyone is equally equipped to offer valuable guidance to those in need of advice.
Many people will turn to their friends or family members to make major life decisions without stopping to consider how many decisions also have legal and financial repercussions. Your friends and family members may be able to give you some assistance based on their own perceptions of your situation, but they may not be able to offer truly expert opinions.
In the event that you find yourself considering divorce, you may not want to rely on people emotionally involved in your life to provide you with unbiased opinions and advice. Instead, consulting with an attorney could help you make better decisions about whether divorce is right for you.
An attorney can tell you what will likely happen in a California divorce
Everyone seems to consider themselves an expert on divorce, but if their experience in the matter comes from a movie, you would be right to be suspicious of how valuable their advice is. Even people who have gone through divorce often don’t understand the laws that guided the outcome in their situation.
An attorney, on the other hand, will have direct knowledge of state laws and common outcomes in California divorces. They can advise you about the most common practices when it comes to asset division, as well as child custody and other issues, like spousal support and child support. They can tell you if a decision, like moving out of your home, could have legal ramifications later in the divorce.
An attorney can give unbiased advice
When you talk to friends and family members about personal issues, it often puts the people who love you in a difficult position. They may have a more unbiased perspective of your circumstance than you do, but they may worry about how their opinions on the issue will affect your relationship with them.
For example, if your close friend actually believes you should get a divorce, they may hesitate to say so out of fear that you will pull away from the friendship if you don’t end your marriage. Alternatively, family members may encourage you to end a marriage if they personally dislike your spouse, without considering the impact to you or your children.
A lawyer will not have the same social ties to you or your spouse and can therefore provide a more neutral opinion about the best options in your current circumstances. For some couples, therapy can be enough to resolve issues. For others, creating a postnuptial document could help them both avoid marital strife and prepare for a divorce in the future. Other times, divorce is clearly the best option for everyone involved.