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If your relationship with your spouse is no longer tenable, filing for divorce may be in everyone’s best interest. However, getting divorced is just as much a complicated legal process as it is a complex personal choice, and dissolving your marriage without professional assistance can be excessively challenging.
The guidance of a seasoned family attorney could be crucial in achieving the most positive and proactive outcomes to your divorce. With a Boca Raton divorce lawyer’s support, you could more effectively enforce your rights, preserve your best interests, and minimize the risk of procedural mistakes and disputes.
To seek a divorce in Boca Raton, at least one spouse must have maintained permanent residence within the state for six months minimum before filing. The filing party must do so in the county where the qualifying spouse(s) resides, or county spouse last resided in as man and wife. There is one notable exception, though—if the filing party maintains a primary residence in the state but is currently serving elsewhere as a U.S. military servicemember, they can still file for divorce.
Like several other states, Florida takes a formalized “no-fault” approach to divorce, which means there is no legal requirement to name a reason or fault why they wish to dissolve their marriage. Instead, as a Boca Raton attorney could affirm, the filing party can simply say their marriage is irretrievably broken to proceed with the divorce process.
After serving divorce papers and fulfilling a few other procedural requirements, both spouses must disclose basic documents of their assets and liabilities. These include sources of income, financial liabilities, and any other details that help establish a basic picture of their individual finances. This ensures that everyone has a basic understanding of each other’s financial interests and obligations, which is crucial to establishing an equitable division of marital assets. In addition, as case progresses each party may request addition financial documents and information which will increase each parties understanding of marital assets and other financial issues in their case.
In addition, divorcing spouses may need to address whether one party will provide alimony payments to the other after the divorce is finalized. Alimony is not always part of every divorce, and when courts do issue spousal support orders, they generally do so with a specific duration in mind. For example, one party might owe alimony to the other for educational or work opportunities they missed while providing for children, or until the recipient spouse can support themselves through employment.
Finally, if children are involved, the divorce process will need to establish how timesharing (child custody/visitation) rights and responsibilities of parental decision making will be divided, and what financial obligations will fall to both parents in the form of child support payments. While divorcing couples cannot independently make binding decisions on child-related matters without a court’s final approval, a divorce attorney in Boca Raton could provide vital assistance in advocating for a favorable decision from the court.
Even when it is the right choice for all parties involved, divorce is a difficult process to go through in both procedural and personal terms. Matters can get even more challenging if you try to represent your own interests and rights without legal guidance.
Retaining a Boca Raton divorce lawyer could be a key first step toward making sure your divorce goes as smoothly as possible. Call today for a consultation.