Divorce is a fact of life for many couples who get married. Usually, it becomes clear relatively quickly that there are problems or that a couple is not compatible. In fact, the average length of marriages that end in divorce is only eight years. Divorce usually is easier when it’s just the husband and wife, but it can become much more complicated when there are children involved. Unfortunately, about 50% of children in the U.S. are affected by divorce. When divorce does involve children, there are some issues that need to be worked out.
One of the main issues when you are dealing with a family law situation of a divorce with children is who will get custody. Options include parents sharing custody or one parent getting primary custody with visitation rights for the other parent. This can be a complicated and complex process, so it’s important to work with a competent family lawyer. In about three-fourths of all cases, primary custody resides with the mother, but unique circumstances can lead to a different outcome.
Along with determining custody also comes the subject of whether there will be child support payments provided by the non-custodial parents. In most cases, divorcing spouses are available to come to an agreement outside the courtroom. In fact, more than 90% of custody cases are resolved before they reach a courtroom. This is almost always the best outcome for both spouses and children.
As complicated as divorces can be in regular cases, they can be even more complex when one or both spouses are in the military. That’s why it’s important to get a military divorce attorney who is an expert in the nuances of military divorce. Among the issues that a military divorce attorney may need to help you with are things like beneficiaries for military benefits such as pensions, and custody issues that may arise due to deployments. For example, the divorcing couple may decide that one spouse will have custody but that the other spouse will take over primary custody if that person is deployed. A military divorce lawyer has the expertise to make such arrangements work.
Divorce is not something most married people want to think about, but it is something that happens to a good portion of marriages. The important thing when divorcing is to work with an expert attorney and try to be cordial while making sure you get an agreement that is beneficial.