| Michael
Sanford
Marriage is a very solemn and serious chapter
on any person's life. However, due to personal reasons, a couple
may decide to call everything off and file a divorce. Divorce,
or dissolution, as it is increasingly becoming known, is a process
that legally terminates a marriage no longer considered viable
by one or both of the spouses, and that permits both to remarry.
All options for reconciliation are taken before a decision is
made to go to a divorce attorney. But when everything fails, the
divorce attorney takes over and the legal process of divorce takes
place.
How is divorce different than annulment? As any
divorce attorney will explain, annulment voids the supposed marriage.
This means there is not marriage to begin with. A voidable marriage
occurs when some defect exists in the contractual agreement in
which all marriages originate, as defined by a divorce attorney.
These include marriages of the underage or the insane, or a marriage
procured by fraud. Sexual impotency existing at the time of marriage
also gives grounds for annulment according to any divorce attorney.
Divorce, however, recognizes the existence of
the marriage and dissolves it on the given grounds, which are
contested by the divorce attorney. Grounds for divorce are adultery,
unreasonable behavior, or a lengthy time apart. Once the case
is file, it is the divorce attorney's job to confirm the complaint
and proceed to the divorce court hearing.
What takes up most of the time of a divorce attorney
is the distribution of conjugal property. In "community property"
states, the courts recognize both spouses as owning a 50 percent
interest in any assets acquired during the marriage (except for
items obtained as gifts or inheritance.), which will need to be
divided between the two persons and enforced by the divorce attorney.
Likewise, debts are the responsibility of both parties. In a divorce
action one spouse, usually the wife, may be granted alimony or
maintenance payments generally for a limited period of time. Often
a court will order the transfer of property, such as the matrimonial
home, from one party to the other on divorce; this is particularly
common where there are children from the marriage who are of school
age. The custody of any children may be awarded to either spouse,
with an arrangement made for visiting rights and support of the
children by the divorce attorney. At present, joint-custody arrangements
are being worked out more and more frequently by divorcing parents
rather than in a court and the divorce attorney.
During all of this process, the divorce attorney
becomes the legal representative of the husband or wife in court.
All meetings or agreements should be made with their divorce attorney
present at all times. This lessens the possibility of violence,
especially when the grounds of the divorce are adultery. The divorce
attorney keeps the parties civilized and help quicken the process
even more. The divorce attorney should not be seen as the villain
during such procedures because it is their job to work as mediators.
A divorce attorney's work is not done until the
assets and liabilities of both parties have been resolved. This
includes overseeing the enforcement of the court's ruling on the
division of assets, visiting rights and custody for the children.
With the time spent on each case, a divorce attorney must maintain
composure despite his or her views on marriage. There is a possibility
that a divorce attorney can lose his or her faith in the institution
of marriage after a while.
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