In my last post I explained what a divorce consultant does. So why should you hire one? Divorce is an expensive process on its own, why should you add another professional?
A few questions you need to consider. Are you talking to your lawyer about non legal issues and incurring large legal bills? Do you understand the decision you will need to make during your divorce? Do you have the time to do the leg work required to respond to court replies, pull the financial information together to determine your marital lifestyle, respond to the information requests and document production(discovery requests)? Are you prepared to respond to the potentially outrageous demands from your spouse in a way that will lead to settlement as opposed to leading to court? Do you know your money situation, how much you have and where is it being spent (without this knowledge you can find yourself in a world of grief)? Have you thought out the best possible parenting strategy for your children and how you will manage it given your work schedule or that of your spouse? What will your financial situation look like when you get to the end of your divorce?
Simply, without knowledge of the decisions you have to make and the alternatives around those decisions you will spend longer getting your divorce done, you will be in a reactive mode rather than being proactive and controlling the situation and, your legal bills will be many multiple times what they would be with a consultant having your back.
When you work with a Divorce Consultant you will:
- Have peace of mind that you made the best possible decision given your circumstances.
- Understand the potential alternatives around the decisions you need to make.
- Have a picture of what your outcome will look like from the beginning so that you can plan for your future.
- Get a better outcome for your children so that they suffer less.
- Be able to be proactive rather than reactive resulting in less drama.
- Go into mediation with a plan and strategy to get your divorce done.
- If you have to go to court provide your lawyer with the evidence to support your arguments so they can win your position in court.
- Sleep better at night.
- Have less anxiety.
- Have someone to talk to as you think through issues and not be on the clock incurring costs for every minute of conversation.
The better question is: Can you afford not to have a divorce consultant?