A fundamental tension exists between family law attorneys and clients: racking up billable hours is relatively easy and advantageous for the attorney, but it’s often not in the client’s best interest. In divorce cases, unnecessarily dragging out the legal process opens the client up to emotional pain—not to mention unnecessary costs.
Plenty of attorneys, for all their other merits, don’t admit this simple fact to their clients. Monahan Law Firm, however, works to speed up the process at every opportunity without sacrificing quality. Sometimes, it makes sense to dig in your heels and fight. Largely, though, a more efficient divorce is in a client’s best interests.
Why Is a More Efficient Divorce Usually Better For Clients?
Besides saving time and money, proceeding full speed ahead with a divorce leaves less time for second guesses. If you’ve made the decision to divorce, you’ve almost certainly done so with conviction and after a long period of heartache. After making this difficult decision, backtracking without an extremely compelling reason only prolongs the difficult process.
The phrase “ripping off the Band-Aid” has certain negative connotations. In many ways, though, that’s the best way to go through divorce. It will be somewhat painful and difficult, but your determination can get you through it. Plowing straight ahead gives you less time to get distracted by peripheral factors that don’t matter as much.
Ways to Speed Up Your Divorce
In some ways, the timeline of your divorce is restricted by law. Divorces in Arizona may not be finalized sooner than 60 days after the non-petitioning spouse has been served with legal papers. If desired, non-petitioning spouses have up to 20 days to file a response to the divorce petition. Contested divorces often take several months to years.
Conversely, uncontested divorces can be finalized rather quickly. Your divorce is uncontested if you and your spouse agree on all matters that are pertinent to the split— including property division, parenting time, legal decision making, and spousal maintenance. In an uncontested divorce, you and your spouse simply need to draw up the settlement (with an attorney’s supervision) and submit it to the judge for approval.
Other ways you can make your divorce as efficient as possible are:
- Agreeing to mediate issues you and your spouse disagree on;
- Communicating transparently and openly;
- Viewing the divorce as a business decision; and
- Doing your best to keep emotions out of it.
However You Want to Proceed, We’ll Be There For You
Many soon-to-be divorcées simply want the process over as quickly as possible so they can get on with their lives. We are generally on board with this strategy unless we notice something that warrants more time for examination. In any situation, our team will be there to guide you through the legal process and advocate for your best interests. Call us at (623) 385-3190 for mission-focused legal counsel.
Monahan Law Firm, PLC
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