The moment you learn that your partner is filing for divorce, it may come as a surprise or something you expected. Either way, you must take the right steps to protect yourself, your money, and your kids. And this doesn’t mean emptying your bank accounts or stripping your marital home. It’s recommended to take reasonable and legally-acceptable steps to protect your interests. Firms like Lawrence Stephens could prove to be helpful in legal cases such as this. Nonetheless, these steps include:
Consult with a lawyer
If you and your partner cannot handle issues about your divorce at home, the chances are that the divorce case will end up in court. You will need an experienced Angleton divorce lawyer to represent you. Therefore, it makes sense to talk to an attorney early enough to make sure that you take the right steps to protect your kids, assets, and yourself. Besides, you will avoid making costly mistakes.
Stay in your family home if you have kids
Moving out of your family home too soon might affect child custody later. At the same time, staying in your marital home might cause heightened tensions between you and your partner. In the worst-case scenario, it could result in you and your partner fighting in front of the kids. Beware of these issues as they can affect the children negatively.
Alternatively, you may want to time-share the marital home with your partner until the divorce and custody issues are fully resolved. This can minimize instances of domestic violence and the overall friction associated with divorce.
Never allow your partner to take the kids and leave
Neither you nor your spouse has more rights over the other to take the kids and leave. Ensure that your spouse understands that if he or she wants to leave, they can do so. But the kids have to stay at home. As an alternative, it’s recommended to use a time-sharing strategy with your partner until the divorce or Divorce nisi and custody processes are finalized. Whilst that is useful to make sure you both get time with the children, one parent will have to gain full custody of the children. For more information on how to win custody of the children, people could learn here.
Protect important documents
Find and gather all your personal documents like birth certificate, education documents, and more. Make copies of all jointly-owned documents such as title deeds, bank statements, real estate records, tax returns, and more. Keep these documents safely.
It’s also essential to create a reliable record of all marital assets. One of the best ways to do so record professional videos of the assets. Try as much as you can to do this with your spouse. Inventory all the properties and their contents. Consider pulling out some items to make them visible and open up drawers to make their contents visible.
In case things disappear at home during the divorce process, you will have enough evidence of the specific items that are missing.
Don’t sign
Most people make a mistake of signing paperwork or preliminary agreements. Some mistakes in those agreements and documents could later lead to loss of custody and property. Therefore, always review documents with your lawyer before you could sign anything. If your lawyer tells you not to sign, listen to him or her.