Divorce Attorney in Huntsville

Stages in a Divorce

Making the decision to divorce is the first step in a complex legal process.  During an emotionally-charged time in your life, you need to handle many details and make decisions that affect the rest of your life and the lives of your children.  The Law Office of James R. Foley has the experience and compassion to guide you through the entire process.

Gathering Information

In the first part of the process, you must gather all information pertaining to all financial holdings and assets you and your spouse share—and anything you brought to the marriage and retained under your own name.  This is a detailed process—your attorney should advise you of what information to collect to ensure it is complete.

Deciding on the Type of Divorce

You next need to work with your attorney to choose the most appropriate type of divorce based on your specific situation.  The bottom line is that your decision is largely based on your relationship with your spouse and how much help you need to resolve disputes regarding child custody, support, and visitation, as well as how property is to be divided and whether either spouse needs financial support for some period in the future.

If you and your spouse have a highly-contentious relationship, or if emotional or physical abuse is involved, you most likely need a contested divorce.  If you can work together, or if you are ending a short-term marriage with no children and few financial complexities, you can explore a number of uncontested divorce options.

The Divorce Process

The divorce process is different based on the type of divorce you decide to file:

• Contested divorce:  You and your attorney need to prepare a case to be presented in court, and a judge makes all decisions regarding child custody and support, spousal support, and division of property.
• Uncontested divorce:  When couples are willing to work toward a negotiated settlement, they can often work through their own issues in an uncontested divorce.  There are two typical forms of this type of divorce.  Under divorce mediation, both spouses and their attorneys enter into negotiations facilitated by a mediator.  Once you reach agreement, the court process is an administrative process, in which the judge reviews and approves the terms.  If you cannot come to full agreement, you can use the court process to present your cases and allow the judge to decide the unresolved issues.
• Collaborative divorce:  This is a very specialized form of uncontested divorce.  It requires a high degree of commitment from both spouses—and specially-trained Huntsville collaborative lawyers.  Under this process, the spouses and their collaborative lawyers enter into a series of negotiations with a mediator and a team of experts—such as financial professionals, psychological counselors, and any others needed to meet the special needs of the couple.  It is critical to understand that full agreement must be reached through this process to avoid starting over—in this case, the collaborative attorneys are legally required to resign.  Both spouses must retain new Huntsville divorce lawyers in place of their collaborative attorneys.

Contact an experienced Huntsville collaborative attorney today

Contact The Law Office of James R. Foley to speak with an experienced, reliable and effective lawyer about your divorce options. Use the online form or call 256-513-6396 today.