If you are getting divorced, you are probably feeling a plethora of emotions about your life and your marriage.It is a confusing time, regardless of the reasons for your divorce.Some couples get married too young or before they know enough about each other, and then a year or so after they get married, they are ready to get divorced.Others have been married for decades, have raised families together and bought homes together, and they feel like they have grown apart, and now that the children have left the nest, they are getting divorced.One of the worst case scenarios that can lead to a divorce is infidelity.Other couples simply stop loving each other, and they spend all their time fighting about money or personality differences.Other couples divorce because they feel that their once romantic relationship has turned into a platonic one.For some couples, the two people realize that they want different things out of life, and they cannot compromise enough to make the marriage work.The reason for your divorce, the length of your marriage, the assets you share together, and whether or not you have children are all factors that should weigh heavily on your decision about how to handle your divorce, and whether or not a do-it-yourself divorce is right for you.
If you do not trust your spouse, then there are many cons to a do-it-yourself divorce.You do not want to be bamboozled by a vengeful ex and wind up getting screwed out of your financial assets and your home.If the two of you have a property together, cars together, stocks together, etc., then you want to make sure that you are able to fairly divide them in a divorce.If you think that your ex is going to be acting only on his or her own behalf, then you should not agree to handle the divorce on your own.Even if you do trust your spouse, when there are assets involved, things can get complicated, and people can get uncharacteristically selfish.If you do not want to get lawyers and courts involved, you should at the very least get some financial advisors and property experts involved to assess the values of your assets.If the reason that you are considering a do-it-yourself divorce is because your ex-partner is pressuring you to do so, then you should take that as a major sign not to do it yourselves.The money that you will spend getting professionals involved will be worth it if you are dealing with an ex who is not trustworthy.If your spouse was dishonest with you while you were married, then why should you anticipate anything different when you are getting divorced?
If you have children, then opting for a do-it-yourself divorce is generally a bad idea, and you should refuse to do so.Your children should be first and foremost in both of your minds, and you will be doing them a potential disservice if you don't set some ground rules for how they are going to be raised once you and your spouse are divorced.There are many potential problems that could arise.What if your spouse gets remarried in a few years and wants to move very far away and take the children?The two of you may decide now that you are going to have the kids during the week during the school year, and your ex will have them on the weekends, and then in the summer your ex will have them during the week and you will have them on the weekends.However, changes in either one of your lives could cause changes in your original agreement.
If you are both young or have been married for a short period of time and you have no assets together, such as a home or stocks, then a do-it-yourself divorce could be a viable option for you.Basically, if there is nothing that the two of you have, then there is nothing to fight over in a divorce, so you could file yourselves.However, if you have only been married a short period of time, you might want to consider seeking some professional help before you get divorced.Seeing a marriage counselor might save your marriage.If not, then you can just go ahead and get your do-it-yourself divorce done.
