It’s the middle of the night, and you are up thinking about divorce.
You are not alone. I help clients every day and night in the same situation and I can promise you, that in time everything will work out. It may not feel that way now, but you are doing the right thing by reading and educating yourself to help make these difficult decisions.
Do your homework, read as many articles as you can, talk to trusted friends and family. This will all help guide you and make an educated decision. Meet with lawyers that offer free consultations and get as much advise, as you need.
If you need someone to talk to, feel free to send me a text message. You can text me 24/7 and I will get back to you as soon as I can. If it’s 1am, don’t worry — still send me a text message.
I am here to listen and provide guidance to help in your decision. I won’t send you a bill; it’s just a conversation at this point. We can setup a time to talk, meet, or whatever is most comfortable.
You can also call or send me an email.
If you remain on the fence and you aren’t quite ready to talk — here are some questions I asked myself and continue to ask my clients that are facing this decision. It may help give you some perspective and help guide some honest, internal dialogue.
Ask yourself:
- If you were going on a dream vacation, who would you bring?
- If you asked your best friend and closest family member — would they uniformly agree to stay versus leave?
- If your son or daughter were in your situation, what would you advise them to do?
- If you were alone would you feel relieved?
- Does your spouse want to go to therapy and/or are they willing to?
- Do you suspect your spouse is not being faithful? If so can you wholeheartedly forgive and forget? Have you ever thought about being unfaithful?
- If you have children, do you want them to model after your relationship, or do you want them to expect more when they fall in love? (you set the bar for your children’s future relationships)
- Are you truly in love? (or is it more about your the status quo and/or waiting for the right time)
When you do make your decision to divorce — make an action plan and stick to it. There will never be the right time — so decide if you are making excuses or valid reasons to wait. The most common excuses are “I want to make it through Christmas” and “My cousin’s wedding in June” and so on … Trust me there will always be a next event, holiday, vacation, or situation you can’t miss and don’t want to let your family down. In the meantime, you are missing your life; delaying your happiness.
Here are my pointers in navigating divorce.
- Instead of being up worrying about what will be, meet with a lawyer to figure that out. Your lawyer will tell you what is likely to happen and run through the guidelines/alimony etc.
- Start counting your assets instead of sheep. Get copies of tax returns, paystubs, financial documents. Take pictures of cash, not just the wad, a picture with each bill identifiable. Log the amount of gold and other assets easily removed by your spouse.
- Review some of my blog posts (click here), hopefully you will find them a helpful resource.
Decisions in life are always tough and it won’t be easy, but the alternative is far more difficult. When you are ready, feel free to reach out to me.
Attorney Catherine Becker Good, Esq.
Divorce and Mediation Lawyer
Legal Solutions Law Group
858 Washington St Suite 103
Dedham, Massachusetts 02026
