Are you going through a divorce? Here are 5 things given by divorce lawyers that you shouldn’t do to make the process flawless:

Don’t expect to walk out with a windfall

Many people going through divorce expect to come out of the other side with plenty of gains, but this isn’t the case. You should know that you will now be supporting two households with the same income you used to support one for a start.

This means that you can’t go through a divorce and still have the houses, cars, and other assets you had before the divorce. If you had two cars, now you will have one. If you had one house, your ex will occupy it, while you look for another.

If you are the breadwinner spouse, you will find yourself paying for spousal support and even child support.

If you are the lower-earning spouse, you won’t receive the same amount of support you had when you were married.

Don’t compare divorces.

Those going through a divorce for the first time compare divorce notes with other divorcees, which is wrong, as no two divorces are the same. The situation is even worse if the divorces are from different states.

For example, there is a bright-line rule in Pennsylvania that the high earning parent should pay child support until the child graduates from high school. In New Jersey, there isn’t this rule.

Don’t act out on anger.

Divorce is highly emotional, and it’s easy to be caught up in the emotions and do weird things such as damaging your spouse’s cars and other property.

Regardless of how strongly you feel about your partner, you shouldn’t do things out of spite. This means that you shouldn’t burn your spouse’s clothes or do anything else that can hurt them.

This is because your partner can use your emotions against you by showing the judge that you are emotionally unstable, so you can’t be trusted with child custody and other responsibilities.

Don’t fight over things that you don’t care about

When preparing for divorce, your strategy might be to win everything on the table, but this is the wrong way of going about it as you might drag your case in court for years.

You also have high chances of eliciting a lot of anger from your partner as you try to fight them over everything.

Before you begin the process, sit down with your attorney, list the items you feel might be important to you, and agree that you won’t fight over them when your ex-partner asks for them.

You should keep your eyes on the big prize. This can be getting full custody of your children, getting the house that belonged to your grandmother, and other major things. You shouldn’t sweat the small stuff.

Aim to settle your case out of court

As much as you appear tough dragging your spouse to court and going to trial, this can be expensive, and emotions tend to be high.

If you don’t have children, assets or haven’t been married for long, you shouldn’t go to trial. Your attorney might suggest this, but you should remember that they make the most money in trials, so they might be trying to bring in a huge paycheck at your expense.

To be on the safe side, take time to find family lawyers Fairfax VA that have your best interests at heart and will guide you in the right direction, even if it doesn’t favor them.